WHITEPAPER ANSWERS ARE FINE, RESOLUTIONS ARE BETTER. by Dave Morfas, Product Marketing Manager.

Transcription

1 WHITEPAPER ANSWERS ARE FINE, RESOLUTIONS ARE BETTER by Dave Morfas, Product Marketing Manager

2 WHITEPAPER ANSWERS ARE FINE, RESOLUTIONS ARE BETTER 2 ANSWERS DON T ALWAYS RESOLVE ISSUES There is a big difference between answers and resolutions, especially when it comes to customer support. Is serving up pages upon pages of search results on a web page for your customer or agents to scroll through really providing an answer? Sometimes an answer isn t necessarily the right resolution. The Merriam-Webster dictionary states that answers are something spoken or written in reply to a question. Sometimes this helps, but sometimes a yes or no answer to a question isn t enough. Answers leave the door open for inference and interpretation. On the contrary, resolutions take a user or issue through to completion. Merriam-Webster characterizes resolutions as the act or process of resolving; the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones; the act of answering; the act of determining. This difference, the notion that a resolution is more than just an answer, is critical. Resolutions are a process and lead to action. Resolutions have explanations. Resolutions include trial and error. Writing a resolution encompasses identifying, documenting, reviewing and validating that the problem was fixed. At Knova, we define resolutions as the positive outcomes of solving customer problems based on context and intent. Resolutions add value for customers, and Knova is all about resolutions. Most importantly, machines can provide answers, but people provide resolutions. Knowledge management (KM) needs the right balance of computation and human intervention. After all, resolutions are ultimately created to help people. ANSWERS ARE PUZZLE PIECES Getting answers to questions is like putting together a puzzle. Finding small pieces of the puzzle can eventually help you put together a proper resolution, but it may involve many mistakes along the way and can take a lot of time to assemble. It also assumes you either inherently know or will figure out in an acceptable timeframe where to put the pieces. Search engines can find information, but there is no telling how accurate or relevant those bits of information are, and how they correlate to resolving the problem. It s like paying a fee or a toll for each piece of information without knowing how much it will ultimately cost to put the whole thing together, or if you ll truly be able to get where you need to go in the end. Consider the times you ve called a customer service line only to land in the IVR queue. The automated menu offering five legitimate options to press is truly providing answers. But none of these answers may be addressing your issue. Instead, you grow more frustrated, waste time, and ultimately talk to an agent only after you ve been unnecessarily agitated. More importantly, the answers didn t lead to a resolution. NOT ALL ANSWERS ARE GOOD ANSWERS Take a simple scenario. You have a headache what should you do? Answer, take a Tylenol. That is a legitimate, correct answer. But if you are allergic to Acetaminophen, this correct answer does not take into consideration your context and could be dangerous. It s a right answer, but the wrong resolution for your situation. A slightly more technical scenario: Your mobile phone isn t turning on. A right answer could be that the battery is no longer functioning. But the right resolution involves fully understanding the situation, understanding some background and symptoms like when and how the phone died, and documenting a solution accordingly. The proper resolution might involve a procedure that includes trying the phone with AC directly connected to determine if it s the battery or phone at fault, or doing a hard reboot of the phone to see if it turns on in which case it may have been a minor software issue. Either of these actions may resolve the issue on its own, or could become part of a more detailed resolution. More importantly, each step along the way may be more accurate than the initial answer of dead battery.

3 WHITEPAPER ANSWERS ARE FINE, RESOLUTIONS ARE BETTER 3 Finally, a very specific example: A colleague asks how to open a new Microsoft Office document she received her older version of Office won t open it. Which is more helpful? Answer: Microsoft has migrated its Microsoft Office file formats from a variety of binary and XML-based proprietary formats to the new Open Office XML formats starting with Office The Open Office XML standard is maintained by ECMA International as ECMA-376. Versions of Microsoft Office released prior to Office 2007 do not have native support for Open Office XML files. Users of these legacy applications who wish to open documents generated by recent Microsoft Office files should use a compliant web browser from an Internet-connected computer system and navigate to Microsoft s Download. From there, they should obtain and install the Open XML File Converter appropriate for their operating system, platform, and version. or Resolution: 1. Problem a. Can t open.docx,.pptx, and.xlsx files 2. Environment a. Older versions of Microsoft Office (Prior to Office 2007) 3. Cause a. Microsoft introduced new XML-based file formats that older Office versions can t open 4. Resolution a. Download and install the Open XML File Converter: i. Windows version: ii. Mac version: The answer option is not incorrect. It s the type of answer you might find buried in a document in a structured database or content management system. But the resolution option quickly and accurately gives the user validated steps to resolve and close the issue. This takes less time and less wording and provides an action plan that includes an activity that fixes the issue. Finally, the resolution was written and validated by support agents real people in the context of workflow not just algorithms finding related technical documentation. SO WHAT MAKES RESOLUTIONS BETTER THAN ANSWERS? There are four main reasons resolutions beat out answers every time: 1. Resolutions include the human touch 2. Resolutions engage customers 3. Resolutions lead to action 4. Resolutions ensure a closed loop Resolutions include the human touch Good resolutions include interactions with real people to validate real solutions and resolve real issues. This goes beyond data and algorithms. It requires people helping customers with their problems searched for using a customer s language, not formal or exact keywords preferred by generic search solutions. Resolutions require support agents to listen to a customer s issues, search or provide search using a customer s language, and resolve in a way that the resolution can be easily found for, or by, the next user. This could mean adding a straightforward procedure or including a focused documentation excerpt that resolves the issue, versus simply providing links to structured documents that contain disparate pieces of a possible solution somewhere within their voluminous pages. Done properly, KM enables authoring in the workflow, and authoring done by those directly interfacing your customers support agents. No advanced linguists should be required and resolutions should be written in common, usable language. Most importantly, a KM tool should be simplistic enough to use that any agent at least has the ability to contribute.

