Processes and knowledge base.
How each piece of work gets done, written down, for any part of your operation, whether that’s answering customers, approving refunds, chasing invoices or reviewing content. And the help articles and guides alongside them, so everyone does it the same way and your AI gives the same right answer.
What is a knowledge base?
One place where the answers are kept. Like a library, organised so they can be found, and kept up to date. You may know it as a help centre, an FAQ or a wiki.
The knowledge base
The answers themselves, as help articles for your customers, guides for your team, and what your AI answers from.
The processes behind it
How each piece of work gets done, step by step, with the decisions inside it. Written for someone doing it for the first time.
Written once, used everywhere
The same answer, whoever they ask.
One customer question, asked three times. First with nothing written down, then with one checked article behind every answer.
A customer asks
Can I still return this? I’ve had it about six weeks.
Help article
Returns after 30 days
Signed off by its owner. Checked this month.
What they’re told
One of your teamFrom memory
Yes, send it back and we’ll refund you.
Another of your teamFrom an old email
No, sorry. It’s past 30 days, so we can’t take it back.
Your AIFrom last year’s page
You can return it, but for store credit only.
A refund, a no, and store credit. Which one is right?
What we write.
For every part of the work, and for everyone who does it, people and AI alike.
- ✓✓✓Processes for every part of the workStep by step, with the decisions inside them, for any part of your operation, such as customer service, refunds, orders, credit control or content review.
- A help centre for your customersClear articles for the questions customers ask most, so they can help themselves when they want to.
- Contact reasonsThe reasons customers get in touch, each clearly defined so everyone picks the same one. The same list organises your articles and adds the why to your reporting.
- To a personOne source for your team and your AIGuides and saved replies for your team, and what your AI answers from, all drawn from the same checked knowledge.
Keeping it current
How it stays right.
An out-of-date answer is worse than none. So keeping it current is part of the set-up, not an afterthought.
An owner for each area
One named person on your side for each part, so a change in the business has somewhere to land.
A date it is next checked
Every article and process carries when it was last checked, and when it is due again.
A way to flag a gap
Anyone who spots something wrong or missing can say so, and it reaches the owner.
Out of date means taken down
Old content is retired, not left where a customer, a new starter or your AI can find it.
Behind the scenes
How the work gets done, written down.
For any part of your operation, not only customer service. Refunds, orders, chasing invoices, reviewing content. Written for someone doing it for the first time.
- The steps, in orderWhat to do and where, in the same words they see on the screen.
- The decisions inside themWhat to check and what to do either way, so it doesn’t depend on who picks it up.
- When to pass it onAnd who to, written into the step where it happens.
Refunds process
Step 3. Decide
- 1Ask why it’s coming back, and record the reason.
- 2Within 30 days of delivery?Yes Approve the refund.No Offer store credit instead.
- 3More than you can approve yourself?Yes Pass it to the team lead.
Where you’re starting from
Which of these is you?
Pick the one closest to where you are now.
Starting from nothing
Most businesses run on what a few people know. It works until someone is off, someone leaves, or a new starter asks the same question for the tenth time.
- We find out how the work gets doneFrom the people who do it and anything already written down. Where it is done two ways, we bring that to you.
- We write what matters most firstThe work that happens most and goes wrong most, before the long tail.
- Your team checks it, and you sign it offThe people who do the work make sure it is right. Whoever owns the policy approves it before it goes live.
- We set up the routineWho owns what, and when it gets reviewed.
Bringing it back up to date
Written years ago and added to ever since. Customers can’t find what they need, so they get in touch instead, and your team has stopped using it.
- Articles that contradict each other
- Customers asking what the help centre should answer
- Your team answering from memory instead
- We go through what is thereWhat is current, what is wrong, what contradicts what, and what is missing.
- We rebuild the structureGrouped by why customers get in touch, with titles people would search for.
- We rewrite, merge and retireWhere two articles disagree, you decide which is right. Anything out of date is taken down, not left to mislead.
- Sign-off, owners and review datesApproved by whoever owns each policy, then kept current so it doesn’t drift again.
Getting ready for AI
An AI agent answers from your content. If what it finds is out of date, vague or contradicts itself, so is the answer.
- We check what it would readEvery article it could answer from, against what is true today.
- We make each article say it plainlyOne topic each, the policy stated outright, and the same word for the same thing.
- We agree what it may useWhat customers see, what only your team sees, and what the AI answers from.
- We test it on real questionsAs part of the AI set-up, before any customer meets it.
Writing it down
The people who know it best find it hardest to write.
They can't remember what it was like not to know. That's the gap we fill. We learn your work until we can explain it to someone new.
- Time with the people who do the work
- Where it’s done two ways, the decision is yours, and we help you work it through
- Checked by the people who do the work
- Signed off by whoever owns the policy, before anything goes live
Questions, answered.
The things people ask us first.
Where do we start?
With the work that happens most, and goes wrong most. For customer contact, the reasons customers get in touch most often decide which articles come first.
Is it only for customer service?
No. We write processes for any part of an operation, such as refunds, orders, credit control, content review, onboarding and more. The help centre and contact reasons are for customer contact.
Do you write it, or do we?
We write it, with time from the people who know the detail. Or we help your team write it, with a structure and style to follow.
Who decides what the policy is?
You do. Writing things down often shows the same work being done two or three ways. Where that happens we set out the options and what each would mean, and help you work through them. The people who own the policy make the call, and nothing goes live until they have signed it off.
How do you learn our product well enough?
By reading your real conversations, spending time with your team and going through your policies, and by having your people check what we write.
Do we need a help centre and internal guides?
Usually both. Customers need the answer. Your team needs the answer and how to handle what comes next. They're written from the same knowledge.
How should our contact reasons be structured?
In layers. A set of groups sits at the top with the detail underneath, so you can see the big picture and drill into it. What matters most is that each reason has a clear definition and everyone uses them the same way. That's what makes the data worth having.Reporting and analytics
Will it work with our AI?
Yes. It's written so your AI can answer from it as well as your customers and your team.AI set-up
Who keeps it up to date after you've gone?
An owner for each area on your side, with a review routine we set up together. Or us, if you'd like help keeping it current.
Alongside it
What draws on your knowledge base.
Written once, it gets used everywhere. We can set up the things that use it.
- AI for customer serviceAn AI agent that answers from your checked articles.We set it upWe set it up
- Training materialNew starters taught from the same source.We set it upWe set it up
- Helpdesk set-upSaved replies and help-centre articles, where the team works.We set it upWe set it up
- ReportingContact reasons that show which articles are missing.We set it upWe set it up
- Customer serviceA team that works from it, and tells you when it’s out of date.We run itWe run it
Let's talk.
Tell us what's going on. If we're not the right fit, we'll point you to someone we trust.
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