Customers today are used to self-service experiences and expect instant answers to almost all queries. Some customers do their research before contacting you, others are less prepared but still expect quick, accurate answers to their questions – and with the resources from digital channels available, it’s expected that you should be able to provide just that.
By leveraging Knowledge Management (KM), organisations can respond proactively to customer queries, provide timely answers and solve complex problems. KM makes it easier for the customer to access information and for employees to respond, reducing the effort and time usually taken up with phone calls or in-person consultations.
Having company knowledge available is one thing, having a structured, organised system of actionable knowledge that can be called upon and recalled in an instant, is very different. KM is about the creation, sharing and management of knowledge and information of an organisation. KM has a critical role in helping an organisation achieve its business and CX objectives.
Taking the customer experience to the next level
Reaching a timely resolution is key to providing customers with the service and experience they seek from any interaction. A knowledge management system allows contact centre agents to access the right information for any given situation and offer the customer additional context and next steps.
Giving the customer all the information required with any additionally relevant information improves the agent’s confidence to deliver positive outcomes but also reinforces the customers confidence in the company.
Knowledge management is about creating, updating and dispersing relevant knowledge at an individual level. Taking vast amounts of knowledge and channelling what is important to your customer, making it useful and making it smarter is where KM really steps up the customer experience. When your employees have that power at their disposal it makes their jobs so much easier, and their customers so much happier.
Consistent answers to every question
The idea of knowledge as ‘a single source of truth’ for all channels is key to lifting business performance. KM delivered in context plays well into digital channels and is a critical element of doing more with less.
Along their journey, customers consume a variety of knowledge content before and after their purchase. They have different questions that need to be answered at different stages of their journey. If the information they receive is inconsistent or inadequate, then they will have a poor experience. And a poor experience will diminish the chance of customers making future purchases or recommending the brand to others.
The demand for useful content to assist customers along their buyer journey, has made the quick and reliable access to accurate knowledge very important. And this knowledge needs to be accessible regardless of the channel or touchpoint the customer has chosen to interact with the organisation.
We have been seeing an increase in multichannel engagement for customers. It has been more and more important to see traditional call centres become multi-channel contact centres or “Omni Channel” CX teams. By leveraging KM correctly this can be achieved with minimal resource increases. The correct KM solution will enable the staff to take on more channels of communication whilst increasing the customer experience.
AI and Chatbots powered by KM
New disruptive tools such as AI bots will also play a role in supporting the customer. Bots are set to become more predominant for the CX, and at the core they should use business KM to provide an enhanced CX.
KM technology is an easily integrated asset for businesses to improve their existing systems and infrastructure. KM as a single source of the truth is paving the way for the automated and interconnected CX of the future.
Conclusion
It can prove challenging to get everyone on the same frequency when it comes to storing and sharing data. People are usually pretty comfortable with how they are used to doing things, making the adaptation stage a hurdle of its own. Getting your team motivated to share their work and ideas in a shared space is imperative to the success of your community and productivity. An easy way to get people on the same page from the get-go is to embody a culture of learning, improving, sharing, and change.