It is no secret that governments across the globe are pushing the use of fossil fuels out through society’s exit door and are increasingly welcoming of the use of nuclear energy. This is due to the increased acceptance of nuclear energy as one of the world’s major resources of environmentally safe energy.

Knowledge Management (KM) has a beneficial effect on business efficiency and reducing expenditure across any organisation, but what can KM do to help out in a growing nuclear industry?

Out with the Old and in with the New – Transferring Knowledge from Retired Experts

Nuclear energy is currently one of the most sought after energy resources in the modern day world, however it is also both scientifically and technically one of the most complex for the public to understand. This is why nuclear organisations hold the expertise and know-how of their workers as one of their most prized assets. However the industry has an ageing workforce, so what will happen when they have retired and their knowledge is gone?

Only the best and brightest talents are able to enter into what is both a lucrative and intellectually demanding industry, but no qualifications and exams alone can equip the next generation to be Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel (SQEP). Therefore the effective transfer of this existing knowledge is paramount in the preservation of the expertise that drives innovation and growth in the nuclear industry.

Losing this invaluable knowledge can be a dangerous forerunner to: degradation of the execution of stringent safety measures, loss of innovation, increased frequency of human error and ultimately stunted organisational effectiveness. More importantly an increased frequency of human error occurrence due to lost knowledge within the industry, will increase risk both for workers within the industry and the general public.

Addressing the Issues with Nuclear Maintenance

It has become commonplace for organisations within the nuclear industry to have some (if not the majority) of their nuclear power plant (NPP) maintenance work carried out by external contractors. There is therefore a crucial need to provide these external contractors with the most up to date information resources in relation to the work that is to be carried out.

Being able to transfer this knowledge effectively to external contractors is something that some individuals within the industry hold concerns over. This is due to the fact that maintenance of elements of a NPP such as valves, electrical components and pumps are fundamental in maintaining the high standards of safety within plant operations.

The Role of KM

Developments in nuclear technologies along with their increasing demands of society to manage them safely and effectively will only add to the current pressures on the retention of expertise and knowledge. One tactic that organisations within the nuclear industry are using to circumvent these pressures is KM.

Through the use of an effective KM system, corporations can ensure that knowledge is retained for as long as is needed and transferred to those who require it. KM enables tacit knowledge to be documented and accessed instantly at the point of need. For example, operational feedback can be augmented in the form of employee case studies or presentations that clearly present previous experiences or findings, and transferred to those who do not already have it. Again, design and operational knowledge can be captured so that knowledge of lesser known or complex situations in operations or maintenance is not lost.

This system could prove influential when effectively training new recruits through allowing access to a repository containing invaluable information from senior peers in the form of training materials. This not only preserves and transfers senior knowledge, but also acts as a tool to greatly improve efficiency across the organisation, as workers have instant access to the knowledge that they require, without the need for scouring multiple repositories or consuming precious time by asking numerous people. This increase in efficiency is a sure-fire way of reducing costs across the organisation as well as having a positive effect on time saving measures.

For more information on how Knowledge Management could benefit you and your institution click on the link below to contact us.

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Knowledge Loss in the Nuclear Sector

One of the most crucial challenges that the nuclear industry faces today is the effective transfer of expertise and knowledge from senior members to more junior members of an organisation. Failure to make this transfer will lead to many difficulties including knowledge loss. These effects would be detrimental to future generations and will impact safety and security of a nation, not to mention other factors such as loss of innovation. Therefore ways in which knowledge and expertise can be preserved are crucial to any organisation within the nuclear industry.

Communication is Key

Within any industry the communication of information and knowledge is key to an organisations efficient functioning. When discussing the transfer of knowledge this can also include inter-departmental communications.
An organisation that requires full fluidity of its operations demands effective communication of knowledge between differing forms of expertise. Human resource information is required by all employees, whilst external contractors may need to access specific elements of knowledge from manual and technical information.

It is therefore important to have a knowledge base that can handle the communication / information complexities that an organisation requires. The ability to not only segment information but also be able to deliver the different information at the point of need from one system to another is one of the key benefits of knowledge management.

While vast databases such as Operational Experiences (OPEX) exist within the nuclear industry and are an effective way of storing previous expert’s experiences, the way in which knowledge is disseminated or accessed by other industry personnel is not as efficient as it might be. Knowledge Management allows for databases such as OPEX to be leveraged in a way that knowledge is transferred effectively to those who need it, and can be accessed via a simple search.

Within any industry an organisation’s ability to share knowledge effectively, either between business personnel or between different systems, can often determine its overall efficiency.

How can Knowledge Management Help?

