Knowledge Management in Call Centers

Knowledge management is possible and applicable in many fields. However, there are fields where both the necessity of knowledge management and the resulting benefits are particularly high.

Such a field is the call center, along with its cousins, customer service and the Help Desk.

Let us examine this subject in depth:

As a first step in any knowledge management project, we examine the level of knowledge required for employees performing the task. We compare individuals performing the same role and examine whether there are gaps in their role performance, and to what extent these gaps can be attributed to formal knowledge acquired in courses, their characteristics, and environmental conditions. Gaps that are not rooted in these are experience gaps, informal knowledge gaps.

In a Call Center, it will be easy to see that the gap resulting from experience is large. We observe how employee performance improves over time in their role. We will continue to examine the necessity of knowledge management. The mere existence of knowledge is not a sufficient condition for managing it.

For this purpose, we will examine the Call Center's objectives: to answer the maximum number of calls on the first line and not transfer them to the back line in the shortest possible time. All this with courtesy for customer satisfaction.

The necessity of knowledge management is clear in these contexts. Knowledge management can help both by enabling Call Center employees to answer more questions, as a broad knowledge base will be at their disposal. Additionally, responses will be faster, thanks to tools (such as a knowledge base) that facilitate the quick finding of the right answer. The high turnover of employees in most places also increases the necessity for effective knowledge management.

But to manage knowledge in such a pressured environment, it must be done intelligently:

Knowledge must reach employees when they need it. They don't have time in the middle of a call to jump to an internet repository containing all the answers in the world. Knowledge must be brought in a focused manner, at the right time.

The process is not difficult; the Call Center employee operates in a computerized environment and utilizes a computer application (various CRMs) to record the caller's details and the specifics of the incident or question. It is easy and possible to define what types of knowledge items we want to surface for use for each type of incident or question. This should be built intelligently so that, on the one hand, the answers will be focused. Still, on the other hand, each answer will suit more than one case, thereby minimizing the amount of investment required for repository maintenance. We won't elaborate on the maintenance issue, but here, too, it's possible to utilize the routine as a means to update and expand the repository.

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