3M slashes training time, increases productivity with knowledgebase

Believing that its employees are just as important as its customers, 3M has implemented a knowledgebase to help support staff answer internal tech support questions.

Support workers can search a knowledgebase of 2,000 solutions for phrases describing a technical problem such as "network connections" or "mainframe applications." Further defining the problem by keyword (e.g., "fact," "symptom," or "fix,") they can search multiple data points simultaneously within the knowledgebase.

If a worker can't find the right solution to the problem, all data entered during the call is escalated to a senior support professional, saving valuable reentry time. New solutions with new workflows can be added to the knowledgebase and distributed to the entire 3M support community.

Currently 200 help desk and mobile services workers in 3M's IT Response Center are resolving over 15,000 IT questions each month using the knowledgebase, which is built on Primus' SolutionBuilder application.

Steve Conway, IT operations specialist at 3M, said the new system has cut support training time in half, improved solution accuracy and achieved higher problem resolution rates at the first point of contact.

"Being able to create, share and maintain knowledge has streamlined the problem resolution process and improved the overall productivity of our IT Response Center," said Conway.

Based on this success, 3M plans to make the help desk knowledgebase available on the company's intranet, allowing employees to log on 24/7 and help themselves to problem-solving answers. Allowing online access to tech support answers will reduce the call volume to 3M's IT Response Center and increase the quality of support.

3M also plans to pilot the system into two other divisions, one of which will incorporate a knowledgebase into the company's employee benefit hotline