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Writer's pictureShlomit Amichi

Knowledge-Centered Support

Updated: Nov 25


A person wearing a headset and glasses

Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) is a methodology, set of practices, and processes that views knowledge as the central asset in all aspects of technical support for an organization's customers. This methodology was developed in the early 1990s by the Consortium for Service Innovation, an alliance of companies that provide technical support, working to find innovative solutions to issues concerning these organizations. The basic premise of this methodology is to capture, structure, and intelligently reuse technical support knowledge for use by service representatives in support centers.


KCS has four primary characteristics:

  1. It generates knowledge as a by-product of problem-solving

  2. Content evolves in response to demand and use

  3. It develops an up-to-date knowledge base of our shared experiences

  4. It values learning, collaboration, sharing, and improvement


A Rich Methodology

The KCS methodology has undergone several iterations, from which a rich methodology has developed: a set of insights for creating and maintaining knowledge in a supportive environment. Unlike traditional knowledge management, which accompanies the process, KCS is an integral part of daily life in a support center. It has become how people solve problems and generate new knowledge.


Although KCS is enabled by technology, its essence lies in people. Support staff are the source of knowledge; they are the ones who create and use it every day, and they are the best at capturing and preserving it. Here are some examples: "Knowledge Manager," an internal organizational site that centralizes all processes and solutions offered to customers, enriched daily through feedback received from service representatives and updated on the site by its managers; organizational Wikipedia, where any employee can contribute online solutions from their field experience; knowledge communities operating a forum for consultation with experts and colleagues, and more.


To achieve optimal performance, the work processes and tools that support KCS must be integrated with operational and business systems and business processes of risk management, change management, and service management.


Why Implement Knowledge-Centered Support?

Organizations that have already adopted this concept in their external and internal support centers report dramatic improvement in solving issues/incidents, shortening training times, and increasing customer and employee satisfaction. As a result, they experience significant savings in operational expenses while seeing improvement in service levels. They found they could:


Handle incidents and problems faster:

  • 50-60% improvement in handling time.

  • 30-50% increase in first-time resolution.


Optimize the use of organizational resources:

  • 70% improvement in training time.

  • 20-35% increase in employee retention.

  • 20-40% increase in employee satisfaction.


Enable adoption of an internet service strategy:

  • Increase in the success of online support sites and their usage level.

  • Up to 50% shift of customers to these sites.


Generate organizational learning:

  • Knowledge that can be relied upon for developing solutions to customer inquiries

  • 10% reduction in inquiries due to root cause elimination


It's important to understand that organizations choose to adopt KCS because they want to expand and professionalize their support capabilities, but they don't have an infinite budget or staff:


This concept breaks the boundaries of existing support management concepts and allows organizations to achieve greater returns and efficiency. The secret is to leverage an organization’s resource: knowledge. Learn how to capture and manage employees' experiences in solving issues and answering user questions, enable reuse of this knowledge, and turn it into organizational knowledge.


KCS leads teamwork to a higher level. The organization must adopt a view that sees knowledge as an asset belonging to all employees, not individuals or small groups holding it. This focus is central to understanding the concept, as its goal is not to solve a customer's private problem but to address the needs of all users and enable organizational learning as a result.


This article is based on the KCS methodology on the website https://www.serviceinnovation.org.

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