It pays to know your stuff: Elevating CX with knowledge management

Have you ever called a customer service line and felt like you were playing a game of telephone? One agent says one thing, another contradicts it completely — leaving you more confused than when you started. It’s a frustrating experience that highlights a common pitfall in many organizations: disjointed knowledge management (KM). When agents have to look in multiple places to find an answer, it creates a tangled web of information that confuses customers and diminishes employee confidence.

Yet, there’s hope. 

As businesses strive to enhance customer experiences (CX) and employee experiences (EX), effective KM is emerging as a critical strategy. It empowers teams with the knowledge they need to provide consistent, reliable support across multiple channels. With technology evolving rapidly, including advancements like artificial intelligence (AI), the path to streamlined KM is more accessible than ever, and the list of use cases is growing by the day.

The risks of disjointed knowledge management

When agents rely on more than one source of truth to do their job it can lead to inconsistent answers that frustrate both customers and employees. 

Imagine a customer calling in for help: one agent might provide accurate information from the company’s SharePoint site, while another, consulting an old list of FAQs, gives conflicting advice. It happens all the time. This inconsistency breeds confusion and erodes trust, resulting in dissatisfied customers and employees doubting their expertise. It also increases repeat calls, driving up the cost to serve.

Neglecting to install an effective KM strategy poses significant risks. Organizations that fail to invest in robust systems may fall behind their competitors, lose valuable employees, and experience high customer turnover due to inadequate service. Inconsistent CX drives clients to seek out competitors offering more streamlined solutions. In today’s crowded market, switching costs are low — customers will rarely think twice about abandoning a company that doesn’t provide efficient service.

Moreover, frustrated employees who lack the right tools are more likely to leave, resulting in increased turnover rates and a negative impact on company culture. Ultimately, without cohesive KM, organizations risk not only losing revenue but also diminished customer loyalty and employee confidence.

The power of a single source of truth

Managing multiple knowledge bases can feel like a monumental challenge, overwhelming organizations as they struggle to keep information up-to-date and synchronized. 

That’s why establishing a single source of truth is essential. According to one report, a robust knowledge management system (KMS) can reduce the time lost searching for information by up to 35% and boost productivity by up to 25%. 

With contact center as a service (CCaaS) solutions like Genesys Cloud, organizations can integrate their single source of truth directly into the focal point of customer experience: their front-line representatives. This connectivity provides agents with easy access to accurate information and surfaces relevant answers in real time. By referring to a single, unified knowledge base, agents can deliver consistent support and reduce the frustration that arises from conflicting information. Leveraging the capabilities of CCaaS within your knowledge management strategy empowers customer service teams to respond swiftly and confidently to inquiries, ultimately leading to improved customer satisfaction.

Moreover, a robust KMS supports omnichannel strategies by guaranteeing that information remains consistent and accurate, whether the customer chooses to interact with the organization via text message, web messaging, email, social media, or a phone call. Once the knowledge base is established and maintained, it can inform solutions powered by artificial intelligence to enhance CX, including chatbots, agent assist tools, and self-service libraries.

The opportunity for improvement multiplies once you build and maintain a quality knowledge base — it not only enhances both customer and agent experiences, but also reduces costs, increases contact center capacity, and leads to higher customer retention.

The symbiotic relationship between AI and KM

While AI is often seen as the future of CX — and even a key player in KM — maximizing its potential requires a solid KM foundation first and foremost.

AI-driven solutions like Agent Copilot depend on accurate, centralized knowledge to pull real-time information during customer interactions. Instead of agents manually searching through articles, AI listens to conversations, transcribes them, and matches relevant knowledge articles instantly. Capabilities like knowledge surfacing from Genesys even highlight relevant synopses so agents don’t have to skim entire articles for answers. This not only reduces average handle time — by as much as 30% in one estimate — but also ensures customers receive the most accurate information. 

Moreover, AI enables continuous improvement of the knowledge base. As agents interact with the system, they can provide feedback on the accuracy of the information (thumbs up or down). Over time, AI identifies gaps in knowledge and prompts updates based on repeated feedback. This helps create a feedback loop where the knowledge base improves with every interaction — without requiring a fully manual process. AI also flags recurring questions that lack sufficient information, enabling the KM team to fill these gaps​.

Assigning responsibilities for knowledge management

Effectively managing knowledge is essential, but how this responsibility is structured depends largely on the organization’s size and resources. In larger enterprises, effective KM often necessitates a dedicated team or a full-time role focused on maintaining and updating the knowledge base. This person or team typically oversees the entire KM process, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and alignment with organizational goals.

For smaller organizations, it often becomes a collaborative effort across departments. In this case, it’s important to assign clear ownership of specific areas within the knowledge base. For example, subject matter experts (SMEs) in customer service might manage customer-facing knowledge, while product teams handle product-related content. Establishing “knowledge champions” within each team can help ensure that information remains up to date without overburdening any one individual.

Real-world impact: Client success story

Currently, I am leading a CX transformation project for a distributor facing significant challenges in managing information for products from multiple manufacturers. Each manufacturer controls its own knowledge, complicating matters for our client, who needs to provide accurate answers to customer inquiries about those products.

To address this, we help the distributor establish a knowledge management system (KMS) that allows manufacturers to access the knowledge relevant to their own products. They can view performance reports, identify gaps, and even upload their own articles. This approach alleviates some of the burden from the client while ensuring that agents have access to the most accurate information.

For instance, we are launching a knowledge bot that enables customers to self-serve by visiting the website and typing in problems related to specific SKUs. This will allow customers to independently pull up relevant information, guides, and diagrams, which is crucial for a knowledge-heavy organization like theirs.

There’s a common misconception that KM requires a hefty investment. In reality, projects like this can start with just $5,000 to $10,000. Organizations can create a targeted repository with 50 articles, test its effectiveness, and gather feedback before committing to a larger initiative. This flexibility allows businesses to focus on departments with high knowledge demands, ensuring a tailored approach to KM.

Key metrics for knowledge management success

To effectively gauge the success of KM initiatives, organizations should concentrate on a few key performance indicators (KPIs):

• First-call resolution (FCR): If agents resolve customer inquiries on the first contact, it indicates that the KM system is functioning effectively. As a bonus, high FCR rates correlate to increased customer satisfaction and lower operational costs.
• Average handle time (AHT): This metric reflects how efficiently agents are resolving issues. A lower AHT generally indicates that agents are leveraging knowledge resources effectively.

Additionally, KM tools like Knowledge Workbench enable organizations to track the frequency and effectiveness of knowledge articles in resolving queries. By analyzing this data, businesses can identify which resources are most beneficial and where improvements are needed.

The path to KM mastery

If you were to ask one of your contact center managers where agents look for answers when a customer has a question, what would they say? 

If they can easily point to a centralized repository, you’re on the right track. However, if they hesitate and ask for more details about the customer’s question, it’s a red flag. This likely indicates a fragmented approach where different answers reside in different places, ultimately hindering performance. This fragmentation can lead to inconsistent responses, leaving agents unsure and customers frustrated. 

Consider this: What would it mean for your agent retention rates if they didn’t struggle to find correct answers and risk frustrating customers with long wait times? What impact would it have on customers if they received the right answer at the right time every time? And what would it mean for the success of your business if you had both?

That's what a strong KM strategy can do for you: streamline information access, empower agents with quick, accurate answers, and eliminate frustration for both your team and customers. With a cohesive system in place, you boost agent morale, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive retention rates. A robust KM strategy lays the foundation for long-term CX, EX, and overall business success.