The Importance of an Internal Knowledge Base and Training for Agents

One of the most important things a company can do to help its customer service department continually grow, and thereby help the company stay relevant, is to constantly update its internal knowledge base. Your customizable customer support software can only do so much to help your customer support team do their job effectively. A configurable collaboration solution must be in place so the knowledge base can be a living, breathing document that is continually updated. Where should a team even begin with this process though?

Every Journey Begins with a Map

To begin with, you should start by evaluating team members and assigning them into teams based on what skill set they are strongest in. This will allow the next phase of the process, which is arguably the most important one, far easier. However, if this step is not done correctly, it will make things more difficult, so choose very carefully and group accordingly.

Divide and Conquer

This is where the planning you did in the last step is really going to come into play. The best way to build a highly effective knowledge base is to have the team members come up with the content they feel is most important to them. Have them focus on the most common issues customers have and things new or prospective hires should know to make their new role easier.

Once that is done, you can go about splitting up the content for each team to write, with every member of the team being responsible for a small portion of the content. Trying to give this project to an entire HR department is a poor time management strategy, as it will take them away from their daily tasks.

Also, HR personnel does not experience the same kinds of problems as customer service agents do, and as such, they are less qualified to write about them. By having the agents themselves write the content, they will be able to shape it more specifically to the needs of its intended audience.

Make Your Content Easily Revisable

Because information changes so quickly and a procedure could easily become outdated in merely a matter of months, it is important the content of your knowledge base can easily be revisable. By doing so, you will allow it to become a living document that can change with the times instead of a static and intractable piece of content which will quickly fade over time.

Focus on text based content entries instead of videos or powerpoint presentations, which take considerably longer, and in some cases are very expensive, to make changes to.

When you are in need of high quality customizable customer support software, trust the professionals at PhaseWare to custom design a solution that works for you. If you have questions about the products or services we offer, contact us at our web page or call us by phone at 866-390-3492. Our dedicated team members look forward to hearing from you.

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