In this week’s episode of the Knowledgebase Ninjas Podcast, Gowri Ramkumar is joined by Selvaraaju Murugesan, Data Strategist at Kovai.co. They discuss the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in transforming technical documentation, Selvaraaju’s multi-step technical writing process, and the software and techniques for improving organic traffic.

Key Facts

• Selvaraaju’s LinkedIn
• Kovai.co website
• Selvaraaju holds a Master’s degree in Electronics and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence
• Kovai.co provides enterprise software solutions for B2B and SaaS products

Key Takeaways

• Selvaraaju started his journey as a content writer that transitioned into data analytics and technical documentation after completing his PhD in the relevant field
• Kovai.co uses innovative software tools and AI to build B2B and SaaS products, which navigates organic traffic to their content 
• Kovai.co has a team of writers, developers, editors, thinkers (brainstormers), and innovators. Selvaraaju shares that all the teams at Kovai.co remain in sync to promote a healthy knowledge base throughout the organization 
• Selvaraaju believes that documentation is an intensive process. He describes his documentation package as the combination of data analytics, stakeholder’s reviews, SEO optimization, etc 
• He classifies his documentation cycle as a multi-step process that involves a;
• Pre-released process: Here the content writers create a draft consisting of the product details using software and AI tools 
• Quality assurance process: Here key stakeholders review the content and suggest any required changes
• Editorial process: Here Selvaraaju reviews the document for language parity, information flow, terminologies, and examples used. He ensures that the document is easy to understand for the end-user
• Post-release process: This process involves two major aspects; customer feedback and technical checks such as fixing any broken links
• Selvaraaju endorses the use of AI tools such as Persado and Wordsmith for automated suggestions, spell checks, and improving readability scores 
• Selvaraaju believes that the correct use of “software and AI can help reduce the time and effort and increase accuracy” 
• Apart from Selvaraaju’s trust in documentation through AI, he acknowledges the shortcomings of completely relying on it. For example, it cannot help writers with contextual information therefore, they must be very careful while using AI for technical documentation 
• Selvaraaju believes that data strategists and writers should periodically refer to the latest trends shaping up technical writing through documentation and articles
• Selvaraaju believes that companies need to be more focused and should prioritise audience-specific products

Key Resources

• National Language Process
• Persado
• Wordsmith
• Contentwriters.com
• Google
• AWS

What documentation-related advice would Selvaraaju give to his 20-year-old self?

“Be patient and attentive; Embrace the technology and amalgamate your creativeness with the software tools to improvise documentation”

Subscribe to Knowledgebase Ninjas

• Apple
• Spotify
• RSS

Quote