Why Switch From CRM Knowledge Management To Enterprise-grade KM?

Many organizations prefer a CRM knowledge management system for managing knowledge within their CX function since it comes free of cost with CRM software.

However, a CRM knowledge base is not enough to meet the needs of digital-first customers.

This blog will discuss why enterprise-grade knowledge base management (KM) like Knowmax is better than CRM knowledge base management and why customer-facing companies need the former to meet the dynamic CX needs. 

Why Is A CRM Knowledge Management Not Enough To Meet Dynamic CX Needs? 

Many organizations prefer a CRM knowledge base as it is a complementary tool that comes with the CRM software free of cost.

While CRM knowledge management can help create and store articles and FAQs for customer support, several inherent challenges make it unfit to meet the needs of modern customers primarily because: 

1. No guided workflows for the next best action steps

Despite having all the relevant information, a knowledge base becomes ineffective when it cannot guide users to take the right action. Agents should be empowered with an intuitive and user-friendly platform that guides them to take prompt actions while troubleshooting customer problems.

 A big pitfall with most CRM knowledge bases is that visual organization of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) cannot be achieved. This makes it challenging to achieve higher resolution rates with CRM knowledge management. 

2. It does not extend to customer self-service

CRM knowledge bases (KBs) limit knowledge to the CRM software an organization uses; hence, the articles and FAQs created on the CRM KB cannot be extended to self-service channels.

Since the CRM knowledge base cannot be integrated with other channels, organizations require third-party integrations to enable self-service. 

3. Lacks visual simulators with heavy dependence on text

Troubleshooting complex problems can take an inordinate amount of time with only text-based support articles. Uploading multimedia content at scale with a CRM knowledge base management is difficult to achieve, leading agents to depend heavily on text-based instructions to guide customers.

Not only does this increase average handle time, but it also creates possibilities of agents making mistakes without clear visual simulators. 

4. No in-built analytics to track content performance and other success metrics

In-built analytics to track the performance of a knowledge base is as essential as the need for a knowledge base itself. To maintain a healthy knowledge base, content should be audited regularly to identify pitfalls and possibilities for growth.

With most CRM knowledge bases, the unavailability of in-built analytics makes it difficult to maintain content relevance unless an organization deploys third-party analytics tools. 

Top 5 Benefits Of Knowmax Enterprise-grade Knowledge Management

An enterprise-grade solution streamlines the CX function of an organization and cuts through the myriad limitations of most CRM knowledge bases. Here are the top 5 reasons enterprise-grade knowledge management has an upper edge over CRM knowledge management.

Here are the 5 top benefits of Knowmax enterprise-grade knowledge management.

1. Omnichannel knowledge sharing capability for consistent CX 

•  An enterprise-grade knowledge management system is channel agnostic. It allows organizations to create, organize, manage and share knowledge from a unified dashboard. 

• With a full-suite knowledge management platform, organizations need not invest in third-party tools that save costs and drive customer service efficiency. With an omnichannel knowledge management platform like Knowmax, content can be created from the same dashboard, which allows for knowledge dissemination after the content passes through the authoring process. 

• Most enterprise-grade knowledge bases come with an intuitive search that makes information findability a hassle-free process for agents and customers across touchpoints. An omnichannel knowledge base is crucial to power customer self-service and establishes a consistent brand identity on all customer contact channels. 

2. Intuitive workflows for quick and mistake-proof customer service

• An efficient representation of information makes up for a well-performing knowledge base. Enterprise-grade knowledge management cuts through a significant limitation of CRM knowledge management by equipping companies with intuitive workflow modules. These workflows enable companies to organize complex SOPs as step-by-step guidance steps so agents do not miss any SOP and deliver quick and mistake-proof customer service.  

• An enterprise-grade knowledge management solution like Knowmax comes equipped with Cognitive decision trees that allow companies to organize troubleshooting steps in workflows without needing any code. Any workflow step can be linked with APIs (Application Programming Interface) to fetch customer data from the company’s CRM. The auto-traversing of information has two-pronged benefits: reducing agent error and delivering quick and personalized customer service.

3. Visual how-to-guides for immersive experiences 

• Building multimedia content at scale becomes a hassle-free process with full-suite knowledge management platforms. Adding relevant pictures and videos in articles and workflows reduces agents’ search time and helps them to resolve issues faster and more accurately. With visual device guides, agents can efficiently navigate through any device or product without needing any prior familiarity with the platform. 

• With an enterprise-grade KM solution like Knowmax, visual how-to guides can be created as standalone content modules, and multimedia content can be uploaded within articles or workflows. These guides can be shared externally with customers on all self-service channels. Visual guides provide faster solutions and create immersive experiences that new-age customers expect today. 

4. Chrome extension to reduce screen toggle

• Agents have to do a lot of multitasking to make customers happy with efficient service. However, they toggle between different platforms to collect the relevant information, which takes time and hinges on their productivity to respond effectively to customers. 

• It is crucial to select a knowledge management solution that allows users with the needed information from a single screen. With the Knowmax knowledge management solution, the chrome extension widget allows agents to access information from the knowledge base on different platforms. The chrome extension widget eliminates agents’ need to return to the Knowmax platform. Instead, they can efficiently access information from any platform without toggling between screens. 

5. Micro-segmented analytics for content upkeep 

• A knowledge base is a work in progress. The content should be optimized regularly to match customers’ needs. To stay relevant in a fast-paced customer service environment, companies need a knowledge base equipped with in-built analytics to identify the loopholes in the knowledge base timely and make necessary improvements. 

• Companies using an enterprise-grade knowledge management platform can efficiently track the relevance of knowledge base content and overcome a significant hurdle of CRM knowledge management. 

• With enterprise-grade KM like Knowmax, micro-segmented analytics track the usage of the knowledge base and furnish timely content performance reports highlighting the total time spent, agent performance against each knowledge piece, and top-performing content. This helps organizations take prompt actions to manage content and keep the knowledge base relevant. 

Conclusion

As customers move to digital channels and expect consistent experiences across touchpoints, most CRM knowledge bases fail to deliver a 360-degree customer experience.

On the other hand, an enterprise-grade knowledge management solution harnesses the power of AI to create exceptional experiences for both agents and customers, which is essential to thriving in a highly-competitive, omnichannel CX world.