1. Info-Tech Research Group1 Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice. Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns. © 1997-2013 Info-Tech Research Group Inc. Design a Customer Service Knowledge Management Strategy Provide agents and customers with solutions, not search engines. Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© 1997 - 2013 Info-Tech Research Group

2. Info-Tech Research Group2 Executive Summary Providing best-of-breed customer service is no accident: it requires a concerted strategy for leveraging relevant knowledge throughout the organization. Customer Service Knowledge Management (CSKM) is about facilitating timely solutions to customer service problems by getting the right information to the right person at the right time. Organizations with a high degree of product complexity and/or customer service complexity should strongly consider adopting a standalone platform for Customer Service Knowledge Management. CSKM platforms provide a host of tools for successfully resolving customer service issues. Common tools include knowledgebases, advanced search, and resolution workflow tools like decision trees and service wizards. Tier-1 customer service representatives are not knowledge workers – they are process-oriented. Therefore, it’s important to equip them with solutions focused on expedient resolution of customer problems rather than unfocused knowledge sharing or internal collaboration. CSKM solutions must be integrated directly into service channels to succeed, such as web self-service, email, chat, and phone support. Standalone CSKM platforms can improve a variety of key customer service metrics, such as customer retention and cost- to-serve. Larger organizations with significant customer service operations and deep product lines are the most likely to realize a high ROI from adopting a standalone platform that is integrated across all service channels. Implementation considerations include putting together the deployment team, establishing points-of-integration, creating platform security policies, and executing initiatives aimed at end-user adoption. Organizations must also dedicate full-time resources to ongoing management of the knowledgebase content and structure.

3. Info-Tech Research Group3 Customer Service Knowledge Management (CSKM) can be a daunting task: choose a strategy to support users and agents across all channels. Introduction IT managers and technical staff who support call center operations, including upkeep of customer support websites. Customer Service Managers involved in the selection process for customer service applications. Product and knowledge professionals responsible for service resolution content. Senior management involved in customer service steering committees. Understand how effective knowledge management is a critical customer service activity, and how a dedicated CSKM platform can improve key customer service metrics. Build an effective strategy for leveraging customer service knowledge across all service channels. Implement and optimize the selected platform. This Research Is Designed For:This Research Will Help You:

4. Info-Tech Research Group4 The Info-Tech Customer Service Research Agenda Customer Service Solution Selection VL: Customer Service Management Suites Customer Service Management (CSM) suites provide a range of functionality for effectively resolving service inquiries. This set will help you choose the right CSM platform. Design a Field Service Automation Strategy Field service agents require unique mobile solutions that allow them to get the job done. Vendor Landscape: Field Service Automation A variety of vendors offer end-to-end solutions for field service that meet complicated use cases. Vendor Landscape: Customer Service Knowledge Management Suites Choosing a standalone CSKM platform can help achieve knowledge management (KM) goals. Customer Service Knowledge Management Strategy Supporting knowledge management in the customer service organization is critical for successful resolutions. Design a Service Strategy that Keeps Pace with Customers Providing world-class customer service is a critical differentiator in a competitive marketplace. Organizations are taking advantage of traditional and social interaction channels to serve customers.

5. Info-Tech Research Group5 What’s in this Section:Sections: Build a CSKM Strategy Create a Selection Roadmap Select the Right Platform Implement and Optimize Understand what CSKM is and why it’s a necessity for organizations with complex service requirements. Understand how using a standalone CSKM platform can improve key customer service metrics. Decide whether a standalone CSKM platform is right for your organization. Develop a set of best practices for supporting multi- channel customer service with specific CSKM tools.

