Your call center has a lot of different calls to handle. With so many different policies and proceudres, it is difficult for agents to keep track of and remember the different procedures.
Then you throw in the additional challenge of needing to adopt changes to those calls and procedures and all of a sudden, your agents’ jobs seem impossible. It confusing and frustrating to keep up with the ever changing information in a call center.
So, you’ve decided to get a knowledge base. After working for ScreenSteps — a knowledge base software company — I commend you on your choice. Having a central, cloud-based location for all your company information and resources will be a game-changer for your company.
Of course, there is the whole business of creating and launching your call center knowledge base first. To help you build a reliable knowledge base, here are six steps to building a knowledge base as well as four tips on how to manage your knowledge base after your launch.
How to build a knowledge base for a call center
Whether you are starting from scratch or have documented procedures, here are six steps to help you build a knowledge base for your call center.
- Know your end-goal
- Get the right software
- Plan your content
- Create your content
- Set permissions
- Have a plan to manage your content
3 tips to help you manage your knowledge base
I hate to break it to you, but once you’ve finished building and launching your knowledge base, the work isn’t over.
Your policies and procedures are constantly evolving and changing. Unfortunately, that means it is easy for those guides you worked so hard to create to become outdated and inaccurate.
That’s why it isn’t enough to build a knowledge base and fill it with call flows and other agent help guides. You also need a plan for managing your knowledge base.
1. Create a feedback loop
Your agents are using your call flows and procedural guides every day to handle calls. They will be the first to notice if a guide has inaccurate or outdated information in it.
Provide a ways for agents ot leave feedback on articles. Many knowledge base software services have features that allow end-users to provide feedback within the article. How that is executed differently depending on the software.
2. Provide a way for agents to suggest articles
During your planning session, it is difficult to remember every single policy and procedure your call center handles. Most likely, you will miss a few.
Luckily, your call center agents are searching your knowledge base every day. They will be the first to notice if they can’t find an article they need.
Provide a way for your agents to request specific help guides. Ideally, your knowledge base software will have a feature that allows agents to suggest articles within it.
If it doesn’t, create a process for agents to request articles to your content authors. That could be as simple as setting up an email or chat channel dedicated to article suggestion.
3. Regularly certify your guides
Create a plan for reviewing all of your knowledge base articles. Certifying a guide means that you review it and verify that the information is still accurate. If you were to do this all at once, it would be overwhelming.
Decide how frequently you need to review an article. Some procedures don’t change often, so certifying the article annually will be enough. Other articles have frequent changes. They may need to be reviewed quarterly, monthly, or even weekly.
Make a schedule for when you will review specific articles. Place those dates on a calendar and set reminders.
This knowledge management exercise will be easier if your knowledge base has a feature system that reminds you to certify your guides.
There’s no need to put callers on hold with the right knowledge base software
A successful knowledge managment plan requires a powerful knowledge base. The knowledge base helps centralize your knowledge so that you have a one-stop shop where your agents can find the information they need.
With a ScreenSteps knowledge base, your call center agents will have all your call flows, standard operating procedures, and other documentation at their fingertips.
Agents can find the guide they need in as few as two clicks, which means customers spend less time on the phones waiting for the agents to find the relevant information. It’s so fast that your agents won’t need to put your callers on hold.
Find the right knowledge base for your call center. Check out this list of some of the best knowledge base software available on the market.
