Consona Knowledge Driven Support:
Best Practices to Unify, Guide and Measure Every Channel

Industry’s First Coupling of Case Tracking and Patented, Self-Learning KM
Most service and support organizations understand the need for case management: it’s important to track customer issues until they’re resolved and to understand the overall caseload being served. They also understand the value of the knowledgebase—solve problems once, reuse answers many times, and share resolutions with customers so they can self-solve issues, too.  What’s less well understood is the importance of tightly integrating these two capabilities.

If case management isn’t tightly integrated with knowledge, barriers get in the way of agents’ doing the right things.  For example, agents may find that they retype information in case notes and knowledgebase articles, or they cut and paste from screen to screen.  Because there’s no in-process authoring of content, they find it takes more after-call wrap-up time to create knowledge—time that’s often not available in a busy contact center. Agents may not search the knowledgebase while they’re talking with customers, because the process is too cumbersome.  And if it’s too much effort, they won’t keep track of knowledge reuse in their cases, even though tracking reuse provides unmatched insights into the customer experience.

Add in other channels of support, such as chat and proactive desktop support, the challenge becomes even more difficult – in the past even impossible.

The Industry's First KCS^sm Verified v4 Whole Solution
Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) is a best practice developed by the members of the Consortium for Service Innovation.  One of its central tenets is, “knowledge isn’t something that you do in addition to solving problems—it becomes the way you solve problems.” Because KCS practices integrate knowledge capture, reuse, and improvement directly into case management and support processes, KM operations become seamless and efficient.

The Consona Knowledge Driven Support solution is inspired by KCS, meaning that knowledge management (KM) and case management functionality are combined into a single agent workbench—not scattered across multiple tabs or screens.  Whether or not a contact or support center adopts KCS, agents will still resolve issues faster with knowledge from all relevant sources at their fingertips.  Analytics will leverage the linkages between cases and knowledge to understand the primary contact drivers, unlocking the voice of the customer.  And self-service will deliver knowledge created in the customer’s context—captured, in fact, immediately in the moment of resolution.

Complete Functionality in a Single Integrated Software Solution

• Knova Knowledge Management, a complete KM solution that provides agent-facing tools to quickly resolve issues over the phone, and through chat and email. Knova also includes a comprehensive self-service support portal that guides customers to the knowledge they need from any repository, creating a service and support experience that customers prefer to use. And it comes equipped with a visual, intuitive set of analytics tools with predefined, role-based reports built on cutting-edge technology.
• Consona Case Management, a case tracking and incident management solution with support for scripting and business rules that optimize the cross-channel customer experience.
• Consona Chat, a chat-based electronic service channel that can increase both call center capacity and user satisfaction by utilizing both inbound and proactive outbound, online chat capabilities.
• Consona Diagnose and Repair, the ability to provide real-time diagnostics data, utilities, and solutions to help analysts rapidly diagnose and resolve problems.
• Consona Remote Control, a feature-rich remote tool that supports both indirect and direct connections to remote computers-eliminating the need for expensive and time-consuming on-site visits.
• Customer Service and Support Solution Templates that include Resolution Flows, user interface elements, and business rules designed to jump-start implementation for service and support.

Key Features

Cross-channel case management

Single, holistic view of the customer from any channel of service and support: web self-service, phone, chat, email, remote diagnostics and control, proactive desktop support. Integrates easily with telephony systems, legacy systems, and other customer communication channels.

Integrated resolution workbench

Streamlines the agent experience by providing a single launch pad for all needed tools and information. Automatically delivers relevant knowledge based on the specifics of each case or incident. Captures case notes and knowledge contributions in a unified workflow—no duplicate entry and every interaction is audited, including chat and remote tools.

Comprehensive self-service portal

Easily configured with knowledge pagelets and microsites that deliver a personalized experience to customers based on their products, preferences, or customer segments. Integrated with Consona Case Management to create a seamless, cross-channel experience.

Real-time chat with remote diagnostics

Consona Chat is designed for high volume call centers – agents can manage up to 4 concurrent sessions with automatic reconnect. Empower agents with remote diagnostics and repair tools to reduce handle time and increase first call resolution.

Analytics for insight and action

Integrated web and contact-center analytics provide Voice-of-the-Customer reporting. Specialized dashboards help leaders assess and improve individual and team performance. Reports quantify the ROI for KM.

Support for industry best practices

KCS Verified v4 to enable Knowledge-Centered Support—the first commercial product designed specifically for KCS. Supports ITIL incident management, problem management, and service management processes.