6. Info-Tech Research Group6 You need a strategy for managing & leveraging organizational knowledge in order to resolve service issues Many organizations face market pressures that make providing world-class customer service a necessity. In a competitive marketplace, the ability to quickly and accurately address customer issues is a prerequisite for ensuring customer satisfaction and retention. Knowledge Management (KM) is the stewardship of information, ideas, and insights. KM practices can be applied to a variety of an organization’s processes, both internal (i.e. employee collaboration) and external (for customer/partner relationship management). CSKM is focused on how to leverage organizational knowledge to effectively and efficiently resolve customer issues. There are a number of standalone software platforms available to assist organizations with this facet of KM. KM crosses many business domains. This research focuses on external-facing KM for customer service. CSKM is the capture, retention, categorization, and dissemination of information to resolve customer issues. It’s all about getting the right information to the right person at the right time (and with the right amount of cost and effort). Partner- Facing Knowledge Management (i.e. strategic partnerships) Internal- Facing Knowledge Management (i.e. employee collaboration) External- Facing Knowledge Management (i.e. customer service) Enterprise Knowledge Management Organizations that excel at customer service have a common dedication to developing processes and systems for organizing and managing service-relevant knowledge. If your firm has sizeable customer service operations that warrant a standalone platform, this research will help you select a vendor.

7. Info-Tech Research Group7 A breakdown in CSKM means poor resolution of problems – and customer defection  Organizations need to give consistent resolutions to queries and problems across all channels, from self-service to assisted- service. The lack of a common knowledgebase across service channels causes frustration for both agents and customers because it leads to inconsistent and uneven solutions.  As product lines grow in size and complexity, simple search solutions and FAQs cannot support customer demands.  Not having effective practices or solutions for Customer Service Knowledge Management leads to excessive service times, increased cost to serve, and high customer churn. A standalone CSKM platform can remedy many of these concerns by providing an unified knowledgebase, advanced search, and resolution workflow capabilities. Enterprises are investing considerable resources to provide service that exceeds customer expectations. Poor customer service results in decreased customer satisfaction, high attrition, and – if left unchecked – anemic top-line revenue growth. Proper CSKM can be beneficial for all organizations, because customers are what make organizations exist in the first place. Without customers, where would businesses be? Nowhere! - IT Manager, Legal Services Resolutions to the most common problems are not easily available, resulting in manual hunting for the “right” answer: this wastes agents’ time and increases labor costs. Agents do not give uniform answers to similar service inquiries. If these inconsistencies are brought to light (i.e. via social channels), it undermines the service organization’s credibility and damages brand equity. This increases customer defections and retention costs. Information can’t be easily transferred between representatives. If your agents can’t reference a common knowledgebase, there is no unifying point-of-reference. This increases administrative and overhead expenses. Negative Impact of Poor Customer Service Knowledge Management:

8. Info-Tech Research Group8 Don’t design your CSKM processes around Tier-1 Customer Service Agents like they are knowledge workers  Cases may occasionally be escalated to traditional knowledge workers, but Tier-1 agents are process-driven. Traditional enterprise knowledge management and search solutions, designed for researchers, are inappropriate for CSKM: a specialized platform is required.  Design to support transactions: the goal is to provide process workers with the embedded tools they need to resolve customer service issues. Select tools that are designed with ease-of-use, process, and channels integration in mind – CSKM platforms are not designed for internal collaboration (look to Info-Tech’s Collaboration & Teamware research for information on internal collaboration). Collaboration & Teamware  To create and maintain a professional knowledgebase requires a specific skill set above that of the typical call center agent. Degreed library science professionals often excel at this job. The majority of workers in any given organization are process-oriented. This holds particularly true for call center operations. Customer Service Representatives in call centers are process-centric: they need a platform that embraces this reality and enables rapid problem identification and solution retrieval. Sr. Mgmt. Sr. Mgmt. Knowledge Workers Process Workers Deploying traditional knowledge management tools to front-line customer service representatives is a strategic mistake: Tier-1 reps must focus on expedient processing and resolution of customer service issues, not activities like research, ideation, and knowledge-sharing. Select a dedicated CSKM platform with a toolset that reflects this reality: do not extend traditional search tools to these workers.

