One of the best ways to provide top-level support to your customers is to actually allow them to help themselves. If you have the right software in place, you can do this by setting up a knowledge base. A knowledge base is a repository of information that is accessible by all your customers and you can use it to create answers to all the most common questions, as well as those issues that are less common. Your customers can then quickly search this library of knowledge to find the answers they need. This can be quicker for them than sending in a ticket and waiting for a response. Many people prefer to search for answers themselves, and as long as you have a detailed knowledge base that is intuitive and easy to search, this can be the best way to help your customers. On top of this, it takes the pressure off your support agents because they will not have to spend time responding to tickets that the customer has solved on their own.
Web accessibility means making your web application (knowledge base software in our case) accessible to everyone, specifically for those who have disabilities; allowing them to perceive, understand, navigate and interact and contribute to the web. Web accessibility is more than just a buzzword in the corporate world. It is a way to show the world that your business values, respects, and cares for all users equally.
Web accessibility includes disabilities that affect access to the web, including:
Web accessibility not only benefits people with disabilities but also people without disabilities, for example, people using mobile phones, smartwatches, and other devices with small screens, different input modes, etc, to older people with changing abilities due to aging, to people with temporary disabilities such as a broken arm or lost glasses.
The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops technical specifications, guidelines, techniques, and supporting resources that describe accessibility solutions. These are considered international standards for web accessibility; for example, WCAG 2.0 is also an ISO standard: ISO/IEC 40500. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops technical specifications, guidelines, techniques, and supporting resources that describe accessibility solutions.
As the digital presence has become a part of our lives, compliance with WCAG guidelines makes content accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, and adhering to WCAG guidelines will become a necessity for any software. Having a well-designed but straightforward knowledge base with the additional feature of WCAG 2.1 compliance can give you an advantage in your field and a chance to expand your business quickly.
The first step in creating a knowledge base quickly and effectively is to determine the primary purpose of your knowledge base. A knowledge base is a central space to share documents, support solutions, how-to guides about your products and services with customers, partners, and employees. As a business in the 21st century, providing great customer service is getting challenging. Your customers are getting smarter, more demanding, and you need to keep up with the pace. A knowledge base without a clear purpose won’t bring any benefits. Also, make sure that the relevant topics about your company and its offerings are apparent and easy to find in the knowledge base.
If you are not a programmer and you do not have any experience with creating the knowledge base from scratch then choosing a knowledge management system with WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is the optimal solution for you. PHPKB is a modern knowledge management software that conforms to the WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines and allows you to quickly set up the knowledge base and starts organizing your organization’s knowledge. Organizing and managing employee knowledge is easy with PHPKB Knowledge Management Software. Companies can create a password-protected knowledge base, which can be accessed by only authorized employees from anywhere at any time, making the process of sharing organizational knowledge seamless and secure. PHPKB comes loaded with everything you need to share your content. If you plan to have your knowledge base with WCAG 2.1 features then PHPKB knowledge base software is an ideal choice that is already accessibility-ready.
Meeting accessibility guidelines does not guarantee you won’t face any new requirements again, but it ensures that you are “up to date”. Do not hesitate to use our services, you will meet the required standards and create the best accessibility-ready company knowledge base.
For a detailed review of how PHPKB knowledge base software conforms with WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria, please refer to our Voluntary Product Assessment Template (VPAT) document.
You may also wish to refer to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and its official website.
Article ID: 220
Created: June 10, 2020
Last Updated: May 13, 2022
Author: Ajay Chadha [support@phpkb.com]
Online URL: https://www.phpkb.com/kb/article/how-to-start-building-a-knowledge-base-with-wcag-compliance-220.html