Practical Experience on Customer Knowledge Utilization. Arash Khosravi 1. Ab Razak Che Hussin 1. Halina Mohamed Dahlan 1

Practical Experience on Customer Knowledge Utilization Arash Khosravi 1. Ab Razak Che Hussin 1. Halina Mohamed Dahlan 1 1 Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia Published online: December 2015 2015 JISRI All rights reserved Abstract The capability of a company to apply customer knowledge (CK) is recognized as a potential source of competitive advantage. However, there has been little academic research on the application of CK. This study adds to our understanding in focusing on success factors and best practices of companies that apply CK successfully. Studies have shown that technological factors such as customer relationship management (CRM) infrastructure, collaboration system and social networks are the fundamental tools for CK application. Human factors such as motivating customer and employee, and enhancing their skills for sharing and managing CK are crucial for CK utilization. In addition, firms need to provide strategies for customer knowledge management (CKM) and use technologies for absorbing and sharing and application of CK. Keywords: Knowledge Management, Customer Knowledge, Customer Relationship Management, Customer Knowledge Management, Customer Knowledge Utilization, Customer Knowledge Application. 1. INTRODUCTION In today s fast emerging market, organizations are very much dependent on external resources and networks, such as supply chains, customers and obviously their knowledge. Studies show that customers in general have a significant role in success of projects, since the success of a project actually depends a lot on customers overall satisfaction. In fact, both practitioners and researchers agree that building relationships with customers is a critical factor to an organization s success (Smith & McKeen, 2005). Therefore, continuous communication with customers, as well as obtaining customer knowledge, are essential elements for determining the needs of customers (Kim, Suh, & Hwang, 2003). Organizations use CK in order to achieve a competitive advantage. This knowledge helps companies to focus on their target customers (based on customers evolving needs and experiences instead of customers general characteristics), which ultimately increases the perceived value and switching costs of a firm s product (Mitussis, O'Malley, & Patterson, 2006; J. E. Rowley, 2002). Indeed, customer knowledge can assist employees with cross-selling and efficiently predict market demand, which then helps to leverage the competitive advantage more effectively (Khosravi, 2014; Mitussis et al., 2006). Several researchers argue that the ability of the firm to apply customer-specific knowledge should be recognized as a potential source of competitive advantage (Campbell, 2003; Garcia-Murillo & Annabi, 2002; Peltier, Zahay, & Lehmann, 2013). At the same time, it has been found that, firms tend to be better at acquiring customer knowledge than by applying it (Campbell, 2003). Studies carried out by Wu, Guo, and Shi (2013) and Salomann, Dous, Kolbe, and Brenner (2005) reported that most firms still lack systematic processes for managing and applying customer knowledge. According to Davenport, Harris, and Kohli (2001), this knowledge tends to be fragmented across multiple systems and locations, and firms find it difficult to integrate it into consistent customer profiles. It appears, therefore, that utilization of customer knowledge is a stumbling block for several firms. Despite the widespread adoption of CRM systems and other information platforms, previous studies indicate that firms still seem to lack the capability to channel the knowledge and to design customer-specific strategies, sales processes, and changes in the products and services (Salojärvi, Sainio, & Tarkiainen, 2010). Thus, providing clear strategy and solution for application of customer knowledge in the companies still is a challenge that researchers need to consider. Research on the factors that enhance the application of customer knowledge seems to be one of the least explored topics. In this study, some case studies about application of customer knowledge are reviewed to find out the factors and best practices of different companies in using and applying customer knowledge. The result will be useful for those firms which need to improve their application of customer knowledge. ISSN 2289-1358 2015 JISRI All rights reserved Page 1

