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Data Silos: Why They Are Problematic and How to Fix Them

Information silos are collections of information held by a specific group that may not be accessible by other groups or individuals in the same team. Siloed data often occurs from one “segment” of a business to the next, as HR, administration, finance, and marketing teams all collect and use various pieces of data to complete their day-to-day tasks. While siloed data might not seem problematic at first, isolated data frequently leads to barriers in information sharing and collaboration in the wider business landscape. Consistent data silos damage data integrity and make it harder for your business to succeed. ✶ Share information among teams effortlessly with Unleash Defining Data Integrity: What Is Healthy Data? Information silos refer to segments of data inaccessible from one department to the next in an organization, leading to a lack of efficiency and transparency in a team. Siloed data is the opposite of “healthy” data. Companies can define healthy data as information that is accessible and easily understood across the business landscape. How Do Data Silos Occur? Information silos and siloed data issues can occur for a range of reasons. Usually, these problems emerge over time, mirroring fragmented organizational structures. Some of the most common causes of data silos include: Issues with technology Data can’t easily pass between departments in an organization if the technology used for collecting and storing data is fragmented. Integrations between high-quality applications and software solutions are essential to healthy data. Organizational change Growth or changes in the structure of an organization can often lead to problems with the management of data. There may be too many departments or team members for business leaders to keep track of the flow of data effectively. Issues with company culture Poor company culture can lead to gaps between different members of staff in a team. Sometimes, this can cause groups like marketing or sales to keep data to themselves, rather than sharing their insights with the rest of the group. ✶ Software solutions like Unleash make integrations between apps easy How Is Data Quality Affected by Data Silos? One of the major issues caused by data silos is a problem with data quality. Data is among the most valuable assets any business has, making it easier for teams to make informed and confident decisions. With data, you can understand your partners and customers and improve your chances of long-term business success. Working with data silos means you’ll have fragmented pieces of information which might not provide a complete view of your business environment. If your data isn’t in sync, you may even see conflicting insights when cross-checking information from various sources. Can Data Silos Destroy Businesses? If you’re new to dealing with data, you might wonder, “why are data silos problematic?” As mentioned above, a lack of access to consistent and accurate data is one of the most common issues associated with siloed information. However, other problems can also emerge, such as: Incomplete views of the business If you can’t consolidate your data into a comprehensive overview of all business operations, then you can’t gain a complete view of the business. Trying to manage a business with isolated data is like trying to put a puzzle back together without knowing what it should look like. Cultural issues When data silos are evident in business, teams often end up working independently, using their own data and failing to collaborate with their colleagues. This can lead to everyone in a business working with different strategies and a misaligned approach to business operations. Cultures of transparency and trust are difficult to maintain with data silos. Poor business performance Data silos make it difficult to track customer journeys and maintain a strong view of your company’s operations. This means you don’t have the insights required to optimize your company or your teams. It could also mean you end up giving your customers a less-than-perfect experience. How Can You Fix the Problem of Data Silos? Information silos often happen when companies have various sources of information isolated from one another. This means many business leaders often assume the answer to data silos is simply importing and exporting databases from one environment to another. However, the reality is that the constantly changing nature of data requires a more focused central approach to eliminating data silos. In order to do this, companies should do the following: Use integration software Using integration software and APIs to connect disparate systems in a workforce is one of the best ways to reduce data silos. Software solutions such as Unleash sync all your resources into one place, making searching for information easy. Leverage all-in-one environments Leveraging all-in-one cloud environments where you can connect multiple tools in one space can reduce the need for integrations. This also minimizes the risk of data silos by keeping information flowing in one space. Create a collaborative culture Commit to helping your team members bond and collaborate more consistently so that they’re constantly sharing information and insights. A culture with a strong focus on knowledge sharing will reduce data silos. How to Avoid Data Silos in the Future As businesses continue to become increasingly reliant on data in a digital world, healthy data is essential to improving a company’s chances of long-term success. Organizations must provide decision makers with 360-degree views of healthy data to achieve their goals. Eliminating data silos may be the key to success for many businesses.

