Comaround is an organisation that specialises in self-service and knowledge management. This case study interview shows how ComAround is using Knowledge Centred Service (KCS®) to capture collective knowledge and build smarter organisations.
Per-Kristian Broch Mathisen is a KCS Trainer for knowledge management specialist ComAround. He has spent six years working in knowledge management, and two years specifically working with Knowledge Centered Service (KCS).
So why has KCS, a methodology detailing how organisations can improve the collection and management of their employee knowledge, become such an important tool for ComAround?
“KCS capitalises on our collective experience and interactions by capturing everyone’s knowledge in a structured way and enables us to provide quick, accurate information to customers,” explains Per.
For a full introduction to KCS, take a look at our blog here. But in summary, KCS turns knowledge management – an ad-hoc process for most businesses – into a well-defined intelligence capturing machine. It offers solutions to the challenges associated with knowledge management, tackling how to alter the culture, make use of the right people and how to create a self-managing knowledge loop. It’s a proven methodology that has delivered some fantastic results. Per-Kristian explains why.
“In terms of knowledge management, most service desks and support functions have been run in the same way for the past ten years. They don’t use self-service and they haven’t stored any of the solutions so they answer the same question over and over again. Therefore, you can deliver tremendous value on a call, but you have to find to reinvent the wheel every time that question gets asked again. It’s not efficient. Service desks spend time trying to shave seconds off each call. By structuring knowledge correctly, they can begin saving hours.”
Knowledge, of course, is critical to self-service. Any self-service portal or facility will fail unless it is fed quality knowledge. And as Per-Kristian says, self-service has moved from being a nice-to-have to become instead an essential service for customers.
“The younger generation expects to find answers when they troubleshoot on Google or look on your website. Failing to acknowledge this will mean you fall behind competitors, especially for those delivering tech support.”
With KCS improving the process of capturing knowledge, self-service can truly take off, bringing with it improvements to both efficiency and service levels. But there are other benefits, especially when it comes to recruiting new staff.
“Effective knowledge management can reduce the time it takes for a new starter to become proficient by up to 70%. This makes a huge difference because, for technical jobs, it generally takes between six months and a year to reach a level of proficiency. Therefore, you don’t have to rely on those one or two ‘superheroes’ who have all the knowledge and experience.”
Download our guide about how KCS can transform knowledge management and self-service