Consolidating Company Information: A Challenge Worth Solving

In today’s fast-paced world, managing information effectively is crucial for any organization. One way companies strive to achieve this is through a knowledge base, often created with a wiki. However, many folks face a common problem: much of the necessary information is scattered across emails, often hidden in PST files, making it tedious to extract and organize.

The Email Dilemma

Imagine the hours wasted trying to convince employees to manually sift through their inboxes and input valuable insights into a wiki one by one. Not only is this method time-consuming, but it is also prone to overlooking important details. The challenge here is finding a wiki engine that supports page creation by email. This capability can simplify the process, allowing snippets of corporate knowledge to seamlessly flow from emails to a structured knowledge base.

A Solution to Your Wiki Woes

Fortunately, there are viable solutions out there! Two notable wiki engines that support page creation via email are Jotspot and MediaWiki. Let’s dive deeper into how each of them operates.

1. MediaWiki

  • Self-hosted Solution: MediaWiki requires you to set up the software on your own server.
  • Email Integration: It features the capability to monitor a designated mailbox for incoming emails.
  • Email Format: To create or append content, use the format PageTitle@yourwikidomain.com.
  • Content Management: MediaWiki can append articles to existing pages or create new ones as necessary.

Pros:

  • Extensive support for plugins to enhance functionality.
  • Highly customizable, allowing organizations to tweak it to their preferences.

Cons:

  • MediaWiki can be challenging to reorganize, often leading to orphaned pages if not managed carefully.

2. Jotspot

  • Hosted Solution: Jotspot offers a more straightforward setup as it’s already hosted.
  • Dedicated Email Address: Each user gets their individual email address for sending updates directly to their wiki.

Pros:

  • Easy to use and quick to set up.
  • It takes care of creating pages from emails effortlessly.

Cons:

  • Limited customization compared to self-hosted solutions like MediaWiki.

Making the Choice Between the Two

Choosing between MediaWiki and Jotspot depends largely on your organization’s needs and technical abilities:

  • Choose MediaWiki if you need a robust, flexible platform and have the resources to maintain it.
  • Opt for Jotspot if you prefer a hassle-free setup with less technical overhead.

Conclusion

Utilizing a wiki engine that supports page creation by email can drastically decrease the time spent on compiling your company’s knowledge base. Both Jotspot and MediaWiki can help improve accessibility to critical information while streamlining the content contribution process. No longer will your team need to wade through endless emails and attachments, as valuable insights can now flow seamlessly into the organizational knowledge pool.

Make the smart move towards an organized knowledge base today!