Word to the wise: Knowledge management software may offer more than you think it does, especially when companies are trying to do more with less.
As we become more of a Web culture, customers are increasingly accustomed to finding information on their own, provided they have the tools to do so. This is where knowledge management comes in.
An on-line knowledge base lets you provide customers and agents with fast and easy access to information about your company, products and services. A knowledge base can reduce the number of repetitive calls to agents, allowing them to concentrate on complex issues. And when complex issues do arise, agents have the knowledge on hand to quickly and accurately solve them.
The case studies we illustrate below involve companies that have made a significant investment in knowledge management software. Each company pursued specific goals and made careful considerations along the way.
For example, outsourcer Center Partners conducted scientifically validated trial groups to proficiently measure the benefits of knowledge management software. And the continuous help of integrators and consultants aided Cingular Wireless' implementation.
By gathering the necessary support from executives and employees, these companies were able to gain maximum value from the technology.
A (C)ingular Achievement
When your business involves 22 nationwide call centers employing more than 15,000 people, things tend to get complicated. This is something that Atlanta, GA-based Cingular Wireless knows all too well.
Back in December 2001, we spoke with Cingular executives about the challenges of staffing their recently consolidated call centers. We learned about their strategies for staffing up quickly and efficiently while maintaining a high level of quality. A little more than one year later we returned to find out about their latest challenge.
"Our business - as complex as it is - keeps getting more and more complex," says Steve Mullins, vice president - customer experience for Cingular Wireless.
Cingular's agents needed a user-friendly method for accessing answers to customers' frequently asked questions (FAQs) and troubleshooting procedures.
To that end, Cingular looked to similarly complex businesses in the computer industry, such as Dell and Microsoft. Mullins and colleague Monica Browning, Cingular's director - knowledge management, met with several knowledge management software vendors. They learned how the vendors' tools operate and they visited end users.
"We thought about how [the knowledge management software] would integrate with what we envisioned the future desktop to look like," says Mullins. "This system would be the foundation for what we use throughout all of our departments."
The company chose ServiceWare's (Edison, NJ) eService Suite. ServiceWare's decision integrity department helped Cingular put together a basis for proving the software's return on investment (ROI).
"Before we began to roll out the software, we made sure that we had support from the CIO all the way down," says Mullins. "We acquainted executives with the power of the tool. And we carried out a campaign to let employees know what to expect."
Cingular began implementation by rolling out eService Suite to its tech support department across three call centers. Cingular enlisted the help of consultancies Cap Gemini Ernst and Young (New York, NY) and Innovative Management Solutions (Moorestown, NJ).
"Initially populating the knowledge base was a combined effort between internal employees who are familiar with wireless features and services and an external authoring group from Innovative Management Solutions," says Browning.
Agents access the knowledge base on-line by entering a unique ID name and password. Depending on their user profiles, they view only information that's relevant to them.
To search the knowledge base, agents use natural language to state the particular issue or problem. The software matches their search against a list of authored issues. Agents then select the appropriate issue; the software presents potential resolutions.
"The software uses a complex algorithm to decide the order to list the issues based partly on the exact text and phrase matching," says Browning. "[The software] can also match synonyms and give extra weight to particular things. The more you give it, the easier it is for the system to provide the solution closest to your issue."
Agents can provide feedback by using the software's contribute button located on their toolbars. For example, if they follow a certain path to a correct solution and notice that it didn't mention an important step, agents click the contribute button. The software automatically records their steps and displays a screen with a field for them to enter their feedback. Cingular's knowledge management team can access agents' input and make the appropriate changes.
The knowledge management team consists of about 25 people who maintain the knowledge base full time. Members of the team are located in Cingular's Atlanta headquarters.
The team works with members of Cingular's different departments. For example, if there's a new product launch, the marketing department uses templates to provide the product's details to the knowledge management team. The team then collaborates with designated subject matter experts to put the appropriate information into a user-friendly format on the knowledge base.
To input all the data into the knowledge base - a major challenge - the company divided the process into phases. Browning estimates that it was about four months before the knowledge base was ready for the first group of users.
"We have about 80% to 90% of all the tech support info ready now and a good 70% to 80% of the general info," says Mullins. Next on Cingular's list is to input all of its rate plans, which is no easy task considering the large number of plans.
Cingular also expects to have the knowledge base ready for customers' use before the end of 2003. Customers will be able to access instructions for using wireless services and features, handsets and other devices that Cingular carries, plus troubleshooting tips. The knowledge base will be available to customers on-line and in Cingular's retail stores.
For the longer term, Cingular aims to provide the knowledge base's basic information through the company's IVR system. Using speech recognition, customers will be able to use natural language to search for basic queries.
Centering Around Knowledge
A lack of knowledge wasn't a problem for Fort Collins, Colorado-based outsourcer Center Partners. Instead, agents working on one client's account had a hard time managing all of the client's disparate info, which includes Web pages from the client and the client's vendor suppliers.
Because Center Partners had no control over the client's information they had to work with what they had. The main goal was to find a way to better organize information so that agents can access it faster and easier. The outsourcer was also striving to improve the quality of service that agents provide to its client's customers.
