Vendor Landscape Plus: Customer Service Knowledge Managementdocs.media.bitpipe.com/io_10x/io_105202/item_544768/customer-se… · Customer Service Representatives in call centers

Info-Tech Research Group 1

Vendor Landscape Plus:

Customer Service Knowledge Management Provide agents and customers with solutions, not search engines.


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, e-mail, 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.

• The market for CSKM tools is rich, with a variety of vendors and products to choose from. In its Vendor Landscape

evaluation process, Info-Tech found that KANA provided the most well-rounded platform. eGain provided the best

knowledgebase solution, while Moxie was the leader in social channel integration.

• 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.


Customer Service Knowledge Management (CSKM) can be a daunting task:

select the right platform 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.

Evaluate and select from a shortlist of vendors.

Implement and optimize the selected platform.

This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:


The Info-Tech Customer Service Roadmap

Customer Service

Strategy

Taking Customer

Service Social

Customer

Service Solution

Selection

Design a Customer Service Strategy that Services the Social Customer

• Providing world-class customer service is a critical differentiator in a competitive marketplace.

Organizations are taking advantage of both traditional and social interaction channels to serve

customers (though adoption of Web 2.0 channels for service lags behind sales and marketing).

• Building a robust customer service strategy that addresses issues like channel switching, migration, and

escalation is a critical starting point.

Customer Service

Management Suites

• Customer Service Management (CSM) suites

provide a range of functionality for effectively

resolving service inquiries, such as skills-

based routing and case management tools.

Customer Service Knowledge

Management Platforms

• Supporting knowledge management in the

customer service organization is critical for

successful resolutions.

• This set will help you select the right CSKM

platform.

Leverage Social Media for Enhanced

Customer Interaction

• New customer interaction channels (social

media) require alignment with your existing

CRM strategy.

• Build a plan for leveraging these channels in

marketing, sales and customer service.

Implement a Social Media Strategy

• Implementing wide-scale social initiatives

requires moving from “listening post” to

“command center.” Organizations must

embed opportunities for social engagement

at various touch points (including customer

service).

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-design-a-customer-service-strategy-that-serves-the-social-customer

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-vendor-landscape-plus-customer-service-management-suites



http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/leveraging-social-media-for-customer-interaction

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/leveraging-social-media-for-customer-interaction

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-implement-a-social-media-strategy


What’s in this Section: Sections:

Build a Strategy for Customer Service Knowledge Management

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.


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.

Customer Service Knowledge Management (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.


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 unified knowledgebase, advanced search and

resolution workflow capabilities.

Enterprises are investing considerable resources to provide service that exceeds customer

expectations. Don’t get left behind: poor customer service results in decreased customer

satisfaction, high attrition and – if left unchecked – anemic top-line revenue growth.

Negative Impact of Poor Customer

Service Knowledge Management:

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 knowledge base, there is no unifying

point-of-reference. This increases

administrative and overhead expenses.

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


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 this Collaboration

& Teamware research for information on internal collaboration).

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.

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.

http://www.infotech.com/browse/applications/collaboration-productivity-applications/collaboration-teamware

http://www.infotech.com/browse/applications/collaboration-productivity-applications/collaboration-teamware


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.


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


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):

Eff

ecti

ven

ess-B

ased

: E

ffic

ien

cy-B

ased

:

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.


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.


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).


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.


Use knowledge tools for mobile self-service or to support field technicians in order to have higher CSKM tool success

The overall customer service knowledge management tool success was calculated

by taking the average of the following questions:

•Customers are able to solve problems on their own

•Consistency in solutions conveyed by service agents has improved

•Average time to resolution has decreased

•It is easier to capture and retain service knowledge

•It is easier to disseminate service knowledge across the enterprise

•It is easier to detect potential product defects based on service queries

•Our customer service costs have been reduced

To increase the amount of success you have with your

customer service knowledge management tools you

should leverage two things:

Support mobile customer self-service

Support field technician assisted customer service

85% of companies are not using

CSKM tools for mobile service and

69% fail to leverage them with their

field technician assisted customer

service. They are losing out.

Among all customer service channels,

Info Tech found these two had the

highest customer service success

correlations. If your organization isn’t

currently leveraging CSKM tools in

mobile or field assisted service, it’s

worth considering.


The majority of organizations are lagging in knowledge tool adoption. Don’t follow their example.

This does NOT mean you should disregard the value of knowledge tools for your service

channels. Being one of the few companies to use them will give your organization a

competitive advantage. With this low adoption rate, knowledge tools offer your company a

chance to establish a competitive advantage through customer service.

Don’t follow the path others have taken; chart your own course and arrive ahead.

Leverage the CSKM Platform to create competitive advantage!


Determine fit first: adopting a standalone CSKM can be extremely valuable, but it’s not for every organization

Not all organizations will find a CSKM equally valuable. Segment by product and service complexity to

determine if using a dedicated platform is the right option for your organization.

Adopting a standalone CSKM platform can positively impact a number of key customer service metrics.

However, not all organizations will see the benefits of adopting a standalone. For example, smaller firms with

a relatively straightforward product line are unlikely to realize a positive return on investment. Follow

these guidelines for assessing if a standalone CSKM platform is a natural fit for your organization.

Adopt a standalone CSKM platform if: Bypass a standalone CSKM platform if:

• Your organization is smaller. B2B firms that rely on only a

few key clients are unlikely to require a standalone

CSKM platform due to a low volume of customer

service interactions.

• Your product line is straightforward and

uncomplicated: you sell relatively few kinds of products.

Organizations that sell commodities or near-commodities

fall into this category.

• Service complexity is low: most customer service

inquiries are of a process-related nature, such as

RMAs. Inquiries can be handled by a small team, or

passed directly to relevant employees in the business.

• Your organization is a medium-to-large enterprise that focuses predominantly on the consumer marketplace (either directly or through channel partners). Firms that use the B2C and B2B2C model are good candidates.

• Your organization has a high degree of product complexity: multiple business units, brands, and product lines are offered.

• Your organization a high degree of service complexity: there’s a high volume of customer service requests, and/or requests tend to be of a technical or domain-specific nature. Organizations with a large, dedicated contact center are high on the support complexity dimension.


Use your organization’s product complexity and customer service complexity as a guideline for assessing CSKM fit

• Nearly all organizations need some degree of customer service, but a standalone CSKM option is not always the right fit.

Realizing business value through a standalone CSKM solution will only occur under given circumstances.

• Organizations can gain clarity around the “go, no-go” decision by focusing on where they fall on a scale of product

complexity and customer service complexity. Those with a high degree of both product and customer service

complexity are strong candidates for acquiring a standalone CSKM platform.

Product Complexity encompasses both the

breadth and depth of the organization’s product

portfolio. Firms that rate highly for product

complexity exhibit the following characteristics: a

large number of brands and individual SKUs,

technologically complex products (i.e. industrial

or consumer electronics) or products with a large

number of potential add-ons or complementary

products.

