By now, most corporate decision makers have heard of wikis, whether it is from their kids who are using wikipedia for school projects, or simply through the course of their job, wikis are getting more and more attention from the corporate world. The business benefits for wikis have been outlined (see the BrainKeeper solutions page), but what we hear quite often from directors and executives is:
"I have email, voicemail, shared file drives, portals, and instant messaging ...why do I need a wiki?"
The answer is fundamental to what BrainKeeper offers:
You have a question that you need to have answered thoroughly and accurately. You need to know when the answer changes, and when you should be asking a different question. You need to understand the perspectives of all departments involved, and you need information outlined in the context of your products, your business, and your market. And you need it now.
None of the traditional communication mediums can offer a solution that addresses this need. An enterprise wiki does.
Where does a Wiki fit?
Communication tools like email and instant messaging are essentially learning tools: one or more individuals looking to learn something from one or many other individuals. This learning can take place over a span of replies and forwards, but eventually the questions that were asked have been answered. If someone is not a part of this process, like a new employee or someone changing roles inside the company, how does that learning transfer? Especially since a new employee doesn't even know what they don't know!
Wikis are built around the concept that the only constant is change, and therefore everything is perpetually out of date. By giving everyone responsibility and the tools to contribute their knowledge, wikis provide a communication tool that opens the collective knowledge of a company up to everyone within it.
Wikis allow everyone to contribute everything that is learned throughout their career, thus enriching the experiences of others who can easily absorb this knowledge and improve upon it. Wikis feed themselves, govern themselves, and grow into a tool that makes you wonder how you were able to function without it.
