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“Knowledge is Power” – is not just a cliché but the driving force behind today’s economy. Contact centers heavily depend on knowledge to deliver a superior customer experience (CX). But often, this knowledge is not readily available. There is no single source of truth, or the agents cannot recognize its importance in resolving customer issues. Having centralized AI-powered knowledge management helps contact center agents resolve customer issues faster and with lesser effort.
Knowledge management eventually leads to more satisfied customers, less burdened employees, lower running costs, and smoother internal operations. Beyond the general benefits, here are the top 5 examples of how knowledge management can help contact centers.
#1. Single source of truth
Customers prefer to communicate with a brand via multiple channels. It can sometimes create various versions of the truth of customer’s interaction with the brand. The agents can find it hard to access the complete history and context behind the customer interactions and problems. With AI-powered knowledge management, it is possible to remove the silos and have a single source of truth. You can have real-time information assimilation from customer interactions and relevant knowledge retrieval at any time. The AI-based system can understand the customers’ real intent, history, and context and assist the agents with the right information, even though the customers’ query might not match the typical question related to their problems.
#2. Higher FCR rates
The first call resolution (FCR) of queries is vital from both CX and cost-cutting standpoint. But to achieve FCR consistently, there is a need to have a sound knowledge management system. It is possible to automate the response to a fraction of the customer queries through canned responses, AI-based chatbots, intelligent IVR, knowledge repositories like how-to-guides, tutorials, blogs, and so on. But to succeed with these strategies mentioned above, you need a strong knowledge management foundation. The rest of the things will fall in place. It can then lead to higher FCR rates in the contact center.
#3. Lower AHT
One of the critical contact center metrics is average handle time (AHT). We have a blog dedicated to reducing AHT in contact centers. Knowledge management helps agents to have access to the right information and resolve customer queries faster. It is a fact that, on average, an agent has to browse through three different screens to resolve a customer query. AI-powered knowledge management can assist the agents in real-time by recognizing keywords, semantics behind the customer’s choice of words, and speed up information retrieval, thus reducing the AHT. This way, the agents can focus on what they do best – empathize with the customers.
#4. Better agent coaching
Coaching contact center agents with the right skills can be a costly and time-consuming affair. With high attrition rates plaguing contact centers worldwide and the need to scale operations on short notice, there is always a need to coach agents. AI-based knowledge management can come to the rescue here. It can help agents assimilate the right skills, track their learning progress, evaluate their skills, and help them tread on a self-learning path. The agents are thus equipped with the most relevant skills and are ready to serve customers at a fraction of the time and cost compared to the traditional agent training methods.
#5. Multitalented agents
The same knowledge management system that can help with customer query resolution can help agents to be versatile. With all the knowledge at their fingertips, the agents can understand customer problems’ and resolve them satisfactorily. The multitalented agents can make more meaningful decisions and resolve complex queries without talking to their supervisors. Thus, serving customers with the most relevant and up-to-date knowledge leads to higher job satisfaction and empowered contact center agents. The ultimate winner would be the customer, thanks to excellent customer service delivered by multitalented agents.
Learn how Uniphore can help you build AI-powered knowledge management for your contact center now.