Customer Service Complexity refers to the

degree of effort involved with providing customer

service. Low complexity organizations have

primarily transactional inquiries. High complexity

organizations handle service workflows requiring

symptom analysis, problem identification and

solution delivery.

Product and Customer Service Complexity Product Complexity

Custo

mer

Serv

ice C

om

ple

xity

Standalone

CSKM Platform CRM or CSM Built-in

Functionality

Manual Customer

Service Management

CRM or CSM Built-in

Functionality

+ - +

-


Organizations with a shoe-string budget should consider using an IT Service Management Platform as a CSKM substitute

Some organizations have recruited internal helpdesk software to the customer service battle.

If your organization needs more functionality than your CRM solution offers, but does not

require a dedicated CSKM platform, this could be your ideal middle ground.

For information on choosing Help Desk Software Solutions,

please refer to Vendor Landscape Plus: Help Desk Software Solutions

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/select-a-new-help-desk-software-solution-


Assess which CSKM opportunities exist for your organization with an opportunity assessment

Use Info-Tech’s Customer Service Knowledge Management Opportunity Assessment Tool to determine, based on

your unique criteria, where opportunities exist for your organization.

1. Organizations with complex product

offerings or customer service goals

will be most likely to benefit from the

adoption of a standalone CKSM

platform.

2. Medium to large organizations are

typically better positioned to take

advantage of a standalone platform,

especially when they have rate

highly on product and service

complexity.

Info-Tech Insight

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-customer-service-knowledge-management-platform-opportunity-assessment-tool


A CSKM platform must complement your existing channel interaction strategy– use it to support your channel mix!

• As more customer interaction channels become available, organizations must ensure that all channels are aligned into a cohesive multi-channel strategy. For customer service, this means allowing customers to easily transition between different channels for migration and escalation purposes.

• A customer should be able to start in one channel (for example, Web self-service or social media) and seamlessly transition to another. Information should be handed off at each transition point. If a customer has to reiterate the same information each time they jump channels, the process is inefficient and bound to be frustrating to customers. Avoid this by establishing clear points-of-integration between channels.

• A multi-channel customer service strategy should be supported by a unified CSKM platform. It is absolutely critical that ALL customer interaction channels are using the same underlying CSKM platform (knowledgebases, resolution tools, etc.). Failing to have a unified CSKM platform supporting these channels results in solution inconsistency, inefficiency and low customer satisfaction.

Developing a multi-channel customer service strategy comes first: the next step is to support this strategy

with a unified knowledgebase and tools from a dedicated CSKM platform. See this research for more

details on crafting a strategy that optimizes escalation, channel switching, and channel economics.

An optimized framework for

customer interaction:



Support e-mail and live interaction with a CSKM platform to strengthen resolution consistency & time-to-results

Different channels will leverage the CSKM platform in different ways. Follow the best

practices below to achieve the full potential of your tools.

E-Mail

Live Interaction (voice, chat, face-to-face)

CSKM Platform

E-mail is a mainstay of most customer service organizations, and one that

benefits significantly from having a full knowledge base in place. A unified KB

allows consistency between representatives answering e-mail. It also allows for

auto-reply from a KB lookup, before allowing the customer to submit their inquiry

to assisted service.

Resolution workflow tools are indispensible for telephony-based assisted

service. Use an agent-facing decision tree or support wizard to guide your

Tier-1 customer service representatives in capturing symptoms. A

designated knowledge manager should engineer the resolution workflow

in the CSKM platform, then make the tools (decision trees/wizards)

available for all service representatives. When a customer calls in, the

tools can be used to quickly pinpoint relevant solutions.


Web Self-Service, Social and Mobile channels are optimized by backing them up with a dedicated CSKM platform

Different channels will leverage the CSKM platform in different ways. Follow the best

practices below to achieve the full potential of your tools.

Web Self-Service

Social and Mobile

CSKM Platform

Beyond a certain size, providing Web self-service via a list of Frequently Asked

Questions or individual KB pages is inappropriate. Implement a CSKM in order to

provide a powerful front-and-back end to your Web self service channels. The front end

should utilize self-service portals with the ability to favourite and suggest content; the

back-end should be a well-categorized knowledgebase with robust search capabilities.

CSKM provides customers with an easy method to share helpful articles via one-click

social sharing functionality. Some CSKM platforms are notable for providing the

ability to build micro-portals on social networking services like Facebook. On the

mobile side, integrate dedicated customer-facing mobile apps with CSKM knowledge

bases in order to ensure consistency for resolutions.


Senior management at a mid-sized provider of consumer

electronics fingered poor service as a major source of

customer churn: a CSKM platform helped turn that around.

Example: One consumer electronics provider realized a dramatic boost in customer satisfaction with a CSKM platform

Industry:

Segment:

Consumer Electronics

Specialized Audio Recording Devices

• A mid-sized provider of

specialized audio recorders had

a significant problem with

customer churn. Customers

frequently defected to other

brands after purchasing the

company’s products.

• Customer service was

haphazard: a small list of FAQs

was the only real source of Web

self-service. E-mail and

telephone inquiries were

handled by a dedicated call

center, but one that lacked

formal CSKM processes.

Situation: High Customer Churn

• Following a report from a well-

known consulting film, senior

management realized that

customers were simply not

getting the basic level of support

they needed to use their

products. The recorders were

often complicated enough that at

least one service touch point

was required.

• A standalone CSKM platform

was adopted, and a full-time

knowledge manager was hired

to resolve the situation.

Action: CSKM Adoption

• Although initial deployment was

not without its obstacles (for

example, populating the KB took

longer than expected), the

results were highly encouraging.

• Resolution consistency was

heightened within product lines

and representatives. Customers

were substantially more satisfied

with the service they were

receiving.

• After one year, churn

decreased more than 40%.

Results: Decreased Churn



Create a Roadmap for Platform Selection





• Follow Info-Tech’s model for selecting a CSKM

platform.

• There are three pillars to the section process:

◦ Knowing your end-users.

◦ Understanding your goals.

◦ Selecting a platform that aligns that business

needs and technical requirements.


Follow Info-Tech’s model for Selecting a CSKM Platform

Determine business

requirements

Translate into functional

requirements

Determine evaluation

criteria

Evaluate vendors against criteria

Perform vendor

review & select a vendor

Before evaluating and selecting vendors, be sure to sit down with relevant

stakeholders in the business (call center managers, front-line service personnel, etc.)

to ascertain the necessary business requirements that the platform must meet.

Even if IT is leading the charge on CSKM selection, the process MUST involve

ongoing consultation with different departmental stakeholders!


Selection of a CSKM Platform falls to call center technical staff, but needs involvement of business stakeholders

• The selection of a platform for CSKM typically falls to the technical staff supporting call center or contact center operations.

These staff have intimate first-hand knowledge of the processes and culture of the call center, and are well positioned to

serve as a valuable technical advisor.

• However, the business MUST be a partner in the selection – after all, it’s the business (service organization) that will be

using the platform. Don’t lose sight of the business objectives that the platform must meet (superior customer service).

• The selection committee must consist of representatives from both the business (e.g. customer service managers) and IT

(e.g. call center technical staff).

