Specializing in Knowledge Management provides an excellent opportunity for ongoing improvements with internal and external customers. Knowledge Bases are typically associated with Support Organizations. These Call Centers have evolved to accommodate a variety of mediums including phone, chat and email. Some Call Centers use video conferencing, encouraging users to employ cameras to “show” the situation to the support agent.
I’ve been in situations where knowledge base (KB) content was initially available exclusively to customer support agents. However, upon recognizing how this troubleshooting content could benefit others within the organization, KB access was expanded. Eventually everyone from product management to training relied on the KB solutions. Then, in an effort to promote self-service, Call Centers took the KB one step further, by developing specific criteria and publishing KB solutions for direct customer consumption. None of these improvements would be possible without hearing and responding to customer feedback. Regardless of your industry, product or service, employing various methods to better understand your customer’s concerns, priorities and preferences is a investment that will reap great rewards if you are willing to listen. Consider your customer feedback methods by reading this article, Listening to the Voice of the Customer, written by Leonard Klie and published in the July 2012 issue of CRM magazine.