Information Silos: Why They Are Bad and How to Fix Them preview image

Project management Notion Software for Content Management: Advantages and Disadvantages [2023]Notion is a fantastic online content management solution. It can be used to edit text, maintain a blog, store ideas, organize content, and compose articles all in one place. This makes it useful for anybody with content management needs, from solo entrepreneurs to well-established companies. Here, we'll explore Notion's advantages and disadvantages for content management. ✶ Using Notion to improve workflow: see 5 essential automations to set up Notion for Content Management Content management requires keeping track of a piece of content as it goes through its many iterations from inception to completion. Enterprises and small businesses with a lot of content to handle may find content management a daunting task. However, Notion facilitates streamlined workflow procedures and improved collaboration as content moves through its lifecycle. Here are a few of Notion’s features that support this: Project and Task Management Notion can work as an all-in-one project management tool where teams assign, track and update multiple projects and recurring tasks all in one place. Moreover, Notion project management makes it convenient to improve document management and organize file attachments, task lists, and schedules so that they're easily searchable. Notion also contains features that help with task management. To stay on track with the rest of the team, members can view any project note along with related task assignments and the most recent updates, initiate conversations, write comments, and tag other users to get or give feedback. You can also improve the rate at which tasks are completed by using Notion shortcuts. Note-Tracking and Document Management Notion uses a Kanban board to provide an overview of the many stages of each deliverable. Content can be organized into the following main categories: To Do, In Progress, Edit, Published, and Archive. Users can further break down each deliverable into various stages by clicking on its card. It also allows users to invite other members to collaborate or assign and track specific tasks and set deadlines. Additionally, users can quickly toggle between their own projects and team-wide assignments with filters and custom keywords. Research, Writing, and Editing Notion makes writing and editing easy, as the platform feels very intuitive and minimizes any frustration regarding proper formatting, indentation, image position, and lists. There are also available blogging and writing templates that help keep all writing consistent. What's more, ideas, the fuel for each piece of content, can be safely stored on the platform. If a user has a great idea, they can quickly store it in Notion to come back to it later and build upon it. ✶ Notion search sucks: see why that is and how to improve it Advantages Notion’s user-friendly interface and comprehensive content management features make it an ideal option for writers and other content creators. Here are some of Notion’s key strengths: Easy to use: Users can jump immediately into their tasks after getting used to the platform. In case you need any help, you can count on many available tutorials and responsive technical support.Multifunctional: The fact that it's a multifunctional app with features beyond note-taking is a major selling point. As a result, users won't waste time keeping several tabs open or switching between programs to produce and manage content.Clutter-free interface: Users can easily organize tasks, projects, and workflows thanks to Notion’s clean and intuitive interface. This also minimizes distractions and helps keep the user focused on their deliverables.Cross-compatible: Notion is compatible with several devices. As long as a user has one device connected to Notion, be it a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, they can access their work or share content from anywhere. You can get Notion in a web app, a Mac or Windows desktop app, or an iOS or Android mobile app. ✶ Having problems with syncing Notion across devices? Here's how to fix it Disadvantages Although Notion is a wonderful note-taking and content-management tool, it's not without its faults. Some of these include: Minor learning curve: For users with no experience in using Notion or similar tools, getting accustomed to its interface and navigation might take some time, as finding pages and dashboards can be confusing to first-time users.Setup can take time: While Notion's workflow and content management benefits are worth the effort, setting it up properly for team use might take some time. In comparison, this can be easily provided by other dedicated project management tools.Text formatting issues: There are a few common formatting bugs that irk users. For example, the app may respond inconsistently when users try to edit or highlight text or add sections to a page. Streamline Your Content Management With Notion As a comprehensive content management tool, Notion makes it easy to find and manage your content, collaborate with others on teams, and organize and share ideas. Even though there are a few drawbacks to consider, the overall advantages make it a fantastic choice for many users, as it's intuitive, simple to use, and works well across multiple devices. As such, it may be the perfect solution for your content management needs in 2023.

