An Oracle White Paper October 2011 Knowledge Management: The Holy Grail for Today s Economy
Introduction Current trends, including increased budgetary pressure and the explosion in social media, have prompted many of the world s top brands to place renewed focus on their knowledge management initiatives. This white paper outlines how a well-executed knowledge management initiative can help organizations disseminate critical information across a multitude of channels as well as support customers in finding rapid, accurate answers to the questions they have. In supporting these two imperatives, knowledge management initiatives help organizations meet some of their most critical objectives, including the goals of boosting customer retention and managing costs. 1
Knowledge Management in a Multiple-Channel World With all the channels and means for customers to get information, one might think that a centralized knowledge management strategy isn t important anymore. In fact, it s the exact opposite: knowledge management is more important than ever. The multitude of channels ranging from call centers, voice response units (VRUs), e-mail, retail stores, and company Websites to social networks such as Twitter and Facebook has exponentially increased the chances for inconsistent and just plain wrong information to be everywhere. Think about the vast array of technology in play: content management systems and knowledgebases are used in the contact center, the Website has a FAQ engine, the e-mail response system manages its automated responses, and social forums maintain their own databases. The trouble lies in disseminating content to all these different applications and databases. They are being modified by different people with different skill sets and, when you add in global distribution and multiple languages, it gets even more complicated. Even if you could make the changes to these different engines in a matter of days, how consistent and accurate would the answers be when you re done? This is why knowledge management has become mission-critical. Organizations need to be able to quickly create, maintain, and update content across all channels so that customers can rely on the accuracy of the information and know that it will be consistent regardless of the channel they are using to access it. Consistent, Accurate Knowledge Management So how can you make sure that customers are finding accurate and consistent information, regardless of the channel they use? This is really a two-part question. First, how can you rapidly disseminate information across multiple channels? Second, how can you help your customers find and consume this content? Disseminating Knowledge Across Channels The answer to quickly and easily sharing content is to use a knowledge platform, which is purpose-built to make the business of disseminating content across channels a rapid one-step process. Rather than requiring each channel s underlying technology to be manually updated, a single update from the knowledge platform can push the most-relevant content to every channel and customer-facing process, when and where it is needed. Think about how this capability can help you improve the quality of your service and give you a competitive edge. For example, say your company wants to offer a 50 percent discount to consumers who switch to your service from a competitor. This offer must be communicated and supported by every customer channel, including the contact center, retail locations, Website, VRU, Facebook page, and even your field service technicians. With a knowledge management platform, you can create this content in a single place and propagate it to all the channels. When a service agent logs into the customer relationship management (CRM) application, the knowledge is already in place and integrated into the desktop application. When customers log onto your Website, visit a retail location, or stop by a 2
kiosk fed by the knowledge management repository, your special offer becomes an integral part of their experience. With just one source of knowledge, the offer is not only delivered in a unified, consistent, and accurate manner at each point of contact but can also be implemented far faster than if you had to wait for every channel to be updated individually. High-Value Customer Experience With a knowledge platform, you can deliver information far more efficiently and effectively, which means that you are providing a much more satisfying customer experience, right? Well, yes and no. Certainly, increasing consistency and accuracy and disseminating crucial information right away to meet customer demands is going to improve the experience. But now the problem of helping customers find what they are looking for arises. Too often companies rely on enterprise search engines or content management systems that offer only keyword search. Customers find themselves caught in endless search loops, sifting through page after page of results, and giving up and making a phone call to your contact center or asking their friends for help. Even worse, they may turn to a competitor and badmouth your business in various social channels. As Harris Interactive reported in its Customer Experience Impact Report in April 2009, 86 percent of customers will stop doing business with an organization after just one bad experience and 82 percent of them will tell their friends about it. As Harris Interactive reports, 86 percent of customers will stop doing business with an organization after just one bad experience and 82 percent of them will tell their friends about it. The answer is not to present more results. Instead, help customers avoid content clutter by providing a specific and relevant answer. This requires understanding the intent of each inquiry a capability that is not available with enterprise search or content management. Knowledge management solutions that offer intent-based search capabilities leverage natural language processing, business rules, behavioral analytics, ontologies, and the context of the inquiry to discover the user s true intent and deliver the most relevant answer. For example, here s what happens when self-service customers ask how to complete an online transfer between their checking accounts and their individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Instead of searching all repositories and producing a massive results list, knowledge management directs the search to the most relevant knowledge source, such as the page on the support site that explains how to complete transfers or a microsite for IRAs. This eliminates the presentation of irrelevant documents that just happen to contain the terms checking account, IRA, or transfer all of which could produce hundreds of results. Killing Two Birds with One Stone Advanced knowledge management combines this intent discovery with directed knowledge that enriches the experience, by both better defining the inquiry and providing a more accurate response. For example, a wizard can guide a customer through the process of picking just the right product. The customers discussed above may be offered not just the most relevant funds-transfer procedure but also a rich environment of related knowledge, including links to appropriate FAQs, a tricks-and-tips online forum, or even a special offer or promotion related to the inquiry. 3
Conclusion Why is there a new heightened focus on knowledge strategies? The current economic climate has forced businesses to be exceedingly vigilant about the cost of service while figuring out new strategies for increasing customer spending and retention. Top brands today are implementing knowledge strategies to ensure that the information distributed across their global businesses is consistent and accurate. These same strategies bring new offers and products to market faster, quickly deliver troubleshooting solutions that prevent costly contact center inquiries, help customers find answers as rapidly as possible, and surround answers with information and opportunities that deliver more value every time a customer touches your company. The fact of the matter is that in this world of channel explosion, social exposure, and the need for fiscal responsibility, few things are more relevant or appropriate than a well-implemented knowledge management platform. 4
Knowledge Management: The Holy Grail for Today s Economy October 2011 Oracle Corporation World Headquarters 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 U.S.A. Worldwide Inquiries: Phone: +1.650.506.7000 Fax: +1.650.506.7200 Copyright 2010, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, and the AMD Opteron logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. UNIX is a registered trademark licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. 1011 oracle.com