Knowledge Management: The Key to CRM Success
The instant-access world we live in has forced companies to find ways to answer their customers’ inquiries now, or at least as quickly as humanly possible. After all, when a customer service representative can answer a caller’s inquiry quickly and accurately, the customer is more satisfied...and satisfied customers can mean repeat business. With an estimated 75% of companies today already using some type of problem- or call-tracking technology, the benefits of CRM are well known. Still, many companies are finding they need additional technology that can help them leverage their knowledge across the enterprise; they need technology that can help them provide detailed, accurate and quick solutions to customer questions. For instance, an ever-increasing number of customers want access to self-help on the Web, leaving companies without effective Web-based self-service access in a quandary.
This is where knowledge management comes into play. Once thought of simply as a “nice-to-have” technology, knowledge management has become essential to a company’s customer service and support initiatives, whether in the call center or over the Web. The knowledge-sharing and problem-resolution capabilities of an effective knowledge system can help companies leverage their existing technology, help increase agent productivity and reduce costs.
Gartner reports, “Knowledge management and collaboration are critical factors in the long-term success of customer relationship management. CRM effectiveness and efficiency can be increased when enterprises optimize their management of critical knowledge.”1
Benefits of Integration
Many companies that are using CRM or call-tracking technology have already begun to realize the advantages of integrating their existing technology with an advanced knowledge management system.
Linking a CRM system’s problem-tracking function with a knowledge management solution allows agents to solve problems quickly and can help companies significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to train new agents.
An effective knowledge management system facilitates collaboration and knowledge sharing throughout the company, and reduces agent-training cycles by giving a brand new agent access to the same knowledge that a veteran agent has. Moreover, knowledge management systems can help save time because agents no longer need to access call logs or ask for help from more experienced agents.
Buyers beware: not all knowledge management systems are, in fact, true knowledge management systems. Over the years, the term “knowledge management” has carried with it a somewhat fuzzy connotation; it has been used to describe all of the attempts, whether targeted or not, in an organization to collect and reuse intellectual assets. In fact, some vendors tout their basic natural language or keyword search engines as knowledge management technology, further adding to the confusion. Unfortunately, organizations that invest in these types of engines, or rely on the “knowledge management” capabilities that come with their CRM product, soon find out that they’re not really any farther ahead than they were when they were using their standalone CRM system.
Effective knowledge management systems, on the other hand, share several key characteristics. Most importantly, they allow companies to draw on collective knowledge and expertise to deliver fast, accurate and consistent answers to customer queries. The best knowledge management systems will have self-learning and self-organizing search functionality, so that they get smarter with each experience. They will be scalable, flexible, support multiple languages and have built-in reporting capabilities. The vendor’s knowledge management software should also easily integrate with your CRM system and enable you to leverage your existing technology investment. Benefits of integrating KM with CRM
Increased productivity and ease of use. Support professionals can access the knowledge base directly from the CRM system where calls are tracked, so they don’t have to switch between applications.
Elimination of redundant tasks. With ServiceWare Enterprise, trouble tickets are updated with solution information from the knowledge base and automatically closed in the CRM system.
Fast, controllable capture and delivery of new knowledge. Analysts add new solutions to the database as they are discovered and developed.
Self-Service Capabilities. Customers visiting a company’s Web site can search for solutions in the knowledge base. If an appropriate solution can’t be found, contacting the help desk is as easy as clicking “Escalate.” A new trouble ticket is automatically created in the CRM system
Measurements to evaluate effectiveness. Reports can be created that accurately show how many calls are resolved with solutions from the knowledge base, and which solutions are the most effective.
ServiceWare’s solutions are driven by the Cognitive Processor®, the industry’s only patented self-learning search technology. In addition, ServiceWare’s solutions have an open architecture and they integrate seamlessly with leading CRM systems, including HP OpenView, Peregrine, Remedy, Siebel, AMDOCS, ClarifyCRM and Magic.
At ServiceWare, our years of KM experience have taught us that there are many proven benefits of combining an effective knowledge management system with CRM, including reduced call times, fewer call escalations, lower costs and happier customers, to name a few.
For more information about ServiceWare’s products and services, please visit ServiceWare
1 Gartner, The Case for Knowledge Management in CRM, 12, April 2003, Kathy Harris, Esteban Kolsky and James Lund