Project management Using Notion for Project Management: Pros, Cons, & More Notion is an all-in-one workspace that allows users to organize their thoughts and create plans. While popular as an efficient note-taking tool that can contribute to your knowledge management, Notion is now also recognized for its value as a project management app. In addition to using Notion as part of your knowledge management strategy, here's an overview of how to use it as a project management tool and how well it performs. ✶ Knowledge management vs. content management: learn the key differences How to Use Notion for Project Management Notion is equipped with a vast array of project management tools for teams to stay on track. For instance, you can easily collaborate with your team from every device and work together on assignments in real-time. With Notion, you can: Create roadmapsWrite to-do and task listsBuild Kanban boardsCreate a databaseCreate and store documentsBuild project plans What's impressive about Notion is that it offers these functionalities as tools, in contrast to Google Workspace, which is a collection of several apps. You can use Notion's tools wherever you are on the app and access them through page menus. ✶ Is your Notion not syncing across devices? See the ways to fix it Project Management Tools in Notion Below is an overview of Notion's project management features and how to put them to use to make the most out of Notion for improving employee productivity. Wikis Wikis are online collaborative document repositories that can be accessed by all project collaborators. It's where you can store the project's brief, contracts, policies, and content, among other things that need to be shared with other team members. To use this tool, start by creating a workspace page for whatever purpose you need by clicking the (+) icon in your sidebar next to WORKSPACE. Typing slash (/) will show you your different content options. Populate your workspace with subpages that contain information related to your purpose, including your project brief, mechanics, prizes, participants, and other useful data. To organize your workspace, use columns to group related pages. Project Pages In Notion, a page is essentially a document that's customizable, so you can add whatever you like—text, images, checklists, tasks, or even a Kanban board. To create a new page, just click “+ New Page” on the bottom left of your sidebar menu. From there, you can select a page type you want, be it an empty table, list, board, or calendar. Kanban Board Kanban boards are an effective project management tool that can show you what tasks your team has, what tasks have been assigned to a team member, and their current status. When a team member is done with a task, they can easily drag the card from the to-do column to the completed column. Roadmaps Roadmaps are great for visualizing a project plan and allowing everyone to see what steps, resources, and people are involved. Notion lets you build roadmaps and sync the projects or tasks you have in your databases. Moreover, you can easily create a roadmap using the available templates or make your own. To start building your roadmap, create a new database and populate it with all the necessary properties you need, such as projects, deadlines, tasks, and more. If you need to add multiple tasks, create a template to save time. Once done, you can share your roadmap with the rest of the team by providing them with workspace access. Customize Views Notion allows you the flexibility of viewing your to-dos in either a traditional to-do list format or a visual timeline. Additionally, you can view it as a table for a more structured approach, as a gallery for a visual overview, or as a calendar for easy scheduling and planning. ✶ Want to use Notion for content management? See the pros and cons Pros of Using Notion for Project Management There are multiple benefits to using Notion for project management, including the following: Cost efficient – Notion is an all-in-one workspace that eliminates the need for companies to acquire and use separate CRM, onboarding, and project management tools.User-friendly – Once you master Notion's many features, producing pages and content should be easier than on other platforms.Time-saving – Notion has many time-saving features that make it simple to create content, take notes, organize projects, automate workflows, or assign tasks. As users don't need to switch between apps, they can quickly update content from their workspace. Additionally, the many templates available and Notion shortcuts make it easy to get started right away.Portable – Notion is compatible with many devices. Its various features are accessible to users through its web, desktops, or mobile app. Cons of Using Notion for Project Management Despite its multiple advantages, there are also some drawbacks to using Notion for project management: Overwhelming – Notion makes use of blocks for everything and figuring out how to use these and Notion’s many features and templates can be overwhelming at first. Users will need to sit down and learn how to use the interface before they can maximize its features. This is particularly true when it comes to Notion search. No goal tracking – Large projects are often broken down into phases or important milestones so that project managers can keep track of what's been accomplished and what's pending. However, there's no way to set benchmarks or monitor your progress toward targets, as all you have to work with are checklists.No reporting tool – Without a built-in reporting tool, you’ll need a third-party reporting app to track your team's performance.Lack of communication features – While everyone can edit and comment on the same pages, there isn't really a way to talk to other team members on the platform. ✶ Notion search sucks: see why and how to improve it Supercharge Your Project Management With Unleash Notion is an excellent tool for improving collaboration, document management, and tracking projects. However, although it's a great project management tool for individuals and small companies, it may not be the best fit for enterprises—these can benefit from optimizing their Notion project management with a powerful tool like Unleash. This will work best for your company if your team requires a more robust solution.