Business

• Responsible for high-level requirements (preferably in relation to specific metrics).

• Ultimately responsible for chosen solution – ownership of the platform rests with the business.

IT

• Translate business requirements into functional criteria.

• Identify points-of-integration.

• Serve as technical advisor.

• Assist with implementation and training.


Choose the right platform by having a thorough understanding of user & business requirements

Select a platform that aligns with the

needs of your users and business

goals and requirements. Evaluation

criteria must be clearly linked to an

understanding of your workforce dynamics

and the goals of the customer service

organization.

The next section of this solution set

outlines a number of vendors and

provides a series of tools for aiding you in

selecting a vendor that meets your

business needs and technical

requirements.

Recall: the vast majority of Tier-1

customer service representatives are

NOT knowledge workers. They are

process-oriented: CSKM solutions

need to focus on expedient customer

service resolution, rather than

employee collaboration or new content

generation.

Common considerations that stem

from this paradigm should include:

• Ensuring that knowledgebases

support an intuitive and easy-to-

understand taxonomy.

• A focus on resolution workflow tools

like decision trees that take the

guesswork out of problem-solving.

The return is proportional to the effort and planning put in; resourcing this properly can be a challenge.

- IT Manager, re: requirements and deployment “ ”

Define specific business goals (end-

user requirements) and translate them

into functional criteria that will be

supported by the platform. Common

business goals that are encountered for

CSKM deployments include:

• Increasing customer service

effectiveness (i.e. resolution efficacy

and consistency)

• Increasing customer service

efficiency (i.e. time-to-resolution and

cost-to-serve)

• Increasing key growth and retention

metrics (i.e. customer churn and new

acquisitions)

Know your users Understand your goals Select a platform


Issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to ensure that the vendor fits your needs; not the other way around!

Use Info-Tech’s CSKM RFP Template to conduct

this critical step in your vendor selection process.

The Statement of Work

Proposal Preparation Instructions

Scope of Work

Basic Feature Requirements

Advanced Feature Requirements

Sizing and Implementation

Vendor Qualifications and References

Budget and Estimated Pricing

Vendor Certification

Approval Sign-Offs

Info-Tech’s CSKM RFP Template is populated with

critical elements including:

Issue RFP Score RFP Conduct

Vendor Demo

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-customer-service-knowledge-management-platform-rfp-template


Evaluate RFP Responses!

The CSKM RFP Scoring Tool is pre-built with

essential criteria complementing the CSKM RFP

Template.

Use the tool to drive the procurement meeting

with your procurement department

To get the most value out of the RFP process, use the RFP Scoring Tool as a benchmark for evaluation

Use Info-Tech’s

CSKM RFP Scoring Tool to:

A standard & transparent process for scoring individual vendor RFP

responses will help ensure that internal team biases are minimized.


Vendor Demo

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-customer-service-knowledge-management-platform-rfp-scoring-tool




The CSKM Vendor Demo Script provides

evaluators with a consistent set of

instructions for examining different feature

sets. The script is segmented by three user

scenarios, asking that vendors demonstrate

capabilities and functions for each group:

1. Customer Service Knowledge Managers

2. Customer Service Agents

3. Customers

Take charge of vendor finalist demos with the CSKM Platform Vendor Demo Script

This tool is designed to provide vendors

with a consistent set of instructions for

key scenarios from the perspective of IT

and departmental managers.

A product demo helps enterprise decision-makers better understand the

capabilities & constraints of various solutions.


Vendor Demo

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-customer-service-knowledge-management-platform-demo-script





Evaluate and Select the Right Platform





• Overview of how the CSKM platform market has

grown and where it’s going.

• Review of the major vendors in the CSKM platform

space, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.

• Info-Tech’s Vendor LandscapeTM and evaluation of

collaboration vendors.

• Scenarios for selection.


CSKM Market Overview

• Customer service organizations started adding

searchable “notes” to mainframe CIS platforms, in

addition to providing agents with service call scripts.

• Eventually, dedicated collections of notes were

maintained by product specialists for agent use.

• Then best of breed vendors began to recognize the

need for a specific product that addressed companies’

organizational pain. They began to offer

knowledgebases, search and structural (taxonomy,

category) capabilities.

• Later, vendors began to merge external sources into the

query layer, along with more complex service and

support.

• Major CRM and CSM vendors now have “good enough”

built-in, basic CSKM capabilities for low to medium

complexity needs.

• Vendors are beginning to recognize mobile as a

rapidly emerging area of customer service and are

extending their offerings to account for it. Some

dedicated mobile applications have already entered

the market, and more are on the horizon.

• Social media is another area gaining attention in

customer service. Consequently, vendors have turned

attention toward that as well in the form of social

listening and social-sharing of popular service

resolutions

• SaaS is making CSKM more affordable for smaller

organizations, but the best fit for CSKM remains high

product complexity and high service complexity

scenarios, not organizational size alone.

• Convergence of self-service and assisted service at

the smartphone level is the next big trend that will

impact CSKM, and will require agents to have access

to a customer’s self-service history before escalating

to assisted service.

How it got here: Where it’s going:

Basic CSKM has become a commodity feature of CRM and CSM platforms. However, the market demand

for high complexity service needs of larger organizations is strong and being reinforced by social

collaboration and the use of mobile devices as service points of interaction.

http://blog.infotech.com/news-analysis/is-your-smartphone-turning-into-an-ivr/


Feature Basic/Adv. What we looked for:

Content Repository

(Knowledgebases)

Basic Native knowledgebases are present in the platform.

Advanced Knowledgebases support rich media; content syndication capabilities present.

Advanced Search Basic Able to search the platform’s knowledgebase.

Advanced Able to index and search other content repositories (for example, SharePoint).

Taxonomic Navigation Basic Content repositories organized by specific taxonomies (administrator or user-defined)

Advanced Ability to actively refine search results through taxonomy.

Resolution Workflow Tools Basic Guided search results are provided.

Advanced More symptom capture tools, such as decision trees and service wizards, are provided.

Authorship and Editorial

Controls

Basic Ability to define authorship and editing permissions by user level.

Advanced Support for advanced editorial and approval workflows.

Reporting and Analytics Basic Provides reports demonstrating knowledge gaps and content utilization.

Advanced Real-time analytics and an interactive dashboard is provided.

Customer Involvement and

Peer to Peer Support

Basic Customers are able to rate and comment on individual pieces of content.

Advanced Forums and communities are provided where customers can help each other.

Web Portals Basic The platform supports customer-facing and agent-facing portals.

Advanced Portals are highly customizable; they can be tailored to user needs (i.e. search histories)

Social and Mobile Support Basic Provides a mobile-optimized site; provides social sharing

Advanced Provides access via dedicated mobile applications

Globalization Basic Applications are available in multiple languages.

Advanced Search engine and knowledgebase can support multilingual content.

