Content Management or Knowledge Management: Why It Matters to Customers

In spite of some confusion about their respective roles, there are fundamental differences between enterprise content management and enterprise knowledge management. This white paper highlights the difference between the two approaches, and reveals why enterprise knowledge management is a better way to deliver consistently high-quality, efficient customer experiences. Introduction Customer experience has become the watchword for many companies, especially as difficult economic times ratchet up the need to attract and retain customers. This is because the customer's experience during sales and service interactions substantially affects satisfaction and loyalty. For example, 87 percent of respondents to a Purdue University survey said that good customer service influenced their decision to do business with a company again. 1 A crucial factor in the delivery of the high-quality experience is a company's ability to offer customers, partners, and employees successful ways to find and use information. This has become particularly important as more and more consumers regard the Web as their go-to source, especially for researching a product or service before deciding what to buy. 2 Both enterprise content management (ECM) and enterprise knowledge management (EKM) can be important parts of a strategy to improve the quality and usage of information. However, 2 despite having very different characteristics and functions, ECM and EKM are sometimes considered redundant technologies. The function of ECM is central management of content—the ability to create, share, and control content through structured business processes. EKM serves quite a different function: it focuses on the process of finding specific information that is directly relevant to a user's inquiry. EKM solutions help users navigate through large bodies of information—including content maintained in ECM systems—to pinpoint the most relevant answer. This white paper examines the fundamental differences between ECM and EKM; how information is used during customer-facing interactions; how this affects the choice of information management systems; and why EKM is a better solution than ECM for delivering consistently high-quality, efficient customer experiences.. While companies maintain large amounts of information relevant to customers' interests, too often it is hard to find. Agents in a call center, self-service customers, and business partners expend too much time and effort sifting through endless results lists to locate the most useful answer to a particular question or problem. All of this has a negative effect on the customer experience. In an Accenture consumer study, respondents identified the single most frustrating aspect of customer service as agents who …