2012 Kickoff: What's Happening in KM and KCS

I was going to do a “New Year’s Resolutions for Knowledge Program Managers” blog post, but really, it’s the Tuesday after New Years.  Who wants to be nagged?  So I decided to highlight some of the things that we think are new and notable in the world of KCS and KM.

1. KCS practitioners get industry certification.  Industry certification had been a gap in KCS for many years.  Sure, certification is a part of the KCS practices, but that’s in-house certification, which doesn’t have the same credibility as industry certification.The for-profit arm of the Consortium for Service Innovation has set up a rigorous process by which support practitioners participating in KCS for six months can receive KCS Publisher certification.  Like other serious industry certifications, it’s a big deal: it requires a demonstrated commitment to the practices, and the test is pretty tough.  (Full disclosure:  Jenn on our team contributed to the questions.)From our perspective, it’s about time that KCS practitioners have something to put on their LinkedIn profiles that tells the world they’re proficient at capturing, structuring, reusing, and improving knowledge in the service delivery workflow.  And we think it’s great that program managers have a new tool to motivate and evaluate progress.

   We think this is so useful, we’re building certification in to our customer engagements…and we’re working with the CSI on the next round of certifications, too.  Please comment below if you have thoughts or suggestions, and let us know if you have questions.

2. Social gets rational.  Last holiday season, it seemed like all the Facebook pages were hung by the stockings with care, and visions of tweets were dancing in people’s heads.  Fortunately, the sugarplum rush seems to have passed and support leaders have settled into a more balanced approach to social.Yes, social support continues to be important (and it always was, of course; it’s just that you have better visibility to it now with new technology.) But most organizations have stopped incenting customers to complainin public by providing better service.  And most organizations realize that social isn’t just another channel.The social tulip mania we experienced for a while was a good reminder that most of the support that happens doesn’t happen in the support center.  It was a good reminder that customers are talking, and that we now have new ways of listening to and engaging with them.  And it paved the way for a more rational strategic approach to social, one that will continue to build on successful support communities and the knowledgebase.
3. KCS has officially “crossed the chasm” in support.  Next stop?  The enterprise.  Go to an industry event and ask how many people are doing KCS, and watch the hands fly up.  (How closely they’re following KCS practices is another story, but for now, we’ll say perception is reality.) As thought leaders, we miss the early adopter cachet, but as pragmatists, we don’t miss the hypothetical objections about why KCS can’t possibly work.If support has crossed the chasm, it’s time for a new bowling pin, and fortunately, we have a whole lane set up: the rest of the enterprise.  We’re seeing major KCS adoption in professional services, field services, sales, and HR, among others.  We expect that much of our business in the coming years will be helping to migrate and adapt successful KCS practices from support to the rest of the enterprise, accounting for the fact that measures, workflows, and organizational personalities are very different.

What are you seeing?  Please leave a comment and let us know.

ps – consider starting 2012 with a jumpstart in KCS.  We’re offering the KCS Foundations Workshop on February 1-3 in the Silicon Valley / San Francisco area.  Register or find out more, and contact us for discounts for multiple attendees.