Info-Tech evaluated a range of features: basic points were awarded for table stakes, more for advanced functionality*

*See appendix for scoring methodology


CSKM Platform Criteria & Weighting Factors

15%

20%

15%

50% Features

Usability

Affordability

Architecture

40%

60%

Product

Vendor

Vendor Evaluation

Vendor is committed to the space and has a

future product and portfolio roadmap. Strategy

Vendor offers global coverage and is able to

sell and provide post-sales support. Reach

Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will

be around for the long-term. Viability

Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the

channels themselves are strong. Channel

Product Evaluation

The solution’s dashboard and reporting tools

are intuitive and easy to use. Usability

The delivery method of the solution aligns with

what is expected within the space. Architecture

The three year TCO of the solution is

economical. Affordability

The solution provides basic

and advanced feature/functionality. Features

40%

15% 15%

30% Viability

Strategy

Reach

Channel


Info-Tech’s vendor shortlist includes market and product-leading vendors of CSKM platforms

• Consona Veteran vendor with strong search and categorization capabilities.

• eGain An established vendor with best-of-breed knowledgebase and resolution workflow tools.

• Endeca Excels at e-commerce support and supporting federated service knowledge needs.

• InQuira Strong candidate for organizations requiring robust application integration features.

• KANA An established market leader that provides a comprehensive CSKM feature set.

• Moxie A vendor that excels in the social CSKM space.

Included in the Vendor Landscape:

• The CSKM marketplace is mature, and organizations have various options to meet their needs. A number of vendors offer

solutions that span the full gamut of features: knowledgebases, advanced search, resolution workflow tools, and social

and mobile functionality.

• For this Vendor Landscape, Info-Tech focused on those vendors that have a strong market presence and/or reputational

presence among mid-to-large organizations (i.e. those most likely to require a standalone CSKM solution).


The Info-Tech Customer Service Knowledge Management Vendor Landscape

Champions receive high scores for most

evaluation criteria and offer excellent value.

They have a strong market presence and

are usually the trend setters for the industry.

Market Pillars are established players with

very strong vendor credentials, but with

more average product scores.

Innovators have demonstrated innovative

product strengths that act as their

competitive advantage in appealing to niche

segments of the market.

Emerging players are newer vendors who

are starting to gain a foothold in the

marketplace. They balance product and

vendor attributes, though score lower

relative to market Champions.

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Vendor Landscape is created, please see Vendor Evaluation Methodology in the appendices.

Consona

eGain Endeca

InQuira

KANA

Moxie


50 50 50 50 50 50

What is a Value Score?

The Info-Tech CSKM Market Value Index

The Value Score indexes each vendor’s

product offering and business strength

relative to their price point. It does

not indicate vendor ranking.

Vendors that score high offer more bang for

the buck (e.g. features, usability, stability,

etc.) than the average vendor, while the

inverse is true for those that score lower.

Price-conscious enterprises may wish to give

the Value Score more consideration than

those who are more focused on specific

vendor/product attributes.

Only KANA and Consona

provided pricing for this market.

As a result, an accurate value

index could not be reliably

calculated.

Sources:

1. To calculate the Value Score for each vendor, the affordability raw score was backed out, the product

scoring reweighted, and the affordability score multiplied by the product of the Vendor and Product scores.

Champion

Moxie KANA InQuira Endeca eGain

Consona


Every vendor has its strengths & weaknesses; pick the one that works best for you

Product Vendor

Features Usability Price Viability Strategy Channel Reach Platform Overall Overall

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Harvey Balls are calculated, please see Vendor Evaluation Methodology in the appendices.

Legend =Exemplary = Good = Adequate =Inadequate = Poor

KANA

Endeca*

eGain*

InQuira*

Moxie*

Consona

* Vendor declined to provide pricing.

Product Vendor

Features Usability Afford-

ability Viability Strategy Channel Reach

Architec-

ture Overall Overall

Legend =Exemplary = Good = Adequate =Inadequate = Poor


Each vendor offers a different feature set; concentrate on what you need

Content

Repository

Advanced

Search

User-facing

Portals

Agent-

Facing

Portals

Resolution

Workflow

Tools

Taxonomic

Navigation

Consona

eGain

Endeca

InQuira

KANA

Moxie

Legend = Feature fully present = Basic feature available = Feature limited/absent


Each vendor offers a different feature set; concentrate on what you need (continued)

Consona

eGain

Endeca

InQuira

KANA

Moxie

Reporting

and

Analytics

Mobile

Features

Authorship

and Editorial

Controls

Personalization

Capabilities Globalization

Social

Features

Legend = Feature fully present = Basic feature available = Feature limited/absent


$1

Info-Tech Recommends:

Organizations with vast amounts of content will see a lot of value in KANA’s extensive service

resolution capabilities. However, those wishing to leverage social media will have to look elsewhere.

Product:

Employees:

Headquarters:

Website:

Founded:

Presence:

SEM Knowledge Management

362

Sunnyvale, CA

kana.com

1996

Privately held company

KANA provides organizations with extensive personalization, service resolution, authorship and editorial capabilities

Champion • KANA was one of the first vendors to enter the CSKM space

and define the market. They have stayed strong over the years

and still offer a best-of-breed solution that covers a number of

important bases.

Overview

• Offers the ability to crawl content both internally and externally.

• Has industry leading service resolution capabilities, as well as

authorship and editorial controls.

• Extensive personalization of web portals allows customers to

create UIs that seamlessly match their own website.

• Strong reporting and analytics capabilities.

Strengths

• Social features have yet to be fully developed, but their recent

acquisition of Overtone (a social media listening and analytics

vendors) suggests this will be greatly strengthened in future

releases.

Challenges

3 Year TCO: Tier 7; between $100k and $250k

$1M+

http://www.kana.com/


$1


Organizations making a strong play to dominate social channels will definitely want to look at Moxie.

Product:

Employees:

Headquarters:

Website:

Founded:

Presence:

Customer Spaces

220

Mountain View, CA

moxiesoft.com

2006


Moxie Software proves to be a solid choice for organizations with social customer interaction as a priority

Champion • Founded in 2006, Moxie Software plays in both the customer

collaboration and employee collaboration arenas (with its

Customer Spaces and Employee Spaces, respectively).

• Strong emphasis on the “friend-of-a-friend” model.

Overview

• Moxie is extremely strong on social features. It provides many

options for peer-to-peer and social sharing tools, as well as

tools for agents to interact with customers over social

channels. Also offers social monitoring and analysis.

• Moxie also provides best-of-breed mobile support, with a

number of dedicated mobile applications.

Strengths

• Moxie is not as strong on the traditional knowledgebase and

search side of the equation. Enterprise search capabilities are

limited to internal platform knowledgebases and some

integration with SharePoint.

• Knowledgebase authorship and editorial controls are also not

as strong as some of its competitors.

Challenges

$1M+

Vendor declined to provide pricing.

http://www.moxiesoft.com/



Organizations that are Oracle shops or need strong integration capabilities should look at InQuira,

those needing social and mobile capabilities need not apply.

Product:

Employees:

Headquarters:

Website:

Founded:

Presence:

Knowledge Platform

180

San Bruno, CA

inquira.com

2002

NASDAQ: CSCO

FY2011 Revenue: $43B

InQuira is a strong candidate for organizations requiring robust application integration features

Market Pillar • In July 2011, InQuira was acquired by Oracle. Their product

has three main core capabilities: knowledge base

management, natural language search, and advanced

analytics and reporting.

