Item: Guru
Rating: 10
Author: Linda Rawlinson

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use the collections in Guru as separate knowledge bases for our different teams/departments. As an agile startup, we have a lot of processes that change with some frequency, which means that our entire knowledge base needs to be up to date at all times. Guru makes this very easy, particularly with the ability to set verification reminders at custom intervals, and to assign collections, boards and individual cards to different team members.

Pros and Cons

Assigning collections, boards and cards to individuals or teams
Prompting verification at custom times
Integrating with Slack and other platforms for seamless monitoring and updating
Enabling sharing internally and externally

The analytics section is overly complicated and also seems to change too frequently to be useful
The analytics section also seems to be the area that's slowest to respond (can take a while to load)

Most Important Features

The ability to manage collections
The ability to share externally
The intuitive search function
The ability to analyse verification rates

Return on Investment

It allows our team to feel confident in their roles
It allows our team to communicate company-wide changes
It allows our team to communicate with external parties

Alternatives Considered

HubSpot CRM, Text Blaze and Asana

HubSpot CRM didn't work for us because it was overly complex and tied to different subscription levels. Text Blaze is too basic and isn't as easy to organize – we need to be able to have separate and clearly defined collections. Asana is better as a project management tool.

Key Insights

Do you think Guru delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Guru's feature set?

Yes

Did Guru live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Guru go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Guru again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Slack, Jira Service Management, Trello, HubSpot CRM, Customer.io

Likelihood to Recommend

Guru has been invaluable for training new team members. When I first joined the company seven years ago, I used Guru daily to refresh my memory on certain internal processes, either those frequently used or those used only occasionally. Our knowledge base has grown over the years as our company has grown. We know have very structured training for new team members, but Guru still plays a very big part because it enables us to tailor our training depending on which team a new hire is joining.

Because our knowledge base is now much larger than before, it can be difficult to remember where certain cards or boards might be kept, but Guru's knowledge base is very intuitive and will always make finding the right card very easy.

Usability

Guru has always been easy to use. The only feature that seems overly complex is the analytics section, which we don't tend to look at. We've never had any difficulty with creating collections, boards or cards, or with sharing them with our internal team or external partners.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Changing ownership of cards
Verifying cards
Searching for cards

Difficult Tasks

Moving cards or boards can be a little difficult to work out if it's not something that's done regularly

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes, but I don't use it

Intuitive knowledge base that we've been using for years!

Overall Satisfaction with Guru