In this paper, the definitions of customer knowledge and customer knowledge management are reviewed in Section 2, followed by summarization of the type of customer knowledge. Subsequently, in Section 3, the application of customer knowledge in different companies is described. In Section 4, the factors important for customer knowledge application and the results of our study are discussed. Finally, Section 5 presents the conclusion. 2. CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE Data functions to present observations and facts, but alone, it is useless. When data is placed in some meaningful context, it becomes information. Knowledge is created when information is transformed into capabilities for an effective action; in other words, when information is used and disseminated among people in documented form or in interaction. Knowledge is always embodied in a person or group of people (Hennestad, 1999). Types of knowledge and knowledge creation are one of the main subjects in the KM literature (Kakabadse, Kakabadse, & Kouzmin, 2003). (Polanyi and Sen (1967)) classified knowledge into explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge, also known as formal or codified knowledge, can be expressed by words and numbers, and it can be shared by IT-systems, whereas tacit knowledge, known as informal or uncodified, is something that is produced through recreation and experiences of people. Tacit knowledge can be also viewed as intuition, beliefs and values that reside in the human mind, behavior, and perceptions (Khosravi & Ahmad, 2013). Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) described knowledge creation as a spiral that starts from individual, moves up to the group level and then to the organizational level. Rollins and Halinen (2005) stated from an organization s point of view, that knowledge can be seen as the capability to interpret information through the process of giving meaning to the idea of partnering or collaborating with customers. Customer data is facts about customers in organization s databases, binders and mind of the employees. This data can be, for instance, customer contact data, interaction data, demographics, customer service, data, customer lifestyle data, psychographics, purchases, preferences, customer feedback and complaints, responses to marketing initiatives (Garcia- Murillo & Annabi, 2002; Henning Gebert, Malte Geib, Lutz Kolbe, & Gerold Riempp, 2002; Rollins & Halinen, 2005), and data about potential customers and customer segments. Customer data can be collected by several practices such as through transaction situations, interviewing customers, interacting with customers in the field, carrying out customer satisfaction research or observing customers in a store, on a web site or in gatherings that are related to an organization s products and services (J. Rowley, 2002; Stefanou, Sarmaniotis, & Stafyla, 2003). When customer information is translated and disseminated in an organization, it becomes customer knowledge. Customer knowledge can be explicit, the structured information in databases, or tacit customer knowledge, knowledge in mind of employees or observation and interpretation. One of the regularly accepted definitions of customer knowledge comes from Henning Gebert et al. (2002). They identified customer knowledge as the dynamic combination of experience, value and insight information which is needed, created and absorbed during the process of transaction and exchange between the customers and enterprise. Campbell (2003) defined customer knowledge as organized and structured information about the customer as a result of systematic processing. Mitussis et al. (2006) identified customer knowledge as one of the more complex types of knowledge, since customer knowledge can be captured from different sources and channels. H. Gebert, M. Geib, L. Kolbe, and G. Riempp (2002) categorized types of knowledge of CRM into three groups, namely: 1. The requirements of customers, which is considered as knowledge about customers. 2. Customer needs should be satisfied with the services and products available. All knowledge offered here is under the term knowledge for customers. 3. Customers obtain many insights and experiences when using a product or service. This knowledge is beneficial as it can be utilized for product and service quality improvements. This knowledge from customers should be channelled back into the company. Another type of customer knowledge stated by Smith and McKeen (2005) is co-created knowledge. This knowledge can be captured during the cooperation between the organization and its customers. This type of knowledge can generate value not only for an organization, but also for customers (see Figure 1).This type of knowledge can add value to the company by assisting in development of innovative products. Figure 1: Customer knowledge flow (Smith & McKeen, 2005) 3. CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE PROCESSES There are four processes involved in the CKM in order to employ the knowledge in the organization (see Figure 2). These processes begin with acquiring and storing the knowledge into the CKM system, followed by disseminating and using knowledge among the communities(al-busaidi, 2013; Salojärvi et al., 2010). 