Knowledge Management: How Companies Can Retain and Preserve Their Employees’ Expertise
When long-serving employees leave a company, the loss is often twofold as they take valuable experience and product knowledge with them. This also poses a major problem in aftersales service. Digital tools can be used to store knowledge and make it available to everyone on a long-term basis. The upshot is a reduction in training requirements, enhanced efficiency in service, and an associated increase in customer satisfaction.
Why knowledge management is more important than ever
Knowledge is power and often serves as a decisive lever for long-term success in business. However, current trends are presenting companies with challenges when it comes to passing on valuable knowledge internally:
- Staff turnover: It is becoming increasingly rare for employees to stay with one employer from their initial training phase through to retirement. This staff turnover makes it more important than ever to retain knowledge within the company and make it accessible to new employees.
- Demographic change: Baby boomers will continue to enter retirement in the coming years, meaning there is a risk that their wealth of experience will depart companies with them.
- Agility: Silo thinking is a thing of the past – today, team spirit is a must. Nowadays, collaboration is much more agile and dynamic than it used to be and no longer takes place exclusively within departments. It is therefore essential that knowledge be centrally available to everyone; collaborative tools are becoming increasingly important.
- Working remotely: Working from home reduces the informal exchange of knowledge at the coffee machine, while it’s no longer possible to spontaneously ask questions across the desk either.
This means that companies need to find a new way of dealing with information. By adopting the right knowledge management processes, they can collect and store information in a structured way so that all employees can access it at any time and from any work location.
What role does knowledge management play in aftersales?
Driven by demographic change and digitalization, the role of service technicians has been changing for a number of years now: they have gone from problem solvers to process optimizers.
This is because industrial plants are becoming increasingly complex and more heavily networked. Service technicians need to adopt new approaches and take a holistic view of machines – together with upstream and downstream processes. This means that access to specialist knowledge, interdisciplinary exchange with colleagues, and collaboration with other departments are just as important to them as the use of networked tools.
Sharing knowledge within the team: knowledge collaboration for a learning organization
In order to preserve specialist knowledge and ensure it can be used by all departments, it is essential that existing knowledge within the company be identified and consolidated. The focus here is on the exchange between knowledge holders and the employees who need access to knowledge; as such, this is also referred to as “knowledge collaboration”.
The networked, collaborative management of knowledge across all departments and levels of age and experience leads to a resilient organization that keeps on learning and is therefore capable of:
- Selectively optimizing its procedures
- Finding solutions and approaches for new challenges faster
- Better understanding target groups and trends
- Improving internal communication
- Developing new products and services with greater efficiency
- Providing service employees with the necessary knowledge in a targeted way
- Increasing customer satisfaction more easily
Knowledge management: impossible without a digital tool
You run this risk if knowledge is not stored centrally
Knowledge needs a fixed location. If, for example, it is not clear to service technicians which system contains the information relevant to them then their productivity suffers. According to a study of service professionals, 85% of technicians lose time searching for information every day.
The upshot? They prefer to exchange information with their colleagues quickly by e-mail. The knowledge disappears in their inbox – meaning that other service technicians with similar challenges are unable to benefit from it. If the employee leaves then the knowledge is also lost.
Using the right software to create a knowledge database
If knowledge is collected and structured centrally, for example in the form of service information and spare parts data, it can be used to create real added value. Software assists manufacturers in creating a helpful knowledge database that not only aids service technicians in their daily work but also makes it easier for new colleagues to get started.
In contrast to unwieldy folders, the system makes all information available digitally, in real time, with a search function, and in a form that is optimized for mobile devices. This allows service technicians to find the data that they are looking for any time and without assistance. Conversely, they can also save their input directly in the system and make it accessible to colleagues. Modern software therefore forms the basis for knowledge management and targeted knowledge transfer.
Advantages of digital knowledge management in aftersales service
A service information system allows valuable aftersales expertise to be pooled and used throughout the company. But what specific added value does this bring for aftersales employees and customers? We’ve summarized the six biggest advantages below.
1. Information can be exchanged to the benefit of the entire company
The entire company benefits from aftersales knowledge – such as machine operating data, issues during use, and information on customer satisfaction – enabling sales and production to optimize their own processes. In this way, aftersales becomes an information interface to internal departments.
Conversely, making information from other systems such as an ERP accessible to service employees creates transparency in aftersales.
This gives service technicians and all other departments an overview of
- Service orders
- Typical sources of faults in machines and components
- Spare parts that are ordered particularly frequently
2. Enhanced planning of service orders
Tool-supported knowledge management makes it easier to plan and coordinate aftersales tasks. Before service technicians start on a new job, they no longer have to spend hours searching through e-mails and printed catalogs for information – they can find it with just a few clicks in the service information system.
3. Teams operate with a higher level of efficiency, flexibility, and satisfaction
A central knowledge and data platform that can be accessed by all employees across departments promotes the flow of information, enabling technicians to complete their tasks faster and more efficiently. The positive outcome? They deliver first-class service.
Operating on a decentralized basis has been a reality for service staff not just since the boom in working from home. With the help of modern aftersales tools and trends such as augmented reality, they are not only able to work remotely but also with greater flexibility – enabling them to provide even better support to customers who operate systems that are far away or difficult to access.
4. Information is always up to date
By using a digital, centralized system for service information, companies can ensure that no obsolete data will crop up as the team works together. Instead, they have at their disposal a central database that ensures all employees possess the same level of knowledge.