Project management Creating Filters in Jira: Everything You Need to Know Jira filters allow users to control the output of Jira Search issues by applying a set of conditions to search results. Users can use filters, for example, to show only the issues that are assigned to a specified assignee, that are in a particular status, or that are tagged with a particular keyword. Read on to learn all you need to know about filters in Jira. When to Use a Filter in Jira A filter in Jira is a way to control the flow of work items in a particular project. Filters can be used to show or hide work items based on specific criteria, such as the type of work item, the status of the work item, or the assignee of the work item. Filters can also be used to create views of the project that show only a subset of the work items in that project. Interested in intranet search? If so, see our intranet use cases or how to improve intranet search here. Additionally, here are our tips on how you can supercharge your intranet search. ✶ Simplify your task management by learning how to move issues between Jira projects How to Create a Filter in Jira Jira has numerous search filters that can be used to locate and manage different projects, issues, and boards. As there are far too many to mention, for this tutorial, we’ve plucked out a couple of example filters to demonstrate the process. Here’s how to apply Jira filters: Log into your Jira account and from the dashboard’s menu, navigate to “Filters” > “View all filters”.Once the filters page has loaded, from the top left-hand corner, click the “Create filter” button.Next, from the top of the search page, set the assignee to “Current User”.Now, select “More” > “Resolution” and check “Unresolved”.Using these specific filters, the search results will return unresolved issues that have been assigned to the current user. Of course, you can choose between a vast array of different filters from the search bar. To view them all, simply click on the scroll bar, wait for the list to drop down, and select which filter you feel applies to the search query you wish to execute. Searching through files slowing you down? To save time, learn how to find files faster with better box search. How to Edit a Filter in Jira In Jira, filters allow you to view a specific set of issues that meet certain criteria, some of which you may use regularly. If this is the case, users can save filters for later use. To save a filter, simply: Define and run your search.Click the “Save as” link above the search results.This will display the “Save Filter” panel.Assign a filter name and click “Submit” to save the changes. Once saved, they are stored on a user’s “favorite filters” list. If needed, these can later be edited. To edit a filter: Head to the Issues menu and select "Filters". Click the name of the filter you want to edit.To add or remove criteria, simply click the "+" or "—" buttons next to each field. You can also change the order of the fields by clicking and dragging them up or down. ✶ Learn how to search for issues using Jira Query Language. How to Share a Filter in Jira Filters that have been previously created can be shared with other Jira users via groups, projects, or project roles. Additionally, any save filter can be shared globally using the JIRA Administrators' “Shared Filters” feature. To share an existing filter, simply: Choose “Issues” > “Manage filters”.From here, click the “My” tab.Locate the filter you want to share and select it.Click the “Details” link.Click “Edit permissions” to open the “Edit Current Filter” display.Click on the “Add Shares” dropdown menu and select either “Everyone”, “Group”, or “Project”.Once selected, next to the dropdown menu, click the “+Add” button and select who you’d like to share permissions with.To finalize, click “Save”. Because Jira search can be quite frustrating, another great way to save valuable time and money is to make use of enterprise search. Best Practices for Using Filters in Jira As we’ve covered here, filters are an important part of Jira as they allow users to focus on specific issues and tasks. By using filters effectively, users can improve their productivity and reduce the amount of time they spend managing their work. Check out our post on how a powerful intranet search improves employee productivity. To get the most out of Jira filters, here are some best practices: Use filters to organize your work One of the best ways to use filters is to create a custom filter for each project you're working on. This will help you stay organized and focused on the tasks at hand.Use keywords in your filters When creating a filter, be sure to use keywords that will help you find the issues you need quickly and easily. This will save you time when looking for specific issues.Don’t overuse filters Filters can help you quickly find and track issues, but it's important to use them wisely. Too many filters can lead to information overload and make it difficult to find the issue you're looking for. If you’d like to see more best practices, check out our Jira best practices post here.