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Figure 2: CKM process Knowledge acquisition is the starting process of KM (Alavi & Leidner, 2001; Davenport et al., 2001). The CK acquisition process is the process of obtaining or creating CK: from customers, about customers and for customers (Al-Busaidi, 2013). The next process is CK storage, where the knowledge will be kept in repositories. This process indexes the knowledge dynamically, then prepares and maps the knowledge into specific requirements. Repositories and knowledge map technologies are useful for organizing and categorizing knowledge (Yang, Huang, & Hsu, 2014). Knowledge dissemination in the third process, in which the collaboration system can disseminate knowledge in a collaborative environment (Khosravi & Ahmad, 2014). Knowledge utilization is the last process and may be the most crucial one, since all the benefits of the earlier processes (i.e. Acquisition and dissemination) should accumulate in the utilization process and provide tangible benefits for the firm. Customer knowledge utilization reflects the capability of the firm in utilizing existing knowledge about and from the customer in order to enhance the customer relationship. More precisely, according to Jayachandran, Sharma, Kaufman, and Raman (2005), this means utilizing the knowledge both to learn about customer needs and behavior (knowledge-enhancing utilization), and in the development of customer-specific products and services (action-oriented utilization). Thus, knowledge-enhancing utilization results in changes in the existing knowledge base and in the understanding of the knowledge users, whereas action-oriented use leads to more concrete changes in activities (Salojärvi et al., 2010). 4. CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE UTILIZATION IN PRACTICE A successful CKM strategy is an essential key leverage point to achieve business results. Massey, Montoya-Weiss, and Holcom (2001) conducted a study by observing a 4- year initiative undertaken by IBM to re-engineer its customer relationship management process and capitalize on knowledge-based resources. In this case, the organization tried to implement CKM to improve the performance of both customers and IBM s human experts by providing CK access and availability, acquiring and assembling, and disseminating to those who need to apply them. They proposed the following strategy for successful customer knowledge application in IBM (Massey et al., 2001). 1. Inside of IBM should provide a common and single interface, or point-of-contact, for the customer. 2. Inside of IBM should be flexible in use, allowing customers to control as much of the interaction as possible according to their needs. 3. Multiple sources of information should be accessible in a consistent way, but customizable to reflect customer needs. 4. Inside of IBM should be intuitive and user friendly for all external and internal audiences who interface with it. 5. Inside of IBM should provide easy access to IBM s organizational knowledge-based resources and improve decision-making processes for both the customer and IBM s workforce. 6. Inside of IBM should provide a learning opportunity by facilitating customer knowledge exchange in the areas of business, technology, and marketing, i.e., Integrated product development, CRM, and supply chain. 7. Inside of IBM should improve the backend collaboration system and cross-functional coordination. Amazon.com, as an Internet retailer, creates value for customers and manages customer knowledge successfully through providing book reviews, customer s own order histories, order history of other customers, and customized suggestions based on prior orders. Effectively, through this way, customers can know more about the products they want to buy and make more satisfactory buying decisions (Wu et al., 2013). In short, Amazon.com provides a platform where customers can exchange knowledge about their favorite topics, indirectly motivating them to share their knowledge. Most banks now offer cost-effective interactive sites which aim to create highly personalized services to the consumers, for example, offering virtual counter, for increasing the motivation of customers to participate as well as reducing the cost. Such interaction is used for absorbing CK and apply it to enhance bank customized service for customers, which lead to added value for customers as well as increased banks advantages. Khodakarami and Chan (2014) studied some companies in term of application of customer knowledge. The first was an electronics organization, which is a large corporation with several well-known brands. It sells electronics products all across Canada through its website and local stores. The firm uses the latest version of the SAP CRM11 system, and has a call center from which clients get information about new and existing products and obtain repair and care recommendations. The firm holds an e-support website that offers online services. Within the system, several portals, including a Voice of Customer portal, facilitate the communication and sharing of customer knowledge. POS and customer databases are used as operational CRM systems. Data warehouses and data mining facilitate analyses of customer and sales data in this organization. Another company that applies customer knowledge successfully is a health organization which has stores all across Canada. This organization offers customized weight loss plans, individual training and consultancy sessions for its clients. It also sells specific lines of nutrition and health supplements. The health organization has a call center, ISSN 2289-1358 2015 JISRI All rights reserved Page 3

