1. The KCSsm Brief Knowledge-Centered Support
Consortium for Service Innovation
Greg Oxton

2. Consortium for Service Innovation www.serviceinnovation.org
What is the Consortium?
An Alliance of Support Organizations
Member funded
Not for profit
Vendor neutral
Focused on addressing the challenges that face Customer Service
Rising costs
Declining customer satisfaction
Through
Innovation, R & D
Business strategies
Cross industry perspectives
Consortium for Service Innovation

3. Consortium for Service Innovation www.serviceinnovation.org
Board of Directors
LaVeta Gibbs – Cisco
Rob Schauble - HP
Lori Brownell – Microsoft
Mike Lyons - Novell
Brad Smith – Openwave
Mike Runda - Intuit
Bob Barnes – JPMorganChase
Greg Oxton – the Consortium
Consortium for Service Innovation

4. Consortium for Service Innovation www.serviceinnovation.org
The Evolution of KCS
Started in 1992 – with simple premise
Capture, structure, reuse support knowledge
12+ years of evolution/investment
Collective thinking, collective experience
Early adopters; 3Com, Microsoft, Compaq, Tandem, Attachmate, QAD, Nortel
Collective investment on the development of KCS methodology– $45.7M (estimate, not including technology costs)
Collective benefit in cost savings - $2B (estimate)
Consortium for Service Innovation

5. Knowledge-Centered Support Is the Effective
Capture
Structure
Reuse
Solutions
Of Support Knowledge in the
problem Solving Process
Consortium for Service Innovation

6. What is Knowledge-Centered Support?
KCS is a methodology (not a technology)
A set of practices and processes that focuses on knowledge as a key asset of the support organization.
KCS seeks to:
Create JIT content as a by-product of solving problems
Evolve content based on demand and usage
Develop a KB of our collective experience to-date
Reward learning, collaboration, sharing and improving
Do the “Body Parts” exercise
Key learning's from the exercise:
Consortium for Service Innovation

7. Consortium for Service Innovation www.serviceinnovation.org
KCS Processes
Capture in
The workflow
Structure
For reuse
Searching
Is creating
Just-in-time
Solution Quality
Solve
Leadership
Performance
Assessment
Content
vitality
Workflow
Evolve
Knowledge
Consortium for Service Innovation

8. KCS Processes The Solve Loop
Capture in Workflow
Customer context
Structure for Reuse
Consistent structure, templates, style guide
Searching is Creating
Search Early, Search Often
Just in Time Solution Quality
Use It, Flag It, Fix It, Add It (UFFA)
Consortium for Service Innovation

9. Consortium for Service Innovation www.serviceinnovation.org
Content is King!
KCS seeks to create content that is good enough to be findable, and usable by a target audience
We call the collection of information a “solution”
A solution is more than the answer or fix
Problem/question
Environment
Fix/answer
Information/meta data
Solutions have a life cycle,
they go through different states
Consortium for Service Innovation

10. KCS Solutions A Simple Structure
Incident/call record
Customer called about a problem installing a NIC. Cannot get the system to recognize the NIC after reboot. Did not order the card from us, it is a 3Com NIC. Reviewed network settings and could not find anything wrong. Customer has meeting and would like a call back tomorrow am.
Talked to Bob about NIC card problem, he is running Win 98 on a Cpaq-P and he needs the latest driver for Win 98. Bob asked to leave the call open until he downloads driver.
Solution
Problem:
Install network card
Network card not recognized
Environment:
3Com network card, model 300X
Windows 98
Compaq Presario
Fix:
1. Download latest driver for Network Card 300X from 3Com
2. Follow the installation instruction on the 3Com site.
Consortium for Service Innovation

11. KCS is a Risk Management System
Can we create a knowledgebase…
That capitalizes on our collective experience and interactions…
And minimizes the risk, knowing knowledge is:
Not 100% accurate
Not complete
Not static, constantly changing
And, validated through use
Consortium for Service Innovation

12. Consortium for Service Innovation www.serviceinnovation.org
KCS Processes
Capture in
The workflow
Structure
For reuse
Searching
Is creating
Just-in-time
Solution Quality
Solve
Leadership
Performance
Assessment
Content
vitality
Workflow
Evolve
Knowledge
Consortium for Service Innovation

13. KCS Processes The Evolve Loop
Workflow
Incident management integrated with knowledge management
Real-time solution creation
Functions at the speed of conversation
Leadership
Performance
Assessment
Content
vitality
Workflow
Evolve
Knowledge
Consortium for Service Innovation

14. KCS Processes The Evolve Loop
Content Vitality
Well-defined content structure
Well-defined workflow
WIP, Draft, Approved, Published
Solution Quality Index
Review through use
Leadership
Performance
Assessment
Content
vitality
Workflow
Evolve
Knowledge
Consortium for Service Innovation

15. KCS Processes The Evolve Loop
Performance Assessment
Proficiency-Based Licensing Model
KCS I, KCS II, KCS III
Value-based Assessment
Knowledge Re-use
Roles
KCS Coaches, Knowledge Domain Administrator, Management
Leadership
Performance
Assessment
Content
vitality
Workflow
Evolve
Knowledge
Consortium for Service Innovation

16. KCS Processes The Evolve Loop
Leadership
Vision
Strategic Direction
Business Alignment
Leadership
Performance
Assessment
Content
vitality
Workflow
Evolve
Knowledge
Consortium for Service Innovation

17. Quality Management in Inherent in the Processes
Content standard
Clear and usable
With examples
Proficiency-based licensing model
Solution quality sampling
Based on content standard
Feedback to users
Broad-based performance assessment
Just-in-time performance assessment
Culture change: collective ownership
Use it, flag it, or fix it
Consortium for Service Innovation

18. Individual Radar Chart “A Value Footprint”
Consortium for Service Innovation

19. Individual Radar Chart “A Value Footprint”
Consortium for Service Innovation

20. KCS is not something we do in addition to solving problems… KCS becomes the way we solve problems…

21. You Know you are “Doing KCS” When . . .
% of problems handled as known doubles
Overall time to resolve drops by 30-50% (until known issues are available on the web)
New people become productive in 25% of the time it used to take
Support agents have confidence in handling a broader set of issues
Support analysts morale is at an all time high
Turn over rate is at an all time low
Analysts don’t tolerate their peers messing up the KB
We can give development substantiated and actionable recommendations for improvements based on the customer experience
Consortium for Service Innovation

22. Keys to Successful Adoption
Strategic framework
Content vitality – findable, usable solutions
Identify KCS Roles and Responsibilities (licensing metaphor), Coaching
Workflow/process map
Technology – functionality and integration
Performance assessment
Leadership
Communications plan
Adoption roadmap
Consortium for Service Innovation

23. The Consortium for Service Innovation
Greg Oxton

24. Right to use with Attribution
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Consortium for Service Innovation