New KCS Aligned Tools and Services

The KCS Academy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Consortium for Service Innovation, today announced additions to the KCS Aligned program. The KCS Aligned designation identifies tools and service providers who have demonstrated their product or service enables a component of the KCS methodology.

“KCS is gaining in popularity and credibility. As market demand grows, it is increasingly important to ensure that those who provide KCS-related tools and services are able to correctly represent the practices as defined by the Consortium and its members. The KCS Aligned program supports the growing rate of KCS adoption by recognizing tools and services that align with the key elements of KCS,” says Greg Oxton, Executive Director of the Consortium for Service Innovation.

For more information about the KCS Aligned program and a list of KCS Aligned tools and services, click here.

The following vendors have achieved the KCS Aligned designation (in alphabetical order by company):

KCS Aligned v5 Tools

Coveo for Salesforce addresses two common challenges customer focused organizations face in adopting KCS, integrating use of the knowledge base into the workflow and search analytics. With Coveo and Salesforce Service & Community Clouds, agents can search early and search often, since the search is integrated directly within their workspace. Analysts understand what content customers have already viewed via self-service portal which accelerates the problem solving process. They can quickly improve an existing article or create a new article and link it to a case. Managers leverage Coveo usage analytics to gain insight into how knowledge is being used by both customers and support agents. The analytics identify content gaps and enable continuous improvement in the search experience.

KnowledgeAQ by Irrevo helps knowledge managers implement content quality programs and track performance over time. KnowledgeAQ introduces customized checklists into the authoring and review workstreams to guide and evaluate adherence to quality, style, and other content standards. The resulting analytics provide visibility into performance against quality goals at the author, article, and program level.

KCS Aligned v5 Services

DB Kay & Associates provides implementation services to help you roll out your KCS program right the first time.   A Rapid Assessment to identify strengths to build on, and gaps to address A Design Workshop, customized for your company, to train participants, make key implementation decisions, and walk out with an actionable plan Experts on Call Consulting, to help keep you on track from the Design Workshop through launch Interim Program Management, to jumpstart your KCS program until a Program Manager is put in place End-user Training and Train-the-Trainer, to set you up for a successful Wave I and beyond

The HDI Knowledge Management Foundations workshop is tightly aligned with the KCS Practices and has been tailored to meet the needs of IT help desk organizations. The workshop also integrates some of HDI’s perspectives.

Our KCS Aligned Roadmap and Implementation Services integrate recommendations and roadmap elements to the 4 key concepts of Knowledge-Centered Support. Let’s work together to define and integrate your knowledge management and customer support goals into a clear plan of action leveraging the latest tools, techniques, and best practices. We quickly get your program where it needs to be. Whether you’re planning complex system transitions, migrating content to a new knowledge base, or making organizational changes to support long-term success, we’ll build a custom roadmap to help you quickly navigate your journey, every step of the way.

Klever’s Enterprise Assessment is for leaders who want to maximize the chance of a successful (re)launch of knowledge-sharing technology or programs. Team members answer a short, customized online assessment that identifies your organization’s knowledge-sharing capabilities, strengths and weaknesses from several perspectives across your group or entire enterprise. Klever provides key insights and guidance, based on proven KCS methodologies, to make your knowledge program succeed and sustain over time. It is a powerful way to rapidly diagnose where to focus your efforts, how to address challenges and set a benchmark for tracking progress moving forward.

To be KCS Aligned v5 the product or service must comply with the KCS Aligned v5 standards. The fact that these products and services have achieved the KCS Aligned v5 designation does not relieve the buyer of doing due diligence.

Also see the KCS Certified Trainers page for a list of Academy certified trainers who offer KCS workshops based on the Consortium for Service Innovation materials.