moving the needle on knowledge management - 4 key steps to successful implementation

2 | Moving the Needle on Knowledge Management

Moving the Needle

on Knowledge

Management


Table of Contents

Introduction: Key Steps to

Successful Knowledge Management…………….………3

Step 1: Know What

Knowledge Management Is………………………….……..4

Step 2: Hire a Dedicated

Knowledge Administrator…………………………….………7

Step 3: Make Knowledge a Key Part

of Your Customer Care Strategy……….…………………12

Step 4: Consider Multiple

Ways to Use Knowledge…………………………………….15

The Knowledge Management Payoff……………………17


Lots of companies have attempted to leverage knowledge

management both internally and externally, but maximizing

its use and value has not always proven easy. For many

companies, it’s been a frustrating journey of implementing

a knowledge solution only to find few people use it.

So how do you get from a largely ignored implementation

to one that is in heavy demand and usage? In this e-book,

we’ll explore four key steps that can lead to a highly

successful knowledge management implementation.

Introduction

Key Steps to Successful

Knowledge Management

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What is knowledge management?

Perhaps surprisingly, it’s not just a technology or a product

you buy. Granted, you buy a software solution for

managing your knowledge, but real knowledge

management is a collection of best practices and

processes for leveraging the know-how that exists in your

organization. It requires a well thought-out strategy for

creating and maintaining the knowledgebase in order to

continuously improve its performance and promote its use.

Step 1

Know What Knowledge

Management Is





Where technology comes into play is in the ability to use

the most sophisticated forms of searching. What you don’t

want is knowledge management that relies on simple

keyword searches a la Google which yields hundreds and

even thousands of potential “answers”.

A good knowledge solution leverages multiple ways of

searching including natural language search, semantic

search, intent-based search and decision trees that ask

questions to clarify intent.

Search techniques

like decision trees

help users pinpoint

the right answer

by guiding them

through the

process of defining

their questions.





Knowledge management uses all these search techniques

to deliver the “single right answer”. This relevancy of

response (RoR) is the equivalent of first call resolution

(FCR) in your contact center.

In fact, just as you have benchmarks for FCR, you will

need a service level agreement for the RoR your

knowledge solution delivers. Ideally, every answer should

have no less than 85% relevancy to the question, and

there should be no more than 3 answers per inquiry.

RoR Measurement

Techniques

Knowledge vendor’s

RoR algorithm

Frequency of same

response

Customer and agent

rating of accuracy and

usefulness

Subject matter expert

sign off

Did this answer

your question?





A successful knowledge management implementation

incorporates all of the knowledge that gets used in your

organization and operations. This includes knowledge

about corporate policies and procedures, the information

agents, customers and partners need to resolve issues,

and knowledge that is generated through social channels.

Step 2

Hire a Dedicated

Knowledge Administrator





The trick is to get this knowledge into your knowledge

repository and keep it current and accurate. Unfortunately,

this is the step that can spell death for your knowledge

implementation if it isn’t done right.

Too often, the approach to populating the knowledge

repository is to rely on contact center agents and subject

matter experts for voluntary contributions. The reality is

they rarely contribute. They are too busy and often do not

possess the writing or typing skills needed to quickly craft

quality content.

90%

of call center

agents type with

two fingers





Knowledge management is not a part-time job. The

success of your implementation depends on designating a

knowledge worker whose sole function is to populate and

administer the knowledgebase content.

Look for individuals who have taken classes in business

writing. They should also demonstrate good research and

communication skills as your knowledge administrator will

work closely with contact center agents and subject matter

experts to create, review and revise content.





It’s important that your administrator monitors how well the

content is meeting the SLA for relevancy of response.

When responses are not meeting targets, an “unresolved

process” is needed to improve performance.

Using an automated workflow, the questions and answers

can be sent to the administrator with a time limit set for

creating and publishing more accurate and relevant

content. This process continually increases the value of the

knowledge by focusing on those areas most in need of

improvement.