Project management How to Reduce Data Integrity Risks Every year, companies set their annual budget, making crucial decisions for the company's foreseeable future. If these decisions are made using unreliable data, it could have a negative impact on the company's bottom line. This is why data integrity is important. In this article, we'll take a look into what data integrity is and how to reduce data integrity risks. * Are you having data integrity issues? See what's causing them What Is Data Integrity? Data integrity describes the accuracy and validity of your company's data over its lifetime. In other words, it's the quality of your data, or how trustworthy your data is. If your data isn't accurate, it could cause a lot of damage, especially when your executives are using it to make important business decisions. The Importance of Data Integrity There are many good reasons why you should aim to keep your data integrity risks to a minimum, including the following: Protecting the company's data security: Low data integrity can be dangerous for your company, as data leaks can tarnish your company's reputation. If your data integrity is low, you may not conform to the necessary regulations, which can reduce your company's performance and competitiveness and cost you in the long run.Building trust: High data integrity builds trust between colleagues, executives, service providers, suppliers, and customers. It keeps this invaluable resource safe, securing the company's future.Promoting business transparency: High data integrity will ensure your data stays private and confidential, promoting business transparency and helping your business in the long term. 12 Ways to Reduce Your Data Integrity Risks Now that we understand what data integrity is and why it's so important, let's look at some techniques, methods, and strategies you can explore to optimize your company's data integrity. You may want to combine some of these to further heighten the reliability and accuracy of your data and maintain data security. 1. Educate Your Employees Arrange internal training courses so that your employees understand exactly what's meant by the term "data integrity" and explain their part in minimizing the risks. As technology develops and trends change, you should also offer refresher courses. 2. Have More Than One Storage Location Having multiple storage locations will help you see if any changes have been made to your data, and you can easily navigate these locations through data federation. A comparison of different data sets will tell you exactly where the data losses or changes have occurred, helping you restore your data integrity as soon as possible. Examples of two storage locations that work together are a backup system and an archive, whereby the backup system is a current copy of your data that you can use for recovery in case of a disaster or accidental deletion. Another example is your primary storage system and secondary storage system—the former represents the one you use every day, while the latter is used for backup and recovery. 3. Validate Input & Data Whether your data has been supplied by a known or unknown source, you'll need to implement validation and verification on input to secure data accuracy and ensure your data processes haven't been corrupted. One way to verify your data is through a data type check, which confirms the data is entered in the correct format. For example, a field might only accept numeric values—if this is true of your database, any entry containing non-numeric characters should be rejected by the system at runtime. 4. Avoid Data Silos Information kept in information silos inaccessible to different departments clouds business transparency and makes your data ineffective. This directly impacts your data integrity, so you should avoid data silos. 5. Introduce Quality Control Put all the necessary policies and procedures in place to ensure your data complies and your governance is unshakable. Regular quality control will help you maintain your data integrity more easily, improving your company's knowledge management in the process. 6. Encrypt Your Data This is especially important when you're managing transmissions between machines or on the internet. Encryption keeps your data out of the wrong hands and protects your company's data integrity. 7. Have an Audit Trail Your data will go through various life stages. So, keeping an audit trail will help you understand what happens if your data is lost or how it's used. 8. Restrict Data Access Human error is one of the biggest threats to data integrity. Keep your access control tight at all times and consider using IAM systems to manage data access. When employees leave, make sure you remove their access rights. 9. Remove Duplicated Data Regularly clean up your data by removing duplicates. There are different tools available to make this task easier for your employees, including advanced search tools that will identify duplicates more easily. 