At mmhmm, our scattered info across several tools was slowing everyone down and costing us more than we liked. I rolled out Guru as our all-in-one knowledge base, making it super easy for teams to find what they need. Not only did we save almost half the cost compared to our old system, but our team is now more efficient and happier with how they access information.

Implementing a centralized knowledge base at mmhmm

Customer Support
Human Resources
C-Suite
Legal + Security

🤝

👷🏽

Collaborated with

Role

Lead implementation manager
and project manager

Timeline

⏱️

6 months

About mmhmm

mmhmm is a SaaS (software as a service) company that’s aimed to help people create engaging presentations and videos, making remote work more effective and enjoyable. As the company grew, it became clear that we needed a better way to manage all the information our team used every day. Our existing setup just wasn’t cutting it.

The problem

Even though mmhmm was thriving, we had some serious issues with how we handled internal knowledge.

Employees found it hard to find the right information because there wasn't a central place for it. This caused confusion about where to look for specific details and made it tough to keep bookmarks across various tools. It also made it hard to tell if the information was the most accurate and up to date.

Knowledge was scattered across multiple platforms including GitHub, GitBook, Slack, Google Drive, Zendesk, Asana, and various forms of tribal knowledge.

Information overload

No single-source-of-truth

New hires took longer to get up to speed because they spent too much time searching for the info they needed.

Onboarding inefficiencies

We had no idea what knowledge was accurate, what people were searching for, if there were any knowledge gaps, or what info was most valuable.

No analytics

Evaluating current tools

Before deciding on a new solution, we looked at what we already had.

  • mmhmm platform - Lacked capabilities for a centralized knowledge base. It was suitable for storing video tutorials but lacked robust categorization and support for written documents.

  • Google drive - Effective for file storage and organization but poor in information indexing and search functionality. Custom metadata tagging was costly and not intuitive.

  • GitBook - Useful for a knowledge base but required users to navigate to a separate site and was expensive.

  • Zendesk - Designed for external information only.

  • Slack - Excellent for real-time collaboration but inadequate for information organization and retention.

Why we needed a knowledge base

Easy access to information would allow workflows to become smoother and productivity to increase. I polled the company and learned that most people spent 3-5 minutes searching per day. If we multiplied that by 10 searches, that means about 30 minutes to an hour was spent finding information. (Not a great use of time.)

We knew that having a centralized Knowledge Base (KB) would solve a lot of our problems.

Boosted efficiency

Scalable solution

As we keep growing, new employees could quickly get access to everything they need without a lot of extra work.

Implementing a KB now was easier than trying to change habits in a bigger, older company.

Early adoption

Always up to date

All in once place

We could set up verification policies to keep our information current and reliable.

Everyone could find what they need in one searchable spot, saving time and reducing frustration. I polled the company and saw that there were 10 different places that people searched to find answers.

Goals and objectives

I set out with clear goals to tackle these issues:

Get executive buy-in

Convince leaders that a centralized knowledge base is a must-have.

Have one go-to place where everyone can find accurate and up-to-date information.

Establish a single-source-of-truth

Reduce company spending

Spend less on knowledge management tools without losing quality.

The solution: Guru

After some research, I found a tool called Guru, an all-in-one knowledge tool. I decided this was the way to go. Here’s why:

Sample Guru interface

  • Creating and maintaining knowledge articles was a breeze.

  • Employees could search and access information without leaving their current apps. It also integrated with Zendesk and Seismic learning (LMS), making customer support and training easier.

  • Updating an article once meant it was also updated wherever it was linked or embedded.

  • Assigned team members kept information accurate every few months with hygiene checks.

  • Guru gave insights into how KB articles were doing, such as popular articles, top searches, identified knowledge gaps, and article feedback.

  • Guru was 46% cheaper than the alternatives and offered unlimited free access for read-only access, making it more scalable as mmhmm grew.

Implementation strategy and launch

I planned the rollout to make sure everything went smoothly:

  • Trial period: Take advantage of the trial period to see how Guru worked for us.

  • Initial launch: Stagger onboarding with 1 team at a time, starting with the Customer Support team. I gave them 4-5 authoring licenses so they can self-manage their content. and read-only access for everyone else.

  • Onboard other teams: Once the Customer Support team was added to the platform, I onboarded the rest of the departments, giving a few authoring licenses for each team so they can self-manage their content.

  • Roll out Guru companywide: After a successful small rollout of Guru, I sent a companywide onboarding message.

  • I also recorded a company-wide short video (modified version below) that covered the implementation in more detail. To ensure onboarding was successful, I included the following information:

    • Let everyone know what Guru is, how to use it, and when to expect it to be implemented.

    • Give examples of how people do things now and show how much easier it is with the new platform.

    • Give a short demo of how to navigate Guru, how it integrates with existing tools, and how to keep its data up-to-date.

    • Reinforce the “why” of why we’re introducing this new platform.

    • Provide office hours and additional ways to foster a sense of support.

After launch

Here’s what happened after implementing Guru.

Information was instantly accessible via Slack and web browsers, so there was no more jumping between tools. This meant less time searching, leaving more time for effective onboarding and higher productivity. Guru benchmarks report a 51% adoption rate for companies using the platform. We had a total adoption of 87%, 90 days after launch.

Easier access and increased efficiency

Regular checks kept our knowledge base accurate, making it easier to trust that the information was correct. Guru recommends keeping a minimum of 80% of the knowledge base up to date, signified as a “Trust Score.” Our knowledge base scored 88%, 90 days after launch.

Trusted information

Happy teams

Teams were excited to use Guru, showing strong internal support. Here are some examples of people from different departments utilizing Guru to share knowledge within their teams:

Wrapping up

Implementing Guru at mmhmm tackled our biggest knowledge management challenges by bringing everything into one easy-to-use platform. This move boosted productivity, cut costs, and made our employees happier with how they access information. It’s a smart step that sets us up for continued growth and success.