When is a Website Not a Website?

"We call it disambiguation. You know what all the answers are already; you're not looking for a needle in a haystack. What you try to do is get the customer to find the right answer without having to work too hard. We sort of ‘look over the shoulder' of the visitor, and suggest a train of thought that will lead him to the correct answer from among the few thousand in the knowledgebase."

I suggested that his example sounded less like looking for a needle in a haystack, and looking for a needle in a needlestack. But what if, I wondered, the answer just isn't there? What if the question has never been asked before?

"In our case, the knowledgebase is tied into a correspondence management system. As people ask questions, and the answers are NOT already in the knowledgebase and have to be created by an expert user, these can optionally be added... so the knowledgebase grows by its use. The next time someone asks a similar question, the knowledgebase can handle it... and the customer reduces the number of emails its employees need to create."

Does Yap subscribe to the notion of the Web channel doing double-duty as a customer-service tool as well as a revenue-generator? "We have applications where the knowledgebase is both external customer-facing in a self-service environment, and is also exposed to a contact center. Both see the same basic information, but some is focused for internal-use only. If you ask a question, the agent and the customer see the same basic information, but the agent might see an additional note beneath it. This is why you need separate knowledgebases; one for the public-facing information, and one of information only internal people need to see.

"You'll read in our literature, and competitors' literature, about all the profound cost savings you can achieve through Web self-service. And indeed, that is sometimes possible. It depends on how broken their processes were to begin with!" laughed Yap.

"But ultimately, the true benefits to the business are about how they interact with their customers, and how they react to the information they get from those interactions. It's amazing how our clients use the information from these interactions to not only change their marketing messaging, but to change their products! It's a customer-intelligence tool."

I set out to learn about customer service, and ended up far more interested in the potential for improved business performance. These guys were miles ahead of me already.

Eben Miller, Interwoven

Eben Miller is the director of product marketing for Web content management at Interwoven. He is a seasoned entrepreneur and technologist who joined Interwoven through the acquisition of 13 Colonies Software, Inc., a company he co-founded in 2001. Throughout his career, Miller has taken lead roles in sales, marketing and product management. His focus on innovative content management and Web applications over the past 10 years gives him a unique outlook on enterprise content, knowledge management and business process software trends.

Mark Buckallew, InQuira

Mark Buckallew, senior director of product management for InQuira, joined the company in January, 2005, and oversees product management for search, knowledge management, collaboration and analytics products. Buckallew has more than 15 years of industry experience in enterprise application software and extensive experience in the CRM industry. Buckallew has held senior management positions in product management, marketing and product strategy for PeopleSoft, Chordiant Software, Remedy and Aspect Communications. Prior to these positions, Buckallew held product development and management positions at IBM.18

Davin Yap, Transversal Corporation

Davin Yap, co-founder of Transversal, has led the company from its inception, initiating research programs, product development and participating in sales and marketing. He has more than 15 years of Internet development and technology management experience. Yap obtained his Ph.D. in engineering from Cambridge University. His interests include Web-based knowledge management and information retrieval. Yap is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce.

Todd Paoletti, Actuate Corporation

Todd Paoletti is the director of customer self-service solutions for Actuate Corporation. He combines 10 years of consumer technology brand marketing and enterprise technology product marketing experience. At Actuate Corporation, Paoletti is responsible for the development and marketing of business solutions, leveraging Actuate's technology to improve various customer business processes.

Special Advertising Section