9. Info-Tech Research Group9 Don’t rely on search engines alone if your organization has a high degree of product and service complexity There are two approaches to CSKM content management: search indexing of external sources and using a built-in CSKM knowledgebase. A common mistake is simply adding a search engine layer over top of existing content (i.e. from a product page or SharePoint site). This approach is unsuitable for any company that considers customer service to be a core activity. Having a discrete customer service KB means that resolutions are always being pulled from a common source. There is “one version of the truth”. It also makes authoring, updating, organizing, and retiring content a straightforward task, since articles in the KB are managed in a single place. Most CSKM platforms do provide indexing of content other than that found in the knowledgebase – this is fine (in fact, desirable). But external context indexing should be used in conjunction with a dedicated knowledgebase, not as a substitution to one. Successful customer service requires a discrete knowledgebase in which to author, manage, and optimize content specifically for service resolution.

10. Info-Tech Research Group10 Opt for a centralized CSKM platform to gain access to a variety of powerful features for enhancing customer service initiatives Standalone CSKM platforms offer a variety of features aimed at facilitating quick resolutions to customer problems. These features go “above and beyond” what is offered in Customer Relationship Management platforms. There are five broad feature categories that are included in most CSKM platforms: Content Repositories: knowledgebases that hold customer service resolution articles; typically include tools for authoring and editorial workflows. Advanced Search and Indexing: allow queries to be run against internal knowledgebases and external content that’s been indexed; provide ability to easily navigate search results. Resolution Workflow Tools: tools that aid agents and customers in rapidly resolving issues – common examples include decision trees and wizards. Reporting and Analytics: provide information on CSKM knowledgebases (e.g. highlighting gaps in the taxonomy). Social and Mobile Tools: social sharing, social analytics, mobile platform access. CSKM platforms bring many features under one roof. CSKM Platform Content Repositories Advanced Search and Indexing Resolution Workflow Tools Reporting and Analytics Social and Mobile Tools

11. Info-Tech Research Group11 Base your strategy for service knowledge management on the myriad of benefits provided by standalone CSKM platforms External Facing (Self-Service):Internal Facing (Assisted-Service): Effectiveness-Based : Efficiency-Based: CSKMs allow agents to more effectively handle customer service inquiries. Clunky searches are replaced by well- organized knowledgebases that can be continually updated and refreshed with the most accurate content. Key metrics improved by a CSKM platform: Increased customer satisfaction rate through all assisted service channels. Increased consistency of resolutions. Customers using self-service channels want to get at the information they need with a minimal amount of headaches. Supporting your self-service initiatives with a CSKM back-end means that they can quickly access relevant information. Key metrics improved by a CSKM platform: Increased customer satisfaction through self-service channels. Increased customer retention rate. Decreased coverage gaps in critical self-service taxonomies. Having a CSKM platform also increases agent productivity. Agents spending less time worrying about processes will have more time to directly serve customers. Key metrics improved by a CSKM platform: Decreased time-to-resolution for customer service inquiries through assisted-service channels (chat, telephony). Increased agent-utilization rates. Decreased average cost-to-serve for agent-assisted customer service. CSKMs cut down the time it takes for customers to get at “need- to-know” information. They also provide customers with tools for providing feedback to the organization on the usefulness of their support (i.e. ability to rate and comment on knowledgebase articles). Key metrics improved by a CSKM platform: Decreased time-to-resolution for customer service inquiries through self-service channels. Avoid assisted service as first contact or escalation to assisted service through good self-service.

12. Info-Tech Research Group12 Info-Tech Research Group Helps IT Professionals To: Sign up for free trial membership to get practical solutions for your IT challenges www.infotech.com Quickly get up to speed with new technologies Make the right technology purchasing decisions – fast Deliver critical IT projects, on time and within budget Manage business expectations Justify IT spending and prove the value of IT Train IT staff and effectively manage an IT department “Info-Tech helps me to be proactive instead of reactive – a cardinal rule in a stable and leading edge IT environment. - ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co., LP Toll Free: 1-888-670-8889