There comes a point in time when every bank or credit union searches for a solution to serve as a central repository for information. Often times this begins with a search for knowledge bases. As important an endeavor as this is, we’ve put together this blog post to help you mitigate your search, and a few banking-critical things to think about where a traditional knowledge base solutions provider may fall short.
Knowing When It’