Wikis

Business Application Wikis

Wikis are a smart response to your company's content management problems. These easy-to-use solutions have tons of applications for businesses -- all of which give your company collaborative synergy for little or no cost.

Wiki is a term that has charged into the American vernacular and taken the Internet by storm.

Based on a Hawaiian phrase that means "quick", wiki gives individuals convenient access to large quantities of information.

At its most basic level, wiki is a simple form of content management. Multiple users can create and edit single documents or projects from a variety of geographic locations. In the past, corporate America has relied on enterprise-level content management systems that were pricey and unwieldy for average users. Wiki offers an alternative to those systems by providing several important applications for small businesses.

• Centralized content management. Wiki is a true global communication resource. From anywhere in the world, users can access, create and manage the information contained on wiki pages. This makes wiki technology in no-brainer for companies who employ staff in a widely-dispersed geographic area.
• Knowledge bases. Wiki lets small teams create and maintain knowledge bases that need to be distributed to large groups of people. Instead of managing a large knowledge base directly on a website, companies can use wiki pages to post information that is used either inside or outside the company.
• Meeting facilitation. Organizing and executing meetings is a challenge in companies with multiple locations. Even single location businesse can find it difficult to distribute minutes, agendas and information to a large group of meeting participants. Wiki lets you store all of that information in one place and encourages participants to continue working on meeting topics after the meeting has ended.
• Project management. Since wiki is designed for ground-up business applications, it possesses an inherently synergistic quality. All employees who are authorized to use a wiki page can access the same information and share ideas back and forth. Unlike other workflow applications, staff members that use wiki take quick ownership of projects.
• Documentation processes. In business, understanding how a project was created is often just as important as the end result. Wiki technology is designed to track contributions and edits, leaving a convenient audit trail in its wake for company managers and administrators.

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