Every business has got them. They are the policy and procedure and practice manuals. They fill three-ring binders and shelf after shelf of bookcases. And most people don't use them much because they're hard to use.
That's exactly the reason why getting them online can be a big benefit for your business. When you do that, an interesting thing is going to happen. Companies who have placed their manuals online have discovered that the online version becomes, almost immediately, the official version. Even if they're sending out printed updates, folks will tend not to use the printed updates but instead use the online version.
That illustrates one benefit of putting those manuals online in the first place. Ultimately, you get to cut down on printing and the cost of postage or other shipping to get stuff to people in far-flung locations. You're also more likely to have people using the current version, because that's the easy thing to do.
Think about it. Think about the number of times you or people in your office have gotten subscriptions to those binder services that come with updates every month or couple of weeks. How many people do you know who actually update the manual as soon as they get the pages? Most of us don't.
Instead, we tend to stack the updates up until it's time to look for something in the manual. Then there's a frantic search through the updates to see if there's anything that matters there. Getting stuff on the Web gets rid of that problem, too.
Making It Work
:
You've probably got your manuals already in digital form. Don't expect that there's some magic conversion that will create good Web pages for you, though. Instead, budget the time and effort to put clean Web pages together with good links.
Those links are part of the power of having manuals up on the net. Another big benefit is a search engine.
Give people the ability to search your manuals and the online manuals instantly become more useful than those bulky paper ones that they have to leaf through.
Don't expect folks to give up their paper manuals and updates right away. It usually takes about a year to a year-and-a-half, in my experience, for people to get comfortable with using the online form.
Created/Revised/Reviewed: 30 July 2002
This is only one Big Idea. You'll find more in Wally's book, What's the Big Idea? and in his Big Idea column. There's a complete list on the Main Big Idea page. You may also order the book by clicking here.
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