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Capturing corporate knowledge before it walks

• Companies lose valuable corporate/business knowledge as they down-size
• Some companies are capturing this knowledge on paper, using technical communicators
• Technical communicators are currently available at competitive rates

 

With the economic downturn, some employers are finding themselves in a difficult situation.

The current downturn could have forced them to let go of key staff who were difficult to find. And so they watch helplessly as corporate/business knowledge that isn't easily replaced walks out the door.

Corporate/business knowledge is everything from the operational processes of completing sales and purchase orders through to strategic knowledge of a business and its competitors.

Putting aside the human cost, losing knowledge and experience is damaging for the company's long-term future.

How can you shield your company from this? By capturing the knowledge before it walks.

TechWriter has several clients who have hired technical communicators to capture the corporate/business knowledge. The documentation created in recent months is now helping them get by with fewer people on a team.

In one case, we supplied a technical communicator to an organisation that didn't have documentation to support its computer system. A computer system that was critical to managing revenue.

It was up to the company's existing small team to use their knowledge of the system and how it applied to the business to get jobs done.

The technical communicator was able to sit down with team members and collect information on how to perform basic actions. Now that only half the team is remaining, contractors can come in as needed and complete critical tasks by using the documentation.

This case study highlights several key skills that you can take advantages of when hiring a technical communicator:

• Experience in getting information from people (subject matter experts) efficiently with minimum work interruption
• Ability to create excellent quality documentation that is practical and targeted to the right audience
• Ability to edit and review existing documentation, acting as an informed tester of the systems
• Ability to publish in multiple formats - paper and online

Posted: 16/02/2009

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