Overview

• Strong integration capabilities, including out-of-the-box

integration with Siebel and Oracle CRM on Demand.

• Product is designed around KCS principles.

• Oracle’s vast resources are there to support customers – very

few vendor-specific deficiencies.

Strengths

• Social features have no listening or monitoring capabilities.

• No indication of mobile support.

• No strong ability to set entitlements between different users.

Challenges


$1 $1M+

http://www.inquira.com/


$1


Organizations with extensive product or service lines that are in need of strong categorization abilities

will find a lot of value in Consona.

Product:

Employees:

Headquarters:

Website:

Founded:

Presence:

Consona KM

504

Indianapolis, IN

crm.consona.com

1986


Consona is a veteran vendor with strong categorization and search abilities, but lags in the reporting and analytics areas

Emerging Player • Consona is one of the oldest vendors in this market. Their

product is largely developed around the “Knowledge-Centered

Support” (KCS) methodology.

Overview

• Offers the ability to crawl content both internally and externally

– for example, internal service resources as well as material

that exists on the Web.

• Strong categorization and natural language capabilities.

• Provides superior service resolution capabilities.

Strengths

• Aging content authoring abilities.

• No dedicated mobile apps or mobile-optimized browser,

though plans for it are in progress.

Challenges

3 Year TCO: Tier 10, Over $1M+

$1M+

http://crm.consona.com/



Endeca is a good fit for resellers who need e-commerce guided navigation as well as searching

across multiple manufacturers’ service knowledge sources, but lacks a native knowledgebase.

Product:

Employees:

Headquarters:

Website:

Founded:

Presence:

Endeca InFront

494

Cambridge, MA

endeca.com

1999

Privately Held Company

Endeca excels at e-commerce support and supporting federated service knowledge needs

Emerging Player • Endeca InFront is a comprehensive suite for CSKM. The

company focuses more on search capabilities (i.e. crawling

existing content) than it does on standalone KB functionality.

Endeca was recently acquired by Oracle.

Overview

• Strong vendor product focus on guided navigation.

• Very good fit for organizations needing one solution for both

service and e-commerce related search.

• Federated indexing approach fits organizations that cannot

control service knowledge in a single location, like channel

resellers that get service content from many suppliers.

Strengths

• Endeca does not have native knowledgebase support: rather,

it indexes existing content from other sources and emulates a

single source of content by strong organization at the query

level. Organizations looking for a platform that has a full-

featured knowledgebase will want to look elsewhere.

Challenges


$1 $1M+

http://www.endeca.com/



Organizations that need strong knowledgebase and search capabilities coupled with robust workflow

resolution tools will want to look at eGain.

Product:

Employees:

Headquarters:

Website:

Founded:

Presence:

eGain KnowledgeAgent

314

Mountain View, CA

egain.com

1997

EGAN:OTC BB

FY10 Revenue: $29.9M

eGain is a strong choice for those looking for best-of-breed knowledgebase and resolution workflow tools

Emerging Player • eGain is a well-established market leader in providing

knowledgebase and customer service solutions – the firm has

been in operation since 1997, and offers a variety of tools for

CSKM and service management.

Overview

• eGain’s core strength remains its knowledgebase and search

capabilities. The vendor excels at providing federated search

capabilities across multiple information sources

• eGain also excels at providing guided resolution workflow tools

like decision trees and service wizards, making it a good pick

for organizations that need tools for agent-facing service.

Strengths

• eGain is weaker at social and mobile functionality vis-à-vis its

competitors.

• Recent performance in the market has been uneven. But it is

not possible to compare performance to privately held

competitors, who may have experienced the same swings

during recent recession.

Challenges


$1 $1M+

http://www.egain.com/products/knowledge_management.asp


The Info-Tech CSKM Platform Vendor Shortlist Tool is designed to generate a

customized shortlist of vendors based on your key priorities.

Identify leading candidates with the CSKM Platform Vendor Shortlist Tool

• Overall Vendor vs. Product Weightings

• Top-level weighting of product vs. vendor

criteria

• Individual product criteria weightings:

Features

Usability

Affordability

Architecture

• Individual vendor criteria weightings:

Viability

Strategy

Reach

Channel

This tool offers the ability to modify:

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-customer-service-knowledge-management-platform-vendor-shortlist-tool


Organizations that need best-of-breed internal knowledgebases for customer

service should consider KANA the leader, with eGain a close second.

Scenario #1: Internal Knowledgebase Functionality

Internal Knowledgebase

Advanced Search

Social and Mobile Support

1

2

3

Exemplary Performers

Viable Performers

4 KCS Methodology

Compliant 4


With its versatile abilities to index a wide range of external content, Endeca

leads the pack for organizations needing advanced search capabilities.

Scenario #2: Advanced Search Capabilities


Advanced Search


1

2

3


Viable Performers

4 KCS Methodology

Compliant 4


Moxie offers best-of-breed social monitoring and response capabilities, while

Endeca’s native Facebook service portals allow easy channel integration.

Scenario #3: Social and Mobile Support


Advanced Search


1

2

3


4 KCS Methodology

Compliant 4


Firms looking to stick with a vendor with a proven adherence to Knowledge

Centered Support methodologies should go with Consona or InQuira.

Scenario #4: KCS Methodology Compliant


Advanced Search


1

2

3


Viable Performers

4 KCS Methodology

Compliant 4







Implement and Optimize the CSKM Platform

• Successfully navigate the deployment, integration

and pilot phases of the project.

• Ensuring adoption with adequate training programs.

• Best practices for optimizing customer service

initiatives.


Managing and learning from the pilot project

Assigning a dedicated FTE resource

Supporting the content lifecycle

Optimizing search results

Best practices for customer service

Promoting adoption through training

Compiling the different training programs

Putting together the Selection Team

Planning maintenance strategy and

performance tracking

Securing the environment

Identifying integration points

Follow these steps for effective CSKM implementation

The Platform’s Place

Preparing the Users

Proceeding with

Deployment

Planning for Optimal Use

4

3

2

1


While you don’t want the selection team to be so

large that you are unable to make efficient

decisions, getting involvement from multiple user

groups has a number of benefits:

• A diverse team provide different perspectives

on how employees will be using the platform

as well as how customers will use it.

• Securing their involvement in the early stages

will help with adoption in the later

implementation stages, especially the initial

population of the KB with service articles.

• Don’t forget that customers are an important

stake-holder as well. Conducting surveys on

current gaps in self-service knowledge can be

very valuable information for the CSKM

implement stage.

Bring users from all levels onto the selection team in order to secure buy-in and future adoption

- Mike Kelly, Director of Enterprise Applications

CSKM Platform Selection Team

Call Center

Agents &

Managers

Field Service

Agents and

Managers

IT Staff

Sales Staff

The end-users need to want it at the end of the project; if they

are not involved in the selection process, they will just feel like

it’s pushed down their throat.