internal portals, and POS and customer databases. To perform analyses, employees rely primarily on Excel macros and computations. This organization recently launched an online collaboration system that connects all of its stores to the company s headquarters, allowing all employees to share knowledge readily. Customers also can use this system to access their weight loss progress reports and other valuable reports and knowledge resources. This system was developed internally to address the specific needs of the organization. Khodakarami and Chan (2014) also investigated the education organization in a university department that applies CKM. This organization has fewer employees compared with the other two organizations, but it has offices in several Canadian cities and customers (student groups) who reside across Canada. This organization uses a CRM system, and the employees largely use it as a contact management system. Many of the system s operational and analytical capabilities are rarely utilized. The education organization also has an intranet and several portals that facilitate communication and knowledge sharing within the organization and with customers. Khodakarami and Chan (2014) found that social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, online discussion forums and blogs) are used by these companies as a collaboration system for customer knowledge sharing among customers and between customers and companies (Khodakarami & Chan, 2014). EBay (online marketplace), Amazon (online book and product review site), Epinions (online product review site), Slashdot (online discussion forum), and Yahoo! Knowledge plus (online knowledge sharing community) etc., all rely on collaboration systems for CKM. Yet, without the participation of customers, an online community will simply melt away(shek & Sla, 2008). Wu et al. (2013) explored the linking mechanisms between CKM and IT-based business model innovation. They studied a Chinese leading telecommunications company which provides knowledge services for farmers and related agricultural firms. This company uses IT tools such as short message service. In 2003, the company distributed a survey to collect knowledge about the rural customers. After analyzing the data of the survey, the firm found that knowledge of market supply, as well as information on agricultural products and agricultural technologies, were most needed by the rural clients. Furthermore, they found that knowledge that they needed were diverse across different types of personal vocation. After analysing customers feedbacks, the company concluded to initiate the profile of their rural customers. Then, agriculture knowledge service was started to offer agriculture knowledge service for rural customers. Additionally, the rural clients not only played the role as passive receivers, but also promoted the development of such service through actively providing knowledge from customers. In this company, knowledge from customer assists the firm to develop and enhance their products and services (Gibbert, Leibold, & Probst, 2002). In 2006, some new service clients, including agricultural production material suppliers, agricultural business enterprises, agrotechnical extension stations, and local government agents, had come into this business service as service partners. With new customers as service partners, the firm started to manage knowledge from customers and make agriculture knowledge service as a knowledge sharing and co-creation platform. Understanding customer needs is a precondition for providing betterquality product and service. In addition, this firm tried to gather the knowledge about the customer. By collecting customers demographic and behavioral pattern (Smith & McKeen, 2005), they segmented their customers into different types, and developed customized products to meet their specific needs effectively (Wu et al., 2013). Starbucks is an international coffee house chain founded in Seattle, Washington, in 1971. Chua and Banerjee (2013) conducted a research to investigate the use of social media for supporting CKM in Starbucks. They found that Starbucks organizes social media tools for CKM for providing successful branding and marketing instruments for the company. In addition, Starbucks tries to change the roles of its customers, from passive recipients to active contributors of innovation by using social media. Also, Starbucks defines strategies to motivate customers for voluntary knowledge sharing. Starbucks uses tweets, often with a combination of text and photos, to provide knowledge to customers and promote their latest products, campaigns and events. Twitter helps Starbucks quickly manage rumors and misconceptions among customers. Facebook helps the company in providing connection with interested customers through discussions, wall posts, events and polling. Starbucks also uses Facebook as platform to ask customers directly about their personal opinions, preferences and feedbacks, which additionally helps Starbucks acquire knowledge about customers (Chua & Banerjee, 2013). My Starbucks Idea is a portal for customers to ask questions, offer novel ideas and vent out their frustrations regarding the organization. It was launched in 2008, and 41,000 ideas were contributed by customers within the first two months. This system motivates customers to share their new ideas by providing rewards for clients, who are contributors of novel ideas. Starbucks also offers knowledge for customers by using MyStarbucksIdea portal through