10. Remove Security Vulnerabilities Security vulnerabilities need to be identified and removed. If you install security patches soon after identifying a vulnerability, you can swiftly protect your data integrity. 11. Back Up Your Data It goes without saying that you always need to back up your data. Any business, small or large, should have a system in place for data to be backed up automatically. Apart from reducing your data integrity risk, this will also facilitate multiple aspects of your business, like your document management. 12. Have a Strong Password Policy for Employees Always encourage your employees to use strong passwords. You can also implement an automatic system that forces all employees to change their work passwords once a month for extra peace of mind. * Need help navigating your data? See the best search strategies for databases Which Enterprises Are Most at Risk? Although any company with a data set is automatically at risk, there are three types of enterprises that face the highest level of risk. These are the following: 1. Complex Enterprises It goes without saying that the bigger the enterprise, the more complex it will be—especially where there have been different mergers and acquisitions over time. Different companies come with their own data sets, which means merging becomes complicated and messy in terms of data integrity. 2. Enterprises Using Outdated IT Systems Outdated IT systems will always be a challenge because newer systems can do so much more. The lack of functionality in older systems won't pair well with newer systems, which will directly affect your data. 3. Enterprises Making Changes to Their IT Systems or Functions It isn't always easy to predict how changes to an IT system will affect the integrity of your data. It's easy to understand your integrity will be affected in one way or another, requiring careful supervision as a result. * Need help keeping track of your data? Consider a top enterprise search tool Reduce Data Integrity Risks With the Right Tool Data integrity is a vital part of any organization—it's the foundation that underlies all operations, and without it, your business won't be able to function. That's why it's so important to invest in data integrity solutions that are affordable, easy to use, and reliable to prevent any damage to your company caused by low data integrity. And with these tips and tools, you'll be well on your way to getting a handle on this issue before it spirals out of control. * Want to ensure data integrity with a powerful search tool? Reach your goals with Unleash

Project management Five Essential Use Cases for Intranet Search Having a robust intranet search that helps employees find what they need and get things done is critical for every organization. From the largest global brand to the smallest start-up, good findability is a necessity. It’s important right across any company, helping every function, department and team carry out their daily activities. In this post, we’re going to explore five essential use cases for intranet search across different parts of your organization, and show how specific search features can have a positive impact. 1. Software Engineers and Developers Across their projects and processes, software engineers and developers are used to working with different cloud-based resources. They may be communicating with their team via Slack, working on tickets in Jira, looking up older code snippets in Confluence, using GitHub, viewing project tasks in Asana and accessing documentation stored in Microsoft 365. All that might be happening in just one morning! For employees to best achieve their everyday coding and project goals, a powerful intranet search that can return all the information they need across multiple systems is critical; when this involves just one search box it saves huge amounts of time. For example, we know that Unleash’s long list of integrations is greatly appreciated by both our own software engineers and those of our clients. The right search tool can also help the team monitor new messaging and communication across all these channels, again helping the team stay on track. 2. Sales and Business Development Teams Your sales and BD people are always extremely busy, generating new leads and following up on them, engaging prospects and moving customers through the stages of your sales funnel. They can also be involved in deeper conversations that support account management and develop strong relationships with customers that transform into more sales opportunities further down the line. Often, there are multiple conversations and sales processes going on, some of which evolve quickly and others which take months or even years to come to fruition. Sales and BD teams must be able to access all their latest sales collateral, as well as specific customer information, relevant pitch desks, product updates and research. The need for a strong intranet