Knowledge is Key

The transfer and availability of knowledge between support staff is important and the value should not be under estimated.

A knowledge base (KB) is a centralised repository for information and allows the storing of previous knowledge of incidents or problems. This can be information on a product, service or a topic, where support staff can go and:

• look up information about an incident,

• Get steps in order to diagnose and resolve the incident in the most efficient manner and restore the service to the customer as soon as possible.

• Part of the KB can also be “Frequently Asked Questions” – This allows the Customer to become self-sufficient.

The structure of the KB is important – the details of the incident, workarounds and the steps to resolve the issue should be clear and easy to follow.  The information that is being entered into a KB should be controlled and reviewed and approved by at least 1 person, this will prevent information being repeated and maintain the quality of the articles being added. The navigation and discoverability of articles is key for both the support staff and customers to be able to find what they need quickly and easily.

With a KB you do not need support staff to become experts in all areas, while they do need an understanding, if the knowledge articles are there and are written correctly it should just be a matter of picking up that article and following the steps.

So, what are the benefits?

Some of the benefits that a good KB bring to an organisation are:

1.Efficiency

Improves efficiency as the support staff do not need to spend a large amount of time diagnosing the issue. They follow the steps in the KB to restore services to the customer. This allows support staff to achieve their objectives within the minimum amount of time, using the least amount of money, people and other resources. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should be set up to measure efficiency and to show that the KB has improved the efficiency.

2.Customer Satisfaction

With the time frame of the restoration of service improved, the customer will be happier and also feel more confident in the ability of the support staff to provide a high level of services. It is also important to note that customer expectations will shift and it is vital to measure customer satisfaction.  This can be done in several different ways – including a customer feedback question on the closure of a ticket, customer visits, doing surveys and engaging in good communications with the customer. Customer Satisfaction must be maintained at all times.

3.Continuity of Service and the Prevention of Knowledge Loss

Providing a continuity of services is important and when staff move onto new positions or leave the company the customer will see a streamline handover as the service continues to be maintained at the high standard that the customer expects. Efficiency is maintained.

4.Promotes collaboration

Knowledge articles can be shared and commented on and it allows the service desk team to be proactive in reviewing and using the KB.

Our Engineers will work in Partnership with your Team to build a Knowledge Base

With over 24 years providing software support to leading Life Science organisations our help desk and software Managed Services adhere to the ITIL framework.

As part of our Managed Service offering our engineers will work in partnership with your team to build and maintain a Knowledge Base. Our support engineers systematically apply our Continuous Improvement principles to ensure root cause analysis is performed and will put resolutions in place so that these issues are not repeated. Often this includes working with key internal stakeholders in your organisation such as the development team when software issues are raised, and also with the training department where user training needs to be provided.

We continually align and re-align our Managed Maintenance service to the changing business needs of our customers. We have a multi-skilled, cross-functional team that share accountability and responsibility for the IT services we provide.

Contact Us today if you would like to learn about the Managed Maintenance services we provide to you.

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