The challenge

In order to better serve customers, it is critical that associates have access to current policies and updated information. The fraud and prepaid customer service teams for a financial services firm with a nationwide footprint, however, struggled to get the information they needed when interacting with customers. They had to navigate through multiple platforms and it was difficult to find updated information. This led to longer handle times and a frustrating experience for both customers and employees.

Our solution

As an existing partner, TTEC noticed the challenge that the fraud and prepaid customer service teams faced and proactively suggested a solution. After evaluating the teams’ learning and knowledge management practices, we recommended implementing a knowledge management system that would serve as the single source of truth for the teams.

The TTEC Learning and Performance (L&P) team conducted research activities and needs analyses to evaluate the current situation and get a clearer path and validation on how to effectively structure the new knowledge management system. To address the needs of training and operations, the L&P team initiated the following:

• Migrated and curated knowledge articles from multiple sources into a systematized platform.
• Organized articles into bite-sized and customized content for improved end-user experience.
• Incorporated screenshots and images to cater to visual users.
• Streamlined processes for requesting and updating content in the knowledgebase.
• Categorized documents and housed articles in folders for effortless look-up.
• Added key search words and phrases which allow users to easily locate documents specific to customer’s needs.
• Leveraged the social functionality in the knowledgebase to enable the end-users to like, rate, and leave comments on the articles.
• Updated call and workflows. This influenced the knowledge base to hit and potentially surpass key performance indicators (KPIs) through updated and relevant content and improved user experience.
• Retired outdated content. We archived documents that are no longer relevant.
• New-hire learners in training and existing agents were given access to the new knowledge management systems.

The results

The new knowledge management system greatly improved the associates’ performance.

The updated call and work flows made it easy for associates to provide the correct resolution to the customer’s concern. Streamlined processes reduced the number of reference documents, categorized documents made searching for appropriate processes more efficient, and the added keyword and phrase searches allowed associates to find the right answers in a timely manner.

More specifically, the associates were able to achieve their average handle time (AHT) target of less than 240 seconds and other targets. The AHT's percent to goal improved by 5% from January to May, which is the best AHT performance since the knowledge management system was implemented.

From January to September, the quality assurance’s (QA) percent to goal improved by 13%. Though the QA’s percent to goal was already above the goal in January, we managed to improve it even more after implementing the new knowledge management system. This indicated that while AHT was kept low, the associates were still able to maintain the quality of their calls. Their percent to goal overall average was 103%.