4 WHITEPAPER ANSWERS ARE FINE, RESOLUTIONS ARE BETTER 4 Resolutions engage customers Resolutions aren t just posted suggestions or documents made available in the hopes that customers find them useful. Resolutions often require that customers implement suggested steps successfully as validation. This customer engagement is a learning opportunity that creates a partnership between the support agent and the customer, and between the customer and your company. With customers validating resolutions, they can be constantly improved or refined based on future instances. Customer engagement enables critical mindshare and further opportunities for your company to prove its value. Engagement gives your company opportunities to further differentiate your brand and drive customer loyalty. Most importantly, it enables the customer to quickly and accurately resolve the issues it is facing in order to please its own customers and succeed. This collaboration creates a far more meaningful relationship than a simple FAQ could ever provide. KM helps by ensuring that information stored in a database becomes usable to customers. Support agents build this bridge by connecting a customer issue, in the customer s language, to a resolution. This makes for faster search and retrieval in the future using layman s terms and contextual search, not perfect prose and exact keywords only. Resolutions lead to action Spitting out an answer and hoping for the best is not a good solution. Yet that s what many customer service systems do for customers. Whether it s simply unearthing documents or providing yes/no answers, without context these results are somewhat irrelevant and meaningless. Furthermore, there are no steps or processes to follow which guide a user through to resolution. On the contrary, many resolutions include, or lead, to action. They may utilize step-by-step actions that guide a user to fixing their issue, turning up service, and making a customer happy. These procedures are validated both by the agent and the user, and the most appropriate and common procedural resolutions are easily searchable for the next user. More importantly, if the procedure changes the resolution should be adapted in real time accordingly. KM systems enable agents to easily document procedures either in writing or using multimedia, giving customers multiple ways to resolve their issues. This takes the guesswork out of what to do and in what order to do it. Furthermore, it adds value to the customer experience by effectively providing a personal coach to guide them to where they need to go. Resolutions ensure a closed loop Finally, resolutions ensure a closed loop by validating that action or procedures taken resolve the issue at hand. Authored documents, accordingly, should only be authored and finalized if a valid resolution was reached. KM systems not only provide a closed loop by validating and in some cases voting on the helpfulness of a solution, they also provide a bridge for closing the loop with other related systems. Many issues, for example, originate through a front-end tracking or CRM system. Done properly, a KM system that provides a resolution also provides a closed loop with the corresponding ticketing or CRM system. The CRM then leverages the KM system to overcome numerous CRM weaknesses such as a lack of advanced search or authoring and ensures that a resolution provides both issue closure and closure in the corresponding tracking system.

5 WHITEPAPER ANSWERS ARE FINE, RESOLUTIONS ARE BETTER 5 KEY TAKEAWAYS Machines provide answers, but it takes people to provide resolutions. Technology is useful, but technology combined with human intellect is far greater. At Knova, we believe that the best technology can find answers, but only technology guided by people the people that support your customers can provide fast and accurate resolutions. If you need a resolution, you need more than just answers. Resolutions guide agents and users through steps that lead to issue closure. They are written in a pragmatic format using conversational language that focuses on identifying and addressing the exact issue at hand, and getting it done right the first time. Resolutions improve over time and account for unique nuances that differ from situation to situation. Large product and service support organizations use Knova to resolve their customers issues quickly and accurately. Quick and accurate resolutions improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and perception while lowering costs. Knova customers have experienced 10 percent increases in customer satisfaction, 20 percent improvements in resolution rates, and 50 percent declines in service requests. Beyond other industry solutions such as enterprise search, FAQs and content management systems, Knova enables users to both author and search for documents internally or externally. Knova provides a single powerful and intelligent search that makes finding resolutions more user friendly. And while answers are fine, resolutions are better. Knova is founded with a resolutionary, patented, self-learning technology platform that understands concepts and how your customers think and search. And only Knova allows such sophisticated technology to be used and tuned by you and all your agents versus programmers or linguists. And Knova doesn t stop after resolving the problem the first time. Knova has a KCS SM Verified design and actionable analytics that work to continuously improve organizational knowledge and customer experiences. More than 9,000 customers around the world rely on us to give them a competitive edge. By providing innovative, industry-driven enterprise application software, Aptean helps businesses to satisfy their customers, operate most efficiently, and stay at the forefront of their industry. For more information, visit: Copyright Aptean All rights reserved.