Generate enthusiasm for the project by

involving all user levels in the selection.

4

3

2

1

Customers (via

surveys and

focus groups)


Consider your organization’s place in the value chain when designing the details of your CSKM platform

4

3

2

1

Place yourself in one of the scenarios below to gain an idea of what kind of service processes

and functional requirements are most relevant to your organization:

Business to

Consumer

Business to

Business

Business to Business to

Consumer

Process

Functional Requirements

The relationship is a simple one. To

be most cost-effective, CSKM

should focus on supporting self-

service options for customers.

Consider these features:

Simple and intuitive UIs

Attractive external Web portal

Strong service resolution and

search capabilities

More of a relationship-centric

position, so customer service will be

more complex and CSKMs should

focus on assisted-service.


Peer to peer support – these

forums take pressure off of agents

Decision trees and support wizard

to facilitate quick resolutions.

OEM and reseller will play roles in

customer service. Content

management will be an important

issue, since it can come from both of

these sources.


Joint authorship and editorial

controls

Content syndication, by

entitlements, to downstream.

The business is the single entity

responsible for content creation,

maintenance and delivery of all

service to consumers.

Product support is typically more

complex and customers are of

higher individual value, so high-

touch service and collaboration are

often required.

Manufacturers create and maintain

most content then deliver to

resellers based on which products

the partner sells. Reseller may also

create some service content.

Functional Requirements Functional Requirements

Process Process


1

Establish a plan for ongoing platform maintenance and performance tracking

Leverage the reporting and analytics built into your CSKM to maintain effectiveness of your solutions as

well as look for potential product defects. Take a proactive stance toward problems – don’t wait for them to

get worse. If a performance metric is lagging, conduct a root-cause analysis to find out why.

Searches

with no

solutions

(gaps)

Make sure to monitor the platform going forward, both in terms of maintenance and

performance tracking and benchmarking.

2

The metrics you want to analyze in order

to track performance:

3

4

Technical Maintenance

(troubleshooting of platform)

Responsibility: IT

End-User Skill Development

(keeping users up-to-speed)

Responsibility: Call Center/Service Org

Ongoing Solution Maintenance

(upkeep of Web pages, articles,

content pruning, taxonomy)

Responsibility: Business

Escalation

from self to

assisted

service

Issues by

product (e.

g. for defect

tracking)

End user

content

ratings

Volume of first-

contact

resolutions

Peer-to-peer

solutions (e.

g. in forums)

Physical Maintenance

(infrastructure and storage upkeep,

physical search index heath)

Responsibility: IT

4

3

2

1


Create a secure environment: establish access rights, authorized users, and guard against breaches

• The organization may not want every customer to have complete access to all articles, or may have articles specifically intended for staff use. Safeguard the company’s proprietary information by restricting customer access to agent-centric articles (these articles may divulge confidential intellectual property).

• Different levels of access will also ensure editing/approval power is only given to those the company authorizes. This restriction keeps the knowledgebase free of any unverified or contradictory information.

• Keep a roster of active, authorized users: when an employee leaves the company, promptly remove their access to the internal system. Integration with directory services can speed this up.

• On-premise CSKM platforms should be secured behind the firewall in order to reduce the platform’s vulnerability to external threats. Cloud-based solutions must meet necessary compliance requirements.

• Secure the software from external threats by keeping it up-to-date with the most current patches and hot fixes at all times. For more information on security strategy, see Info-Tech’s research storyboard, Build a Security Architecture & Roadmap.

Access

Restrictions

Patches and

Hot Fixes

Security

Environment

(i.e. firewalls)

CSKM

Security

4

3

2

1

- Thomas Uyehara, IT Director, Independence First

You have to know what the business model is in order to dictate what you

restrict and what you don’t, along with knowing what the risk[s] to IT and

the infrastructure environment are.

http://www.infotech.com/research/storyboard-security-architecture-planning

http://www.infotech.com/research/storyboard-security-architecture-planning


Establish points-of-integration between CSKMs & CRM suites for the organization’s service channels

Successful integration requires assessing a channel’s

ability to deliver value for your business model.

You can’t run a service organization or call center by throwing in more standalone channels that are not

integrated with other CRM systems. Not integrating is equivalent to squandering the inherent unity

and consistency of your CSKM platform.

Customer

Service

Channel

Face-to-

Face

Telephony

/IVR

E-mail Social

Web-Chat Co-

Browsing

Mobile Web Self-

Service

CSKM Platform

Use metrics

& knowledge

gaps

Consistent &

quick

solutions Every customer service channel your

company is using should be integrated with

the CSKM platform for two reasons:

• Providing access to a single, complete

knowledgebase allows for quick,

consistent resolutions to customer

problems

• Every channel offers new customer

interactions which should be used to build

your knowledgebase and identify article

gaps that need to be addressed

Points-of-integration are the junctions between

the CSKM platform and other enterprise

applications or platforms. Many popular CSKM

platforms offer native points-of-integration with

popular enterprise software, while other POIs

may need to be enabled through third-party add-

ons or custom development.

4

3

2

1


Plan out end-user training: the CSKM Platform will be of no value if end-users don’t know how to use it

4

3

2

1

Properly trained end-users promote adoption and improve results. Remember to also keep

training materials updated and on-hand. New hires, new products, and internal promotions to new

roles all create new students that need to be trained on the CSKM platform.

Don’t forget to train IT staff as well. They may not be end-users, but they will need to be familiarised with

the software, its integration with other enterprise applications, and the technical support needed to maintain

the system in the future.

• The primary goal is to train agents

on how to collect symptoms

quickly and use those symptoms

to identify solutions in the

knowledgebase. Therefore,

training should focus on the

advanced search features, the

taxonomy being used, and any

resolution workflow tools provided.

• Depending on the level of

responsibility being assigned to

agents, you may want to invest

time into teaching them to edit

incomplete articles when they

come across them in the course of

providing resolutions.

• Customers will never want to sit

through formal training in order to

receive support. Training must be

implicitly worked into the

customers’ use of the system.

• Keep the customer-facing Web

portal simple and intuitive, have

clear explanations/instructions

under important functions (i.e. brief

directions on how to search for

articles), and provide examples of

proper uses (i.e. search

examples).

• Make sure they’re aware of

escalation options available to

them if self-service falls short.

• The main duties of the knowledge

managers will concern the creation

and management of content.

Therefore, training should focus on

the authorship and editorial

functions of the platform.

• They should also be familiarized

with the reporting and analytics

capabilities of the platform since

they will be the ones to monitor

them and will be the best

positioned to address knowledge

gaps that appear.

Call Center Agents Customers Knowledge Managers


If your organization feels it truly needs a

CSKM platform, then it also truly needs a

full-time Knowledge Manager.

If your organization cannot justify dedicating

a full-time resource, then they should

reconsider the entire project.

The CSKM market is a niche one that many

organizations don’t fall into. If your

organization is one of the few who actually

do, don’t squander what you invest by not

staffing a resource to properly manage it.