5. Access to multimedia means complex content can be presented in a readily understandable way
Alongside service instructions, spare parts information, process and circuit diagrams, it’s also possible to supply animations and videos where applicable. With these systems, knowledge is made more accessible, clearer, and more practical; something that is particularly beneficial for new employees.
6. Increased customer satisfaction
When internal processes at machine and plant manufacturers run smoothly, it’s not only the service employees who are happy, but also the customers:
- They receive targeted support faster if a plant component fails.
- Supply shortages and waiting times are negated because logistics knows which spare parts are most frequently in demand.
- The process of finding solutions for end customers speeds up and spare parts are accurately identified because service technicians are instantly able to access all the information they need with ease.
- This in turn increases the first-time fix rate – and therefore customer satisfaction.
What challenges come with a knowledge management tool?
Despite all the advantages afforded by networking knowledge in the company, the tool also poses a number of challenges:
- Acceptance: It’s often necessary to convince older colleagues in particular of the benefits of modern collaboration, but their wealth of knowledge is especially valuable in light of demographic change. It is important to involve them and all other employees in the change at an early stage. Selecting tools that are easy to use is key to promoting acceptance.
- The human factor: Interpersonal communication takes a back seat when service technicians draw their knowledge from tools instead of exchanging information by e-mail or in conversation with colleagues. It is therefore important to promote the corporate culture and offer opportunities for face-to-face meetings despite staff working remotely.
- Knowledge base: In order to network knowledge within the company and ensure that it is usable, a foundation must first be created. Both the knowledge of newcomers and the wealth of experience of more established colleagues must be incorporated into the knowledge base.
How to implement your knowledge management strategy successfully
Tracking down and preparing the knowledge and data held within your company
What information do service technicians need and where in the company can this information be found? How have aftersales employees been accessing the data they need for their work until now?
Before machine and plant manufacturers implement new knowledge management tools in aftersales, they need to find answers to these questions. Only then will they know which processes they can build on and which workflows need to be rebuilt.
It is equally important to identify and prepare not only data but also the expertise available within the company so that all employees can benefit from it. Different ways of accomplishing this are available to machine and plant manufacturers:
- What are the most frequently asked questions that come up in the service technicians’ day-to-day work? Gathering together FAQs means that answers are on hand quickly, making it easier for new employees to find their feet.
- Which company experts demonstrate the ability to solve problems that commonly occur? Their valuable knowledge can be consolidated in guides that are then published on the intranet, allowing colleagues to access this valuable experience at any time. This takes the pressure off the experts because they don’t have to keep answering their colleagues questions repeatedly.
- Which processes take place repeatedly during everyday service work? Instead of showing new employees how to order spare parts click by click every time, recurring processes like these can be recorded in webinars or videos.
Passing on implicit knowledge through personal exchange
Experience with processes and technical expertise can be summarized as explicit knowledge – this highly specific factual knowledge can often be readily documented and passed on. Implicit knowledge, on the other hand, poses a greater challenge.
Implicit knowledge includes, for example:
- Personal relationships with customers, suppliers, and business partners that have been built up over the years
- Specific experience gained in previous projects
- A feel for the right way to deal with certain customers
- Creative strategies for solving certain problems
This “hidden” knowledge is linked to individual employees and their experiences and is difficult to package in sets of FAQs or webinars. In order to keep this knowledge within the company, personal exchange and cooperation between new and more senior colleagues is essential.
Teams made up of different ages, mentoring programs, and tandems foster knowledge transfer from older to younger employees, for example, thereby retaining this knowledge in the company on a long-term basis.
Observing the basics of change management
Modern collaboration and the transfer of knowledge can only be successful if all employees are actively involved and accept new tools and processes. As such, the most important basics of change management must be taken into account when introducing new knowledge management tools:
- Communication and motivation: It is essential to clearly demonstrate the benefits that come with using tools like these. Once employees realize that it is well worth sharing knowledge and using new tools in everyday work, they will be more motivated to embrace different ways of working.
- Appreciation: All employee insights are valuable and benefit the entire company.
- Support: The company management, supervisors, and the HR department must actively support knowledge management.
Choosing the right service information system
To ensure that aftersales staff really do make use of the knowledge available, companies should turn to digital tools and structure information as early as possible when processing such data. With the right system, it is not only much easier to establish a clear “knowledge ecosystem”, but also knowledge-based collaboration.
The right tool must be collaborative, slot into the aftersales processes, communicate with other systems used in the company, and encourage service technicians and their colleagues to actively use the system and allow it to grow.
Much of the information relevant to aftersales is already available within the company – in technical drawings and documentation, in operating manuals and the ERP system. However, the data is often unorganized, out of date, and distributed across more than one software system.
The challenge lies in centrally consolidating this information and linking it to systems in other departments. One solution for transferring existing knowledge into the digital world is the interactive spare parts catalog. By taking digitalization a step further, it is then easy to expand a spare parts catalog and transform it into a service information system; a system like Quanos SIS.one creates opportunities for transferring knowledge within a team and beyond.
With Quanos SIS.one, we offer a digital spare parts catalog that can be expanded into a service information system.
Conclusion: the right software helps to counteract the knowledge drain
Companies are facing challenges posed by demographic change, staff expectations of a modern working world, and increasing digitalization. However, the digital world also affords organizations an opportunity: thanks to software tools, it’s possible to halt the loss of accumulated knowledge and expertise at machine and plant manufacturers – a situation that otherwise deteriorates every time an employee departs. Knowledge is retained by the company, thereby softening the consequences of demographic change.
