However, as we have heard loud and clear from our clients as well as the discussions in forums such as our recent Best Practices Sharing Sessions in San Diego, a number of you are still struggling with the best ways to drive user adoption of self-service models, efficiently capture and reuse expertise, and integrate the potentially numerous components and technologies needed to deliver advanced self-service and “e-service” across all channels to all relevant users.
Applying knowledge management (KM) tools is a proven approach, but KM is increasingly only one part of the solution. In fact, while many next-generation service and support solutions will require a “KM core,” advanced search capabilities to access unstructured data sources, plus integrated analytics and personalization to adapt and deliver tailored content and solutions, will also be essential components. Given the relative complexity of each of these disciplines, not to mention how they interact, vendors and solution providers with experience in each of these areas – that can deliver them as part of one platform – are finding an eager market.
Riding the self-service wave
Helping customers (and employees) help themselves is a relatively old idea, but one that has grown in popularity with technology innovation, user familiarity (thanks largely to the Web), and growing competitive pressures to “do more, with less.” Self-service is attractive because it promises convenience and cost savings. From the supermarket to the IT support desk, self-service models are spreading across the customer lifecycle, from product research and configuration, to service activation, account management and customer care.
And with good reason: users actually want it! 59% of mobile users in the UK prefer to manage their accounts themselves online or through their handsets, according to a recent YouGov/Netonomy online survey. A recent survey by J.D. Power also shows that 38% of airline passengers now use self-service kiosks, and wait on average half as long for their boarding passes. At the same time, 80% of technical support cases at one of the leading networking equipment providers are solved online by customers.
In response, businesses have been ramping up their spending on self-service and online support tools and technology. According to AMR Research, Web self-service will be the most frequently implemented customer management application this year. The market for self-service application software is close to $1.5 billion, according to the latest ABG research. And according to Forrester, 54% of large companies plan to spend more on Web analytics, and 40% on Web search in 2005.
The role for knowledge management
As we have defined our “reference architecture” over the past several years for self-service and multi-channel e-service applications, knowledge management continues to be a key component. In addition to a knowledge base for capturing business processes and rules to drive service resolution, we see collaboration tools and user forum applications from vendors such as Jive Software becoming an increasingly important weapon in the online support arsenal.
At the same time, knowledge management is a key capability among several of the leaders in our 2005 Self Service vendor scorecard (see www.selfservicescorecard.com). In fact, several companies which either started in the knowledge management market and/or have significant KM capabilities are in our “top 10,” including Knova, Art Technology Group (ATG), KANA, Kaidara and SafeHarbor.
In our experience, successful self-service and multi-channel e-service is all about enabling greater reach and efficiency. Reach users where they are, and enable them to reach the information, products or people they need – the first time. Shorten time to resolution, and enable greater efficiency for agents by allowing them to offload frequently asked, lower value-added requests to automated channels.
While knowledge management is a core ingredient in achieving this, we believe organizations must look beyond traditional KM to fully leverage emerging support models – and allow the greatest number of users to benefit from self-service models. For this reason, choosing a foundation with not only established KM capabilities but also built-in intelligent search and customer analytics increasingly makes sense, especially in consumer-oriented support environments.
As companies deal with increasingly sophisticated products (consumer electronics, broadband services, home networking, etc.) in the hands of increasingly less sophisticated users, ease of use, personalization and automated “hand-holding” becomes paramount. Meeting this challenge will require more advanced KM solutions – but also organizations to look beyond knowledge management in developing their support strategy.
About the Author
Allen Bonde is the President and founder of Allen Bonde Group (ABG), Inc., (www.allenbondegroup.com) a strategic advisory and consulting firm focused on CRM and Web self-service. Before starting ABG in 2001, Allen was a practice expert at McKinsey, the director of management consulting at Extraprise, an analyst at the Yankee Group, and spent 5 years in R&D at a leading telecommunications company.
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