Knowledge management is an important business process that can help an organization enhance other processes. It can be used in many different ways. Some companies use knowledge management tools to share critical information more efficiently and to function in a better way.
On the other hand, some other organizations use it to maintain their documents, which can be used by employees to learn the best practices, share data with customers, and so on. When it comes to call centers, knowledge management is almost exclusively used for providing valuable information to agents that they can use to solve customer problems.
A knowledge management tool that can do this can be a simple app that has a database filled with answers, or it can be a complete knowledge base platform with an endless amount of information available. Simply put, knowledge management includes practices that lead to improving business value while storing and sharing knowledge where and when needed.
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Knowledge management can reduce costs
Knowledge management can significantly reduce customer service costs, especially if we are talking about a call center. First of all, the number of calls that get repeated will be reduced, agents will finish calls successfully, faster, and they will be more effective at helping, given the fact that they will have vital information at their disposal.
Given the fact that agents will perform better, this means that a certain number of employees will be able to take care of more customers and help them adequately. There will be no need to hire new employees, as you can make your current ones more productive. On top of that, a knowledge base for example will make their jobs easier and your employees will be satisfied.
Additionally, by implementing a self-service portal, you can also give customers a second option to get the info they need – on their own. Given the fact that some people prefer to do it this way, you will reduce the strain on your agents and give customers more options on how to get in touch with your business and get valuable answers.
Gathering valuable customer data
Knowledge management doesn’t have to rely only on your internal processes and business-related information. A company can also gather information on customers and improve their business value by analyzing it and making adequate moves through the information acquired.
For example, when a customer calls your contact phone, an agent will answer and talk to that person, trying his or her best to help them as quickly as possible. During the conversation, the agent can learn a lot about what bothers that customer and which information is shady and unclear to them.
After each successful conversation, agents can quickly store important information about customers or documents on how they were able to help with a certain problem. When this information is stored, other agents can quickly look it up.
On top of that, a company can spot trends and see where their service is falling behind by analyzing which questions are the most common. Through this feedback, an organization can change itself and adjust to improve their consumers’ convenience.
Improved level of service
Call center knowledge management is essential for improving the quality of service. Almost all knowledge management practices help improve the service either directly or indirectly. First of all, agents will be more accurate with their information and the chances of them giving wrong answers will be greatly reduced.
When a company representative gives wrong information about his/her business, this will make the organization look unprofessional and this is what everyone is looking to avoid. On the other hand, given the fact that agents will always be able to use a tool to find something they don’t know or can’t remember, it means that they will be able to work faster.
When it comes to customer service, speed is essential. Nobody likes waiting on the phone for ages before someone talks back to them with useful information. This means no need for putting callers on hold or transferring one person to different agents.
Better quality of service directly leads to improved customer loyalty and higher traffic. This means that a business will be able to make more sales and stay stable for a long period. A stable base of customers gives an organization the room to further grow and make future plans.
Consistent service throughout all channels
Without any knowledge management practices, it can be quite difficult for a business to know what answers are given to customers, how were they effective, and so on. When knowledge management practices are in order, all your customers and those potential ones will get the same answers to the same questions.
It doesn’t matter which agent they are talking to or through which channel they are engaging a business. Documenting vital information in both self-service channels and in tools that agents use means that customers will be able to get the same information everywhere.
When an agent doesn’t have knowledge on a certain topic, he or she can look within a knowledge base and fetch that information which was proven to be useful and accurate. Only when an organization is able to achieve such consistency will they be able to improve their efficiency and the quality of their work even further.
These were some of the major reasons why knowledge management is beneficial to call centers and how they can improve their efficiency. Through all of these benefits, a business will be able to increase its profits as well. Implementing knowledge management practices is essential for a modern call center and doing this as soon as possible is a must.