Knowledge management can be used in a variety of industries to address a variety of issues, and most notably, in the case of the nuclear industry, the transfer of knowledge from one generation to another. For example a new recruit or external contractor would simply be able to perform a search within the knowledge base to obtain answers or documentation that matches their query. This can be done using Natural Language Search technology whereby a user submits a question in their own words, and without the need to insert words within their question that are contained within the document. The result of this search provides a list of documents that are ranked statistically as to the relevance of the user’s search.

Natural Language Search combined with a system that has the ability to learn from previous searches, is a powerful tool to ensure that accurate answers can be provided in an efficient and timely manner.

Natural Language Search

Through the use of our own patented Natural Language Search technology, users can ask a question in their natural phrasing, and still be given the correct answer. This is highly useful for future employees who may not be as familiar as others with technical terms or phrases but need access to content. Natural Language Search ensures that for the user it as simple as ask a question, get the answer.

Taxonomic divisions of documentation within the knowledge base will also serve to ensure that any document is just a few clicks away for the user. These taxonomies can be configured according to your organisation’s needs and will play a large role in increasing productivity and overall efficiency of your workers.

A Centralised Repository for Everyone

By using a Knowledge Management system, the lessons learnt from experienced nuclear experts can be captured, documented and stored within a knowledge base. This would allow easy access to knowledge at the point of need, and more importantly to new workers within a nuclear organisation to get up to speed quickly.

Due to the need for a broad depth of expertise within the nuclear industry, many nuclear organisations favour the use of external contractors of whom have a wide range of knowledge within their field. It is often the case that external contractors need information beyond the procedures of which they are assigned, and simply put they know what to do but are not always completely certain as to why they are doing it.

Providing highly skilled external contractors with access to a knowledge base, would ensure that they have all the information that may be needed available to them at the point of need.

Secure Intellectual Property both Internally and Externally

A comprehensive knowledge base can be configured in such a way that only users who have the necessary authorisation to do so, see information that may be highly sensitive be it commercially or intellectually. In an industry such as that of the nuclear industry where intellectual property is sacrosanct, securing this information is vital.

The Key Benefits of a Knowledge Management Solution

• Reduced risk of inconsistencies
• Improved and increased sharing of knowledge
• Retention of tacit knowledge
• Increased efficiency and productivity
• Reduced operational costs
• Improved service to clients
• Access to multiple information repositories from one portal
• Increased speed to competency

For more information on how Knowledge Management could benefit you and your institution click on the link below to contact us.

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Travel agents and tour operators are strengthening their foothold in the online arena for customers to book their next retreat, with most customers even favouring the online route over the traditional walk-in travel agent.

When comparing travel companies one of the most important things for the customer when parting with their money is customer service, and with transactions now occurring online now more than ever before, online self-service has now become the linchpin in aiding the customers and their queries.

From new families, to young globetrotters a flexible and intuitive online self-service is now a much sought after tool for the customer before or after booking, with traditional FAQs and keyword searches now being considered a thing of the past.

Giving the people what they want

A poor online experience can easily direct a customer away from one travel company and into the hands of a key competitor. Therefore an online self-service platform that serves the customer effectively and in the quickest way possible is becoming a major player in obtaining business.

Customers are becoming progressively more expectant of any organisation in the modern day, to provide an online self-service platform that meets their needs, without having to pick the phone up and call a contact centre.
A a recent report from the technology research organisation a Software Advice Software Advice, showed that 91% of customers would use an online knowledgebase if it met their needs, revealing that self-service alone is not enough to swoon the customer.

Traditionally self-service platforms are frequently and sometimes very arduously maintained. These are most commonly FAQ sections where recurrent questions are listed with answers, and keyword searches that are repeatedly found to display irrelevant answers, or worse no answers.

By coupling self-service with a Knowledge Management system that is self-learning with a Natural Language Search capability, customers have access to answers that not only self-maintain but are also highly relevant to their question. What’s more this information can be accessed through asking a question naturally, providing a more usable and customer friendly self-service platform.

Intuitive self-service in action

It is very possible that holiday makers will find the need to use a self-service portal before buying a holiday through a travel agent, but just as importantly they will also find a use for it once their holiday is booked. For example young parents Sarah and John are embarking on their first holiday with their 18 month old child Thomas, when two days before their travel they realise they have not checked whether or not their room will have a cot and baby changing facilities.
They made their booking through thetravelsale.com and need to find out quickly as they may need to make a last-minute call to the hotel to arrange a room with a cot. Luckily thetravelsale.com recently deployed a Knowledge Management system that integrates with their CRM, so John used their online knowledge base to self-serve their own question. This avoided a potentially long wait on the phone to speak to a contact agent.