A dedicated Knowledge Manager is critical if you want the CSKM platform to operate at peak efficiency

With great knowledge comes great responsibility.

The Customer Service Knowledge Manager’s

responsibilities will include:

Collect, synthesize, organize, and manage corporate

information and information services for business units

providing internal and external service support.

Ensure that the storing, archiving, and taxonomical

layout of information resources are consistent across

and throughout the organization.

Develop and implement cataloging systems, as well

as preserve the freshness and accuracy of cataloged

items.

The decision of whether to hire, or roll the CSKM

responsibilities in with an existing position depends

on your business goals, and the complexity of your

organization’s chosen CSKM platform.

4

3

2

1

This is not the kind of

project you can manage

with a partial resource.

Staff a dedicated

Knowledge Manager to

make the project a success.

Refer to the Customer Service Knowledge Manager

job description for more details.

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-customer-service-knowledge-manager


Troubleshoot potential problems by using a pilot project before full deployment

Use current customer service architecture when forming your pilot project.

Platform selection

Pilot Project

Company-Wide

Deployment

Identify

Platform Issues

Track common

questions and

popular

functions

Develop end-

user training

around results

Find

Resolutions

Collecting end-user feedback from both customers and agents is essential. Weaknesses in solution

design, information architecture and knowledge management policies can be highlighted and improved by

carrying out ongoing surveys and targeted interviews with staff from persistent teams.

4

3

2

1

Try to choose a sub-group that already has substantial knowledge content

that needs to be managed so the platform can be truly tested. After you

have chosen a pilot group, you should define the goals of the project,

decide what metrics will be measured, how they will be tracked, and what is

intended for the results. Next, you must train the relevant agents, product

specialists, and/or target customers and begin the pilot project. When you

begin full deployment, rollout one customer segment or product line at a

time to minimize disruption during implementation.

Pilot projects mapped to

interaction channels are not a

good way to pilot because it

can cause maximum disruption

in customer experience.

Most customer service

organizations are aligned by

product, customer segment, or

channel. Mapping a pilot project

to a specific customer segment

or product line makes for the

best pilot because it causes the

least disruption.

Do This: Don’t Do This:


Create the initial knowledgebase by setting content boundaries, priorities, and time limits

4

3

2

1

The initial content the CSKM will draw

from will be taken from two sources:

1. The internal knowledgebase

2. The crawler of external sources

Organizing the internal knowledgebase

will involve setting our content

boundaries, revising and structuring, and

tagging.

Setting boundaries on what the crawler

is able to access is more difficult. Do

NOT allow it to draw on marketing,

sales, PR or investor material as that will

be of no interest for a frustrated

customer.

Structuring Content

Fit existing articles to templates and couple with metadata

(e.g. Product model, version, symptoms, etc).

Rewrite

articles when

necessary to

ensure they

are directed

at the

appropriate

audience.

Terminology familiar to staff

may be baffling for

customer.

Customer-focused articles

may not be comprehensive

enough for internal agents.

Create a

forward-

looking

taxonomy.

Finally, fit

structured

content into it.

1

2

3 4

For knowledgebase creation and maintenance best practices, refer to the “Knowledge-Centered Service”

methodology of the Consortium for Service Innovation.

http://serviceinnovation.org/knowledge_centered_support/





The organization has identified a common confusion

customers are having with a new product. An article is

written addressing it and providing the resolution.

Most search results will list articles in terms of popularity

and relevance (based on tags and word occurrence).

Since this is a new article, its popularity will be recorded

as very low. This will delay its appearance until later in

the list, wasting time and causing frustration for an

already upset customer.

The CSKM should come with the ability to bypass the normal system when the manager specifies it,

usually referred to as something like “best bets.” So, for some articles, a specific search word will

summon the chosen article regardless of popularity or other listing metrics.

Optimize search results by rigging prioritization: An algorithm isn’t infallible; ensure you can override it

You know your products best, so

manipulate taxonomy and search

results to ensure the most

relevant articles are getting

placed at the top of the list.

Traditional relevancy algorithms

aren’t infallible, and key articles

can get pushed to the bottom of

the list, leading to customer

frustration. Make sure you can rig

the system when you know the

search engine won’t cut it.

The problem:

The solution:

The situation:

Things to consider when looking at the search algorithm and deciding when to bypass it:

• Can you define the criteria for displaying articles (i.e. hot topics, newly added, recently changed, etc) ?

• A search on a specific product should always generate its user and installation manuals

Optimizing the search engines to support the business goals is not cheating, it is practical and necessary.

4

3

2

1


Ensure the CSKM platform supports content throughout its entire lifecycle

The Knowledge Centred Support (KCS) Methodology

can guide the content lifecycle process.

Content is created in two ways:

1. Proactively by knowledge

support workers

2. Reactively from resolutions

already in progress.

Content can either be

immediately injected into the

knowledgebase, or it can go

through an approval process.

In any case, all content should be

supporting workflows, and should

be available for manipulation

within that workflow until it

reaches a form that best

supports the organization’s

agents and processes.

Once the content is no longer

applicable (i.e. concerning a

product no longer supported, or a

patch renders the resolution

redundant), a retirement system

needs to be in place.

4

3

2

1

Content Creation

Reactive Proactive

Approval

Revision

Retire

Workflow

Tech Review Rework

CSKM Platform KCS has four basic concepts:

1. Integrate the creation and

maintenance of

knowledge into the

problem solving process

2. Evolve content based on

demand and usage

3. Develop a knowledge

base of our collective

experience to date

4. Reward learning,

collaboration, sharing,

and improving

For more information visit, the

“Consortium for Service

Innovation.”




Don’t forget to review hybrid-channel customer service best practices when deploying a CSKM platforms

Communicate response times to customers at the beginning of the service interactions.

Establishing this expectation, and meeting it, will start the service experience down a positive path.

In large organizations, it is common to establish different response times for different customer

segments, based on segment value, by prioritizing inquiries in the queue.

Failure to provide customers with service escalation options is a lose-lose proposition: the

customer problem is unresolved and the organization will find it impossible to achieve high

customer satisfaction. Based upon customer segment and/or transaction value, it may be

acceptable to offer escalation for a fee (i.e. offering software support contracts for an additional

cost).

Escalation is one reason for channel switching, but it’s not the only one. If a problem requires

privacy the current channel isn’t providing, or the customer is more comfortable using another

channel, the organization should have processes in place that allow for channel switching.

When switching from one channel to another, it is important to integrate channels so that a

“soft” handoff can occur, which transfers the relevant information collected so far.

Escala

tio

n

Cost

Establish Response Times

Enable Escalation

Allow Channel Switching

4

3

2

1


Review hybrid-channel customer service best practices when deploying CSKM platforms (cont.)

Don’t alienate customers by providing them with different

answers for the same problem through different service

channels and from different agents. Adopt a common service

knowledgebase – this is where CSKMs are here to help you!

Recording service inquiries in a central repository, regardless of

service channel used, enables:

• Identification of product defects.

• Viewing a customer resolution history in the event the

customer experiences the same problems again.