Consider how the knowledge administrator fits into your

organization in order to facilitate success. A good place to

start is within the IT organization where the administrator

works with IT staff to get the knowledgebase implemented

and populated with existing content.

Then the administrator can move to a permanent

residence in the contact center—the ground zero for

consuming knowledge. When your administrator lives

where knowledge use is crucial, he or she can most easily

capture and revise content that reflects real-world

knowledge needs.





Knowledge cannot live on its own. The key to adoption is

to make sure knowledge is integrated everywhere.

Knowledge needs to be behind every channel you support,

from the contact center and IVR to email, online search,

SMS, Web chat, virtual assistants and social channels.

Step 3

Make Knowledge a Key Part of

Your Customer Care Strategy





It is particularly important that knowledge is fully integrated

with every transaction through the Web care model of your

customer care strategy.

Think about what typically happens when a customer who

is about to check out has a question. Email is far too slow,

requiring the customer to wait hours—if not days—for an

answer. By the time it arrives, the customer has long ago

abandoned the cart.

The usual alternative is a web chat with a live agent or a

phone call, both of which are costly models for answering

what may be a very simple question.





A far better solution is to fully integrate knowledge with

your transaction systems so that answers can be instantly

supplied using lower cost online channels.

Imagine that every single transaction screen has the

knowledgebase behind it, ready to provide immediate

assistance in the most contextually relevant way possible,

whether that is a simple auto-generated text answer, a

how-to video, a chat with a virtual assistant or a link to a

social forum, for example.

With knowledge

embedded in

every transaction,

relevant answers

can be immediate,

enabling the sale

to move forward.





Typically, knowledge management is considered as a

primary tool for customer service or support organizations.

It’s a great place to start your knowledge implementation.

Step 4

Consider Multiple Ways to

Use Knowledge

But this doesn’t mean knowledge management is useful

only in this setting. A comprehensive strategy for

knowledge management considers how it can become

integral to the functioning of multiple groups within the

organization.





Marketing and sales departments offer an excellent

opportunity for expanding knowledge use, helping these

organizations better target campaigns and increase sales.

For example:

• Embed Search or Web chat at the

checkout screen to answer last

minute questions.

• Analyze search, chat and virtual

assistant interactions to

understand your customers’

experiences and respond

appropriately, such as proactively

inviting them to chat at moments

where they get “stuck”.

• Provide knowledge access to

telesales agents to shorten

training cycles and rapidly ramp

productivity.

• Provide feedback to product

development to create more

customer-focused goods and

services.





The Knowledge

Management Payoff

With knowledge management, you can more easily and

rapidly resolve issues so that you can:

• Use less expensive self-service channels for customer

care

• Significantly reduce phone call and Web chat volumes

• Defer agent hiring and even reduce headcount

• Reduce time-to-resolution when agent interactions are

needed

• Increase productivity by increasing the number of

simultaneous Web chat sessions per agent

$35

average cost

per call

$12

average cost

per web chat





Here’s how knowledge management has delivered

measurable ROI to two companies:

Fortune 500 Technology Company

• 62% reduction in average call handle time

• 30% increase in agent adoption in first 6 months

• 2,300% increase in article contribution

Fortune 100 Company

• $2.4 million savings per year by shaving 3 seconds off

each complex call

• 1 million complex calls per month handled through

knowledgebase





Thoughtfully implemented knowledge management can

deliver real value to your organization, enabling you to

offer outstanding customer care at far lower cost.

Using the techniques outlined in this e-book, you can

achieve high rates of adoption and cost-effective issue

resolution. It’s a win-win for everybody—your customers,

your staff and your business.





Meet the author

Johan Jacobs

Johan Jacobs is a former research director with Gartner,

Inc. Based on his 13 years of experience, Johan has

developed a depth of insight and expertise on

knowledge management, including best practices,

implementation techniques and ROI.


Learn More

If you’re interested in learning more about Moxie

Software’s solutions for knowledge management,

please contact:

Moxie Software

[email protected]

NA: +1-800-474-1149

Int’l: +44-870-904-1122

www.moxiesoft.com