East of England from Outsourcing to KPS’s Universal Knowledge
The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) provides support and advice to businesses and people across the five counties that make up the east of England. It is is the driving force behind sustainable economic development in the region and its vision is to create a leading economy, founded on a world class knowledge base, creativity and enterprise.
In September 2006 EEDA made the decision to have just one delivery solution providing business support to its customers though the Business Link brand. Up until this time it had outsourced its delivery support services to 6 different suppliers. There were over 200 advisors out in the field, as well as a small office-based help desk team of 30 people, and each supplier provided its contact management information to EEDA in a different way – making the task of consolidating them into something useful extremely difficult. There was also no consistency in the way that queries were being dealt with, as the knowledge was not being captured centrally.
EEDA wanted to consolidate all the information in one place in order to:
• Provide consistent customer services and advice to its customers across all parts of the region.
• Become a more efficient operation.
• Increase cost saving by consolidating duplicate functions.
As part of the research and analysis process, EEDA liaised with other Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in the UK (there are 9 in total) to find out what knowledge management solutions were being used. They also contacted Northgate Information Solutions – a market leader in providing specialist software, outsourcing and information technology (IT) services to local government – who recommended Universal Knowledge from Knowledge Powered Solutions (KPS).
EEDA found that none of the knowledge management solutions used by the other RDAs had the level of learning capability to match the KPS solution. Also, Universal Knowledge was far more superior, and had much greater functionality, than other solutions EEDA intensively investigated.
In December, 2006 EEDA selected KPS and Universal Knowledge. The next challenge they faced was timing. EEDA had to have an up and running solution by 1st April 2007. This date was not negotiable, as the contracts that EEDA had with its 6 incumbent suppliers were up for renewal from 31st March.
By 1st April 2007, EEDA had just one organisation providing its delivery support, and Universal Knowledge was up and running. EEDA has 75 concurrent licenses for Universal Knowledge which is used by their 60 contact centre staff, as well as by the advisors out in the field who use the solution as and when they need to.
In the 4 years that the KPS solution has been used by the EEDA, customer satisfaction has increased immensely. Prior to the KPS solution the highest rating received by the EEDA was 72%. Now satisfaction levels are always between 85-95% each month.
Marcus Fernandes, Regional Business Support IS Manager at the EEDA commented: “Making the decision to consolidate our knowledge management information in one place, and selecting Universal Knowledge from KPS, was the right decision. Business support delivery is now run much more efficiently, and the consistency of the information that we provide to our customers is exceptional. Our next step is to offer our customers knowledge management self-service on the web.”
Mark Rae, Sales Manager from KPS stated: “We have enjoyed an excellent relationship with EEDA, KPS has been involved in various initiatives that has helped raise the profile of our technology within the business. EEDA has provided a high level of service to the people of Eastern England and we are proud to have been associated with them for the past 5 years.”
Although, due to Government cut backs, EEDA will be phased out, it has been confirmed that the vast amounts of knowledge and information accumulated in Universal will continue to be used and will prove invaluable to the newly created Central Business Link.
Knowledge Powered Solutions Ltd
Knowledge Powered Solutions (KPS) is an Independent Software Vendor that specialises in providing information management solutions that can be deployed to customer service staff, intranet users, external customers and partners. These groups are able to access vital knowledge quickly and easily through a simple to use natural language interface. The KPS solution, which helps to identify and fill knowledge gaps and make the solution available for future use, has been designed to put the power of the accumulated expertise and know-how of the organisation at the fingertips of these key staff whilst minimising administrative overhead. This technology enables users to deliver significantly improved support levels to internal and external customers whilst reducing cost of service. Customers include: Credit Suisse (Standalone Knowledge Base), Wokingham Borough Council (External Website FAQs), Transport for London (HR Division) Greggs Bakers (ITSM), East Dunbartonshire (CRM Knowledge Component), Bristol City Council (Contact Centre Knowledge Base) and Steria (IT Help Desk).
For more information visit www.kpsol.com or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
For more information about the EEDA go to www.eeda.org.uk