informing customers about their ideas that are under review, reviewed, coming soon and launched. This method promotes loyalty among clients, who feel that the company really cares about their submitted ideas. Knowledge from customers is mainly harvested through the ideas that customers contribute, thereby promoting the concept of design with customers. Some contributed ideas that have been adopted by Starbucks include the introduction of Starbucks Card egifts system. It draws knowledge about customers by publicly revealing all submitted ideas, and asking other customers to evaluate them. Starbucks also implementes submitted ideas based on their popularity, as revealed from customers comments and votes (Chua & Banerjee, 2013). Zhang (2011) discussed how to use the strategies of social Media in supporting CKM, and he mentioned that Microsoft and other software vendors provide user groups to absorb and share CK. Microsoft s user groups are organized according to different industries, products, and locations, such as Microsoft Health User Group, Microsoft Project User Group, Microsoft Manufacturing Users Group, and SQL Server worldwide User Group. These user groups are the user communities that support ISSN 2289-1358 2015 JISRI All rights reserved Page 4

users to exchange their experience and share information and knowledge about Microsoft s products. Users post questions about products and services, and then experienced customers answer those posted questions to share their perspectives. Microsoft s employees can also participate in the user group to post answers, thus, they can learn about the problems with their products and documentations. User groups save Microsoft tremendous dollars in customer support and promote Microsoft s products in a more personal way. In addition to the basic applications such as online forums, wikis, and web logs, advanced solutions of social CRM are also available. For instance, Get Satisfaction, a social customer service solution provider, currently offers over 20,000 customer communities, including those for Microsoft and Apple (Zhang, 2011). Aho and Uden (2013) explained the integration of CK and software engineering process in multi-disciplined product development, through developing dynamic capabilities. They mentioned some barriers and problems regarding the use of CKM for different phases of software engineering process such as requirements, specifications, design, re-design and testing. The requirement phase is informal, and very often, critical customer knowledge is missing. Inadequate knowledge produces uncertainty for both customer and salesman(aho & Uden, 2013). 5. DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH This paper reviews the application of customer knowledge in different types of companies. Most researches referred for this study come from action research, where researchers observed the application of customer knowledge in companies for the long time. In general, the result of this type of research is very useful for scholars as guide to prepare a comprehensive framework for use in other companies and other cultures. Table 1 presents the important factors which are effective in those companies for successful CK application. Table 1: CK application best practices 6 5 4 3 2 7 EBay (online An education organization A health organization An electronics organization A bank Amazon (online book and product review site) marketplace) Shek & Sla, 2008 Khodakarami and Chan (2014) Khodakarami and Chan (2014) Khodakarami and Chan (2014) Gibbert et al., 2002 Wu, Guo, & Shi, 2013, Canada Canada Canada Europe Provides Book reviews, The customer s own order histories, Order history of other customers, Customized suggestions based on prior orders. A platform of book enthusiasts that Motivating customers to share their knowledge. Motivates employees by way of reward systems Provides a Collaboration system Provides a Personalized services to the consumer to increase the motivation of customers to participate, such as virtual counter. Provides a call center from which customers obtain information about new and existing products and receive repair and maintenance recommendations Provides an e-support website that offers online services inside the organization, Provides several portals, including a Voice of Customer portal, facilitate the communication and sharing of customer knowledge. Provides data warehouses and data mining to facilitate analyses of customer and sales data in this organization. Uses the latest version of the SAP CRM system POS and customer databases are used as operational CRM Provides an online collaboration system that connects all of the company stores to the headquarters, allowing all employees to share knowledge readily Customers also can use online collaboration system to access their weight loss progress reports and other valuable reports and knowledge resources Provides a call center, internal portals, and POS and customer databases The employees largely use the CRM system as a contact management system Provides several portals that facilitate communication and knowledge sharing within the organization and with customers Provides social media tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, online