Implementing Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS^sm):
Best Practices for Knowledge Management in Customer Service

Key Benefits Increase productivity by sharing knowledge: solve problems only once Eliminate time-consuming review bottlenecks Create customer-ready content for self-service

Traditional Approaches to Knowledge Management Falter
Historically, customer service and support organizations have recognized the value of knowledge management, but they’ve struggled to implement it successfully. In some cases, they’ve hired a team of content developers to write answers to frequently asked questions. But that’s an expensive approach, and it’s surprisingly hard to know what questions really are “frequently asked.” And, dedicated writers may not have the necessary technical skills.

Another approach is to have subject experts take time away from the case queue to write knowledgebase content. While the resulting answers are technically accurate, they may not be easy for customers or junior staff to understand, and they may cover issues that are interesting to the author, but relatively rare in the real world. Besides, subject experts are busy and knowledge authoring usually takes second priority to dealing with high-priority customer issues.

In any event, once content is written it may wait for a long time in review queues or simply go out of date.

KCS to the Rescue
Knowledge-Centered Support is a best practice designed to make knowledge management an efficient part of all support operations. Developed in 1994 by members of the Consortium for Service Innovation, KCS captures content as a byproduct of resolving customer issues; improves content based on demand, usage, and feedback; and reuses knowledge to make each customer interaction more efficient and consistent.

Unlike conventional approaches that treat knowledge management as a separate job, KCS isn’t a process that happens outside of service delivery—it becomes the way organizations deliver service.

More details about the KCS practices can be found on the Consortium for Service Innovation web site.

Technology Designed to Enable KCS
While KCS is not tied to any one particular technology, it does require tools to support the practices. To help service and support organizations evaluate KCS technology, the Consortium released a set of tool requirements. Consona’s Knowledge Driven Support solution meets those criteria, and as a result has been KCS Verified^sm by the Consortium for Service Innovation. There’s no surprise in that: Knowledge-Centered Support has been the design center for the entire product development cycle.

Consona CRM for Implementation of Knowledge-Centered Support — Key Features
	Capture in the workflow Knowledge article capture is directly integrated in the case management process—no duplicate effort or retyping. Once a case is resolved, the associated knowledgebase article can be ready to publish. Structure for reuse Auto-tagging and adaptive guided search take advantage of KCS solution structure. Searches are automatically launched from case details. Searching is creating Pre-built templates and workflows for KCS. Search terms are used to start a new document. Just-in-Time knowledge quality Users can flag documents for correction or enhancement. Certified users can improve documents directly. Customers can provide document feedback.