Whilst on the site John entered his booking details and asked his question: “Will there be a cot in the room?” The system accessed all details of his stay to give him an exact answer as well as providing information on who he should call in the case that this arrangement had not been made. John was able to find the answer to his query in seconds using his own words, and was subsequently guided to their hotel’s cot request form.

What are the benefits of a Knowledge Management system to the travel and tourism industry?

Knowledge Management can benefit travel agents in a number of ways with key improvements seen in:
• Productivity of contact centre agents (less common call handling = more training)
• Business operational costs – fewer contact agents are needed leading to a reduction in employment costs
• Sales and company reputation – customers can buy with the confidence that they will receive all the help they may need, and will be sure to book their next trip with your travel agency.

Customers are also able to reap the benefits of a Knowledge Management solution. Reducing the customer’s waiting time and the empowerment of taking control of their customer journey are just two aspects that are sure to enrich the customer journey.

For more information on how Knowledge Management can benefit your travel company download our white paper:

 Many organisations are now seeking Knowledge Management Solutions that align with their own internal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policies.  

Knowledge is key to supporting a growing economy and in turn Shareholder value is increased through sustainable practices.

Less power usage = greater savings and a more sustainable, efficient organisation.

Knowledge can be found in many types of documents and formats across a vast information estate.  As such, being able find information quickly and effectively not only saves time but also reduces the amount of energy and processing power required to undertake this process.

KPS understands that being energy efficient is only part of the CSR journey and we work with organisations to understand their needs, which ensure that they have a knowledge management system that is mapped to their requirements and overall business outcomes.  With the KPS Knowledge management system the excellent reporting tools allows you to reduce the amount of information within your knowledge base.

Why would you want to reduce knowledge?

By identifying and reducing the amount of unused materials that you hold with the KPS usage report, you can improve the performance of the knowledge base and thus reduce the storage power required. This not only keeps the knowledge management software system relevant and fresh, you also are able to optimize the performance of the tool and energy utilisation.

As technology develops, a cycle of events is triggered generating more product, more demand, more custom and ultimately more customer service. And the more complex a product is, the higher the likelihood of customers experiencing difficulties consequently supplementing the expanding need for customer service. So how have businesses adapted to tackle these difficulties?

The 21st century has overseen the dawn of a new era in customer service that the majority of large businesses have already embraced – self-service. The need for self-service to enable organisations to keep step with customer service was highlighted in a report from Gartner as far back as 2002, but how successful has self-service really been and furthermore how many have embraced this approach?

In 2014 a US-based company that researches knowledge management, Software Advice, conducted an industry review surveying 170 senior figures throughout customer service departments in the US, to analyse the usage and effectiveness of differing channels of customer self-service. Within this review it was found that of the companies surveyed, 89% were shown to implement FAQ sections within their online space whilst online Knowledge Bases were implemented within 81% of survey participants.

A So Many Questions, So Little Time

With so many consumers actively seeking the help of customer advisors, there comes one key problem: more customers and more questions but no time to answer them. That’s where FAQs come into the fold, lifting the call load from the advisor’s shoulders and allowing the customer to draw a parallel with previous customers to self-serve. The simplicity of a FAQ system and the benefits it conveys could definitely be viewed as the primary incentive for the observed 89% of organisations, for implementing FAQs

Your Own Online Knowledge Library

In most cases the absence of an FAQ facility on company websites, is rectified by the well-known search tool. This tool is the key to an archive of information within the website, providing information to the customer that need not be sought from a contact centre advisor. Again this works to alleviate the volume of customer calls, allowing the advisor more time to handle the more complex customer enquiry.

Crunching the Numbers

Within Software Advice’s review the impact of self-service on key performance indicators (KPIs) was also measured to gain an idea of the bigger picture of the benefits of using self-service channels. The results of their analysis showed that self-service methods considerably improved KPIs such as first-call resolution rate (FCR) by as much as 35%, whilst contacts per agent and new agent training hours were both considerably improved by self-service channels by 34% and 26% respectively.

The revelations of these results are that self-service channels are having a significant positive impact on modern-day customer service, creating a measurable effect on both the quantity of calls and quality of customer service whilst also substantially lowering the cost of providing customer service.

The customer service arena is continuously changing and with the benefits that self-service brings to businesses, this avenue of customer service is only going to experience further development and changes.

A How Can We Help?

Knowledge Management solutions are a key platform in combining different modes of self-service channels, making it an attractive prospect for businesses looking to extend their reach when serving customers.