Greetings Paul:
Very good overall post!
However, considering our core competency in knowledge bases, I have to take exception to your conclusions on KBs.
Consumers certainly will (and should)turn to other consumers when looking for input on product and service selection because it is not motivated (or at least less likely) by the almighty dollar.
Conversely companies are motivated by the almighty dollar to ensure consumers can get the best possible value from their products and services and consumers expect to quickly get to succinct yet thorough answers that are correct and that the brand offering the product or service will stand behind. And the only way a company will stand behind the content is if they have editorial control over it, which is what a KB can and should provide.
The biggest failure of most knowledge bases is the fact that they do not actively evolve based on the real-world insights of the community around the KB content and consumers are left to turn to the wild-west responses in communities where it often down right hard to find specific answers, which no one assumes responsibility for anyway. KBs that place the "community: IN the KB are the only way to provide sustainable KB value http://bit.ly/4CP4ux
Both KBs and communities must be extended as part of any effective support strategy and they absolutely must work in harmony.
Some KB search engine effectiveness clearly is dismal, but some are actually quite good and should get better with community usage. This is where I think that vendors that have elected to use a packaged search tool for their KB -- and there are surprisingly many -- consistently fall short since they never can be completely optimized by the vendor for their unique KB architecture, including many of the insights a smart knowledge bases will capture with every search, click and tag.
Thanks for the article and for further validating with the market the importance of the crowd in customer care.
Bests,
Chuck Van Court
CEO and Founder
Fuze Digital Solutions www.fuze.com
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
