The Secret Knowledgebase
In my previous post I mentioned how company rules can impair employees in delivering value to customers. And how employees can and will go to great lengths to get the job done in spite of that. I've recently come across another example of this and I'm curious to read your thoughts about it.
This company had implemented a great knowledgebase platform. They had carefully designed workflows for creating, reviewing and improving knowledge articles. The editorial team was trained and experienced in writing in the customers' language. The reviewers were technical experts and grammar/spelling experts. But the knowledgebase wasn't delivering the ROI they expected.
In the beginning, the support agents were required to search the KB, link articles to cases and flag cases for the editorial team to be written into new articles. Mandatory. This didn't work as intended - many cases had the same single article linked to them, there was a growing backlog for creating/reviewing new articles and many of the cases flagged for new articles were duplicates. At some point management removed the requirement. And behold, the knowledgebase was barely used after that.
What the managers say:
"See, we do need to make it mandatory for all agents to use the knowledgebase otherwise they just don't use it."
"We don't understand why the agents won't use the knowledgebase, we've put so much thought and effort into it."
"I've heard agents complain that searching doesn't work well in the knowledgebase platform. If the tool was better, maybe they'd use it."
What the support agents say:
"I already know what's in the knowledgebase."
"The knowledgebase is great for training new agents, but when the new agent is on the floor with us we teach them how things really work."
"The knowledgebase platform sucks."
"We have our own knowledgebase."
... say what?
"Yes, here let me show you."
And there it was: a network folder with text files, Office and PDF documents, screenshot images. Many of the documents were dated recently. Used by all the support agents, unknown by management (either that or they turn a blind eye).
So why is all this not in the knowledgebase platform?
"Nooo, this is not good enough for the knowledgebase. The information in here doesn't comply with company policies."
But you use this to solve customer issues?
"Oh yeah, lots of times."
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Dear reader: if you were the consultant in this case, what would you advise?
Please leave a comment below. In my next post, I will share my thoughts.