discussion forums and blogs) as collaboration systems for customer knowledge sharing among customers, and between customers and companies Provides collaboration systems Provides collaboration systems Row Company Source Country Important CK application success factors 1 IBM Massey et al., 2001 Provides the strategy for successful customer knowledge application Motivating customer and employees Easy access to IBM s organizational knowledge-based resources (provides knowledge for employees and customers) Provides a learning opportunity Provides a Collaboration system Provides Cross-functional coordination 8 Epinions (online product review site) Shek & Sla, 2008 9 10 A Chinese leading Starbucks (an telecommunication s company international coffee house chain) Wu et al. (2013) Chua & Banerjee, China Provides agriculture knowledge services to farmers and related agricultural firms by using IT tools (such as short message service, call center and internet) Provides a wide range of social media tools for CKM that serve as effective branding and marketing instruments for the organization Provides effective strategies to alleviate customers reluctance for voluntary knowledge sharing ISSN 2289-1358 2015 JISRI All rights reserved Page 5

11 Microsoft Zhang (2011) Provides user groups and user communities that support users to exchange their experience and share information and knowledge about Microsoft s products. Microsoft s employees can also participate in the user group to post answers Provides online forums, wikis, and web logs, advanced solutions of social CRM Technology has the capability to provide access to large amounts of data and information and to enable long distance collaboration between business functions and teams. Without any doubt, it can be deduced that technology can perform as a facilitator to support and encourage CKM by making CKM more effective and easier. Nevertheless, the key issue is to choose an appropriate technology that supports a close fit between people and organizations. It should also be noted that a technology that operates effectively in some organizations may fail in others (Rhodes, Hung, Lok, Lien, & Wu, 2008). From the extracted factors (Table 1), it is clear that technological factors such as CRM systems, collaboration system and social media are fundamental infrastructure for CKM. Nowadays, the use of social media is increasing sharply and social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram) have become a part of human life, thus the combination of technologies such as social media and CRM (social CRM) is very useful for CKM. Using social media as a tool for providing collaboration system is also popular in these companies. CKM infrastructure includes three related dimensions. One dimension is to have indexed and mapped explicit knowledge online, by providing easy access and accurate retrieval for all users. In this condition, the emphasis is put on explicit knowledge. The second dimension is to improve communication, collaboration and coordination between individuals, teams, or groups to share the knowledge (Van den Brink, 2003). Here, the emphasis is on tacit knowledge. The third dimension is to present pointers to individuals with a special expertise or to documents that describe knowledge. In this dimension, the emphasis is on both tacit and explicit knowledge. However, it must be stated that IT systems are only tools and not solutions, thus individuals are still responsible for sharing information and knowledge (Wong & Aspinwall, 2005). A key aspect of an organization s resources is its intellectual capital and knowledge base. This includes the skills and experience of its employees, policies, processes and information repositories. A study by Riege (2005) concluded that the relationship between organizational knowledge and its competitiveness is dependent on its ability to integrate, share and apply the knowledge. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) stated that knowledge management requires the organization to create new knowledge, then transfer and incorporate it into its products, services and systems. It is becoming more and more important for an organization to adapt to change based on its ability to embed knowledge in databases and support systems (Rhodes et al., 2008). Embedding knowledge in these areas allows the organization to transfer it to new employees (Bharadwaj, 2000). Bharadwaj (2000) concluded that IT systems enables the formalization of knowledge and consolidation of previous knowledge that has been accrued, as well as their leveraging across the organization. Orlikowski (1992) proposed a theatrical model to consider the impact and reciprocal interaction between organization, people and technology (Khosravi & Ahmad, 2014). Four different influences are taken into consideration in her theory, as presented in Figure 3 below. Figure 3: Theory of Technology (Orlikowski, 1992) 1. Technology as a result of human action: People develop and produce technology. This technology is used in organizations. This deployment gives technology, its meaning. 