search is obvious, and the ability to return everything on a customer or prospect all from one search box can help time-stretched sales staff prepare for a meeting. Here, full-text searching across multiple content types is critical. The ability to search multiple sources is also particularly valuable, as they may need to access previous conversations across the team to get the necessary context to make or advance a sale. For example, clients have told us that Unleash’s ability to simultaneously search full text through both content repositories and conversation threads across multiple platforms has proved invaluable in researching clients. The easy ability to drill down into each of the different systems to narrow the search is also very helpful in pinpointing high-value information to support specific moments in the sales process. 3. Product Teams and Other Projects Product management and the associated projects involve a lot of moving parts. Managing a product team, bringing something to market or evolving your next release requires a lot of coordination, and when you’re working to tight schedules, there is little wiggle room in your timetable. Things need to go to plan, but this can be challenging. When some of the team is working remotely, coordination and communication can be even harder. Another hurdle can arise when your product or project team may be working across multiple systems: Slack for communication, Trello for project management, Jira for development tickets and Google Drive for documents, for example.A robust intranet search can prove invaluable. Being able to centralize a search across multiple repositories allows teams to access all related product and project resources quickly and effortlessly. Product teams can also stay on the same page by viewing the status of different tasks across the team, no matter which app they happen to be using. Here, integrating an intelligent search tool like Unleash into your intranet means you can use advanced filters to specifically cover different tasks across multiple systems, transforming your intranet search into a project management tool. 4. Customer Support Teams Excellent support and quick resolution of issues is an essential touchpoint with customers that can make all the difference in supporting customer loyalty and fostering an excellent brand reputation. It’s particularly important for tech companies and start-ups who are looking to establish themselves, grow market share and drive confidence in their products. Your customer support team is only as good as the information it has access to. Being able to access accurate information so issues can be resolved quickly is essential – both when your team are on the phone or online chat with customers, or are trying to get to the bottom of deeper problems offline. Here, a robust intranet search can make a tangible difference to customer support success metrics like first contact resolution rates and average resolution times. For example, an accurate search that can look through support documentation, databases of error codes and previous tickets and conversations can help your support team resolve more complex issues. The ability to search through multiple repositories simultaneously – such as Zendesk, Salesforce and Confluence – and also search individually within each can help remedy issues that much faster. Ultimately, that means more happy customers. 5. HR Teams and Functions HR teams often have a lot on their plate; they get asked a lot of questions, and your HR helpdesk or main HR contact in a smaller company can easily get maxed out. To make things more manageable, HR teams often try to push users towards a self-service approach by providing information so employees can get answers themselves. An intranet is the obvious place for employees to answer questions from “Where can I find the maternity policy?” to “How do I change my bank details for the payroll?”, freeing up valuable time for resource-stretched HR professionals. Here, an intelligent intranet search can be hugely helpful in supporting successful employee self-service. You can create a scoped search within your intranet for specific searches through HR pages, FAQs, policies and other documents that will include the latest information, even if this information is scattered across multiple systems. Semantic search capabilities can allow your employees to ask questions in natural language. Personalized searches can also ensure documents returned are relevant to the individual; for example, you may have slightly different HR policies in your HQ compared to your IT developers or sales staff based in a different country. Arrange a Demo! A powerful intranet search can make all the difference for everyday work across multiple teams and departments. If you’d like to find out how a product like Unleash, offering an enterprise search engine solution, can benefit everybody across your company, then arrange a free demo!

