Editor's Note
03.07.01

Hello Webmasters and Webmistresses,

In this world of a billion-plus Web pages, many sites offer similar products. The difference lies in the user friendliness (good nav bars, smart FAQs and excellent customer service.) Furthermore, it is imperative for a smart company to have an intelligent implementation of its "knowledgebase."

Knowledgebase is an organized collection of information. How efficiently this is organized an used by both staff and customers is vital to the survival and success of your company.

"Superior online customer service has emerged as a key and - in many cases - the only means for businesses to differentiate themselves from the completion."

So what's the answer for smart and friendly FAQs and customer service? RightNow Web has implemented artificial intelligence technologies (AI) in order to achieve the goal of "a perfect self-maintaining [Internet Customer Service] system." RightNow's technologies are so beneficial, intelligent and well regarded that Ben & Jerry's, Nortel, Sprint, TDK, Vivitar, Xerox and over 1000 companies use them to automate their respective customer service and technical support.

We will go a little more in-depth in order to see what can be achieved in this area. If you would rather just skip ahead and get more detailed information, you can find it here:

For The Insider's Guide to Building an Effective Knowledgebase
http://www.rightnow.com/webpro0307a.html

Or For The Insider's Guide to Knowledgebase Technology
http://www.rightnow.com/webpro0307b.html

The WebProNews Team

Effective Customer Service

Effective customer service is all about delivering the answers customers are seeking. How information is stored, augmented and organized will determine how effective any organization's customer service efforts will be. The best knowledgebase technology allows the customer to guide the content, and structure of the knowledgebase, improve the level of service, and decrease the customer service representative's workload.

Customers are any organization's best assets. The Internet is all about empowerment. An effective Internet knowledgebase empowers customers find the answers to their own questions via a company Web site. The results are dramatic:

Improved service capacity - shifting repetitive questions to a self-help knowledgebase means more resources are available to handle customer inquires requiring human attentions.

Decreased inbound email - decreasing the number of incoming emails not only allows your customer service representatives to give more attention to unique customer issues but means that your customers are finding answers to their questions on your Web site.

Increased customer satisfaction - customers get answers faster and without waiting in queues.

Reduced costs - the cost of delivering self-help via a knowledge- base posted on the Internet is significantly less than a human answering an email or telephone call.

Increased revenue - companies have found as individuals shop the Internet, the right information at the right time means more orders.

If you would like to get more information on this subject, here is an excellent paper called: The Insiders' Guide to Building an Effective Knowledge Base. This article is about the best practices in knowledge acquisition, management, and publishing. You can find it here:

http://www.rightnow.com/webpro0307a.html

Intelligent Knowledgebase

An up-to-date Internet example of a knowledgebase is the list of frequently asked questions (FAQs). Visitors go on your site when they need information about your services and/or products. Many FAQs are very basic/static. They have no cross-referencing abilities and questions and answers are just listed regardless of it's order of importance.

Internet customer service places heavy demands on a knowledgebase. Customers need to receive consistent, timely, and accurate answers to questions. These demands require any company with more than one or two products to hire several staff members to maintain a traditional knowledgebase. Dynamic knowledgebases, properly designed an implemented, can eliminate many of the administrative demands and present better information to customers at and even lower cost.

RightNow Technologies, focuses on intelligent knowledgebases. By implementing some of the best artificial intelligence technologies, they have created a knowledgebase that:

• Contains Timely Data
• Modified Easily
• Easily Used By The Customer
• Requires Minimal Administration
• Grows Organically - (Organic growth means that
  all FAQs within the knowledge base are entered,
  sorted, and interrelated by customer input.
  In essence, organic growth refers to "growing
  knowledge" where it is requested as opposed to
  trying to anticipate and build all situations
  beforehand.)

To learn more about intelligent knowledge bases, you can read the excellent white paper: The Insider's Guide to Knowledgebase Technology which is about developments at the cutting edge of e-service.

http://www.rightnow.com/webpro0307b.html

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