2. Technology as a facilitator of human action: Technology facilitates human action. It supports achievement of complex tasks, because it recommends the most appropriate way how a task should be executed. According to the properties of the users and the organizational context, technology affects social practices. 3. Organization influences people: Characteristics of organization like practices, norms and values influence people in their interaction with technology. Orlikowski (1992) stated that Technology is developed and applied in social conditions, and changes the life of humans in the society. 4. Organization is affected by technology: Technology utilization in an organization improves the importance and quality of services in an organization efficiently and effectively. In her theory, Orlikowski (1992) stated the relation between organization and people and technology. Van den Brink (2003) expressed that we shape technology, then it shapes us through our use of technology in special ways. Thus, the social systems are independent of us, but they are created every day through our thinking and through our actions (Khosravi, Nazir Ahmad, & Sedera, 2014). Therefore, according to Orlikowski s theory, to manage customer knowledge successfully, we need to consider human and organizational factors. In this study, some human and organizational and technological important factors as shown in Table 1 were extracted from different real case studies. Organizations need to have a strategy for CKM, then they need to motivate their customer for sharing knowledge and motivate their employees to absorb and manage ISSN 2289-1358 2015 JISRI All rights reserved Page 6

knowledge effectively. Motivation is one of the important human factors that organization needs to have a strategy and a reward system for enhancing it. To increase the motivation and competence and skills of employees, providing training courses is important. Appropriate training can enhance organizational culture and provide an organizational learning culture, by means of learning by doing. This culture facilitates the process of learning from customer and applying customer knowledge to achieve product quality and innovation. Firms such as Amazon provide useful knowledge for customers, motivate them for active knowledge sharing process and absorb valuable knowledge from and about customers. Cross-functional coordination between different department by using collaboration system is another best practice that most of successful companies use. Every firm needs to provide interactive communication channels with their customers, such as call centers, emails and social media to absorb customer knowledge. Consequently, the knowledge should be organized and assimilate inside the organization to provide a collaborative platform to discuss about this stored knowledge. Communities of practice can be responsible to provide new knowledge and solutions from CK and provide plans for CK application inside the organization. CK does not have any benefits if it cannot be applied effectively inside the organization for enhancing the quality of products and service and improving organizational business processes. 6. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH In this study, the applications of customer knowledge in some famous companies from the different studies have been reviewed. Important success factors and best practices by these companies for successful customer knowledge application have been discussed. It is concluded that technological factors such as CRM infrastructure, collaboration system and social networks are the fundamental tools for customer knowledge application. Human factors such as customer and employee motivation are more important since generating knowledge is a human activity. Organizations need to provide strategies for CKM and use technologies for absorbing, sharing and applying customers knowledge. CRM technology is necessary for storing customers knowledge, then firms need to organize this knowledge to provide solutions. Sharing customer knowledge inside the organization and provide a collaboration platform for sharing and discussing customer knowledge among employees is important to apply customer knowledge more effectively. Crossfunctional coordination between different departments is another best practice that most companies used. More researches are needed to improve the utilization of customer knowledge in organization and provide solutions for companies that want to apply customer knowledge successfully. References Aho, A.-M., & Uden, L. (2013). Customer knowledge in value creation for software engineering process. Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Knowledge Management in Organizations: Service and Cloud Computing. Al-Busaidi, K. A. (2013). Empowering Organizations through Customer Knowledge Acquisition: A pilot investigation. Alavi, M., & Leidner, D. E. (2001). Review: Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: Conceptual foundations and research issues. MIS quarterly, 107-136. Bharadwaj, A. S. (2000). A resource-based perspective on information technology capability and firm performance: an empirical investigation. MIS quarterly, 169-196. Campbell, A. J. (2003). Creating customer knowledge competence: managing customer relationship management programs strategically. 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