• Analysis by marketing for up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

• Notification to sales account managers of issues that could

impact further customer purchases or renewals.

• Analysis by the service organization to measure operational

efficiency.

Common

KB

Self-Service

(i.e. Live Web, IVR)

Assisted Service (i.e. social

channels, e-mail, phone)

Field Service

(i.e. face-to-face)

Product Training

Technology Training

Channel Training

Customer Training

Agents should be trained on the firm’s

products, its customers, the channels it

uses, and customer service technology .

Employ the Same Knowledgebase

Record all Service Inquiries

4

3

2

1

For more information about customer service strategy, refer to Info-Tech’s comprehensive solution set

Design a Customer Service Strategy that Serves the Social Customer



Recommendations

• Review your needs and the functionality offered by your CRM to assess if a dedicated CSKM platform is required. An

honest assessment of your product and service complexity can help guide the “go, no-go” decision.

• If you move forward with a standalone CSKM platform, be sure to understand your end users, determine business

requirements, and put a selection methodology in place that moves from RFP to Vendor Demonstration.

• Assemble a cross-functional selection team. Pull members from all levels in order to show them the value of the platform

and increase adoption later.

• Create a plan for maintenance and performance tracking, and assign responsibility to create accountability.

• Establish points of integration between the CSKM platform and other enterprise applications. The organization will be

losing out on a lot of potential value if they treat the knowledgebase as an island.

• The platform should be built in a secure environment – have policies in place that track users and limit content access.

• Optimize search results by recognizing the need to bypass the search algorithm’s prioritization system in some situations.

• Promote adoption by training end-users. Each end-user group will have different uses for the platform, so will require

different training. Create a training program for service agents, customers and knowledge managers.

• Provide a dedicated resource (knowledge manager) for upkeep of service-relevant knowledge in the platform.

• A pilot project before full deployment will identify weak spots in the system and potential problems that you can head off

now. Moreover, the reaction and questions of the users can be used when building your training programs for full

deployment.

• Review the content lifecycle and ensure the CSKM platform supports each stage (e.g. creation, approval, editing, and

retiring of articles).

• Review your general customer services practices to make sure maximum customer satisfaction is being achieved.

Appendix A: Survey Results


Knowledge Tool Usage


State of CSKM Adoption


Ranking of Selection Criteria


Use of CSKM Features

Appendix B: Vendor Landscape Methodology


Vendor Evaluation Methodology

Info-Tech Research Group’s Vendor Landscape market evaluations are a part of a larger program of vendor evaluations which includes

Solution Sets that provide both Vendor Landscapes and broader Selection Advice.

From the domain experience of our analysts as well as through consultation with our clients, a vendor/product shortlist is established. Product

briefings are requested from each of these vendors, asking for information on the company, products, technology, customers, partners, sales

models and pricing.

Our analysts then score each vendor and product across a variety of categories, on a scale of 0-10 points. The raw scores for each vendor are

then normalized to the other vendors’ scores to provide a sufficient degree of separation for a meaningful comparison. These scores are then

weighted according to weighting factors that our analysts believe represent the weight that an average client should apply to each criteria. The

weighted scores are then averaged for each of two high level categories: vendor score and product score. A plot of these two resulting scores

is generated to place vendors in one of four categories: Champion, Innovator, Market Pillar, and Emerging Player.

For a more granular category by category comparison, analysts convert the individual scores (absolute, non-normalized) for each

vendor/product in each evaluated category to a scale of zero to four whereby exceptional performance receives a score of four and poor

performance receives a score of zero. These scores are represented with “Harvey Balls”, ranging from an open circle for a score of zero to a

filled in circle for a score of four. Harvey Ball scores are indicative of absolute performance by category but are not an exact correlation to

overall performance.

Individual scorecards are then sent to the vendors for factual review, and to ensure no information is under embargo. We will make corrections

where factual errors exist (e.g. pricing, features, technical specifications). We will consider suggestions concerning benefits, functional quality,

value, etc; however, these suggestions must be validated by feedback from our customers. We do not accept changes that are not

corroborated by actual client experience or wording changes that are purely part of a vendor’s market messaging or positioning. Any

resulting changes to final scores are then made as needed, before publishing the results to Info-Tech clients.

Vendor Landscapes are refreshed every 12 to 24 months, depending upon the dynamics of each individual market.


Value Index Ranking Methodology

Info-Tech Research Group’s Value Index is part of a larger program of vendor evaluations which includes Solution Sets that provide both

Vendor Landscapes and broader Selection Advice.

The Value Index is an indexed ranking of value per dollar as determined by the raw scores given to each vendor by analysts. To perform the

calculation, Affordability is removed from the Product score and the entire Product category is reweighted to represent the same proportions.

The Product and Vendor scores are then summed, and multiplied by the Affordability raw score to come up with Value Score. Vendors are

then indexed to the highest performing vendor by dividing their score into that of the highest scorer, resulting in an indexed ranking with a top

score of 100 assigned to the leading vendor.

The Value Index calculation is then repeated on the raw score of each category against Affordability, creating a series of indexes for Features,

Usability, Viability, Strategy and Support, with each being indexed against the highest score in that category. The results for each vendor are

displayed in tandem with the average score in each category to provide an idea of over and under performance.

The Value Index, where applicable, is refreshed every 12 to 24 months, depending upon the dynamics of each individual market.


Product Pricing Scenario & Methodology

Info-Tech Research Group provided each vendor with a common pricing scenario to enable normalized scoring of Affordability, calculation of

Value Index rankings, and identification of the appropriate solution pricing tier as displayed on each vendor scorecard.

For this set, vendors were provided with the following scenario and asked to provide a three-year TCO:

• Enterprise Name: Mushu Dynamics

• Enterprise Size: Mid-Sized

• Enterprise Vertical: Consumer Electronics

• Total Number of Sites: One Customer Service call center

• Total Number of End Users: 150 call center agents, split into three shifts (50/shift – please specify per-user or per-device licensing). Six Knowledge Managers

responsible for content and taxonomy management.

• Operating System Environment: Windows 7

• Office Productivity Suite Environment: Office 2010 Enterprise Edition

• Functional Requirements and Additional Information:

• Mushu Dynamics is a global provider of specialized consumer electronics. The firm provides 24/7 customer support via self-service portals and assisted-

service channels (telephony, e-mail and chat). It has a single call center, with 50 agents working per shift (150 over three shifts). The organization has a service

management solution in place, but is specifically looking for tools for Customer Service Knowledge Management. In particular, the organization needs a solution

that provides the following functionality:

• Customer Service Knowledge Base

• Advanced Search (i.e. ability to crawl both KB and external content)

• Agent-Facing and Customer-Facing Portals

• Service Resolution Tools (i.e. decision trees and wizards)

• Knowledge Base Reporting and Analytics (for example, knowledge gap reporting and knowledge article utilization statistics) Please specify if an external reporting

vendor is necessary.

Documents

Vendor Landscape Plus: Customer Service Knowledge Managementdocs.media.bitpipe.com/io_10x/io_105202/item_544768/customer-se… · Customer Service Representatives in call centers