Project management How to Preserve Institutional Memory During the Great Resignation Employees are changing jobs at a particularly high rate right now. Some estimates say one in four Americans changed jobs last year. And based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, resignations don’t appear to be slowing down in 2022 either. Many organizations are scrambling to maintain their institutional memory as employee retention becomes more difficult than ever. In a report published in 2021, PwC said 48% of the organizations want to be less dependent on employee institutional knowledge and are changing processes to get there. Solidify your organization’s institutional memory by fostering an organizational culture that encourages knowledge sharing. As part of that culture, provide opportunities for new employees to learn from experienced employees and supply them with tools that simplify information sharing. Make Knowledge Sharing the Norm A solid organizational memory strategy should involve a few tools (which we’ll cover later in the piece). But alongside this technology, you also need a work environment that encourages information sharing. After all, your company’s collective memory depends on employees who are ready and able to share their knowledge. To preserve institutional knowledge, consider these approaches: Encourage your company’s subject matter experts to share their knowledge—whether that’s through a presentation or a written resource. This information will help other employees learn about your business and its industry, and it may even motivate them to find a way to share their own knowledge.Build processes for entry-level employees to share what they’ve learned from managers and mentorships. Create a safe space where team members can reinforce their knowledge by presenting the information in their own words. Harvard Business Review has several ideas for helping employees solidify what they’ve learned from each other.Promote a variety of ways for employees to learn. Not everyone is going to find the same knowledge-sharing methods helpful, so be sure to offer a few options and promote those methods internally. Chances are, employees will want to share knowledge if you build their awareness of all the tools at their disposal. Whatever initiatives you choose, be sure to survey employees regularly to evaluate your knowledge-sharing culture. Ask questions to gauge how they feel about different policies and tools, like “On a scale of 1 to 5, how easy it is to use [insert knowledge-sharing tool]?” The responses to these surveys will help you find ways to get employees excited about building your company’s institutional memory. Set up a Knowledge Base Make internal knowledge more accessible by securing your institutional memory in a digital knowledge base—a computer system for storing information. With a base, employees can find the resources they need all in one place. There are plenty of ways to set up a knowledge base. Many companies opt to use the knowledge base options within the collaboration or content management software they already use, like Notion, Salesforce, and HubSpot. Employees are likely to take advantage of these bases since they’re already familiar with the underlying technology. Take a look at your tech stack and see if any of your favorite tools can be used to create a knowledge base. Or consider using a dedicated knowledge base tool like Zendesk. Tools that are primarily built to be customer support or employee knowledge base software often come with more options for customization and more features, like robust analytics. As soon as you have the base in place, you can start adding information. Decide what the process for adding or editing pages will be. Depending on the size of your organization, you may want to make a person or several people responsible for making sure the knowledge base stays organized and accurate. This role will also need to update the knowledge base as employees give feedback—remember, it’s a living collective set of facts that’s designed to be constantly updated and refined. The point person will be responsible for managing any requests for articles that don’t exist yet and making sure all pages are easily findable by including relevant search keywords. Begin by adding your onboarding materials to the base as well as the employee handbook (if you have one) and any policies or procedures not included in the handbook. It’s also a good idea to add information about your organizational structure. Any templates your employees use frequently in their work can be added, too. Senior executives might add information about any mentoring programs offered within the organization. Ask the design and marketing teams to add any brand assets and style guides. Every area of the organization will have the know-how that can help current and future employees. You’ll soon see that even the most organized knowledge base can become overwhelming to sort through, so make sure you have a great enterprise search engine to pair with your knowledge base. Adopt a Strong Search Tool Increase information accessibility by investing in a sophisticated search tool that integrates with your knowledge management apps, including your base and communication apps. With this connectivity, the search tool should be able to find files across your tech stack. Say you’re looking for a file someone emailed to you. The search tool would be able to find it, even if you never downloaded it from the message. Along with integrations, look for a tool that uses semantic search. You won’t need to use exact search phrases because the underlying semantic technology can anticipate what a user means. Say you search “Jane’s email” in a search tool with semantic functionality. The tool will know you’re looking for an email address, not just a document with the words “Jane” and “email.” It will also remember which Jane you search for most frequently to provide the most relevant email address. Protect Your Institutional Memory With Unleash A well-designed search tool doesn’t just make it easy to discover knowledge—it also reduces app switching, so your team can spend less time searching. Unleash, for example, lets users launch applications right from the search results. Our platform also integrates with calendar tools and has a dedicated space in the app, so you don’t have to leave the app to see your schedule. Learn more about how Unleash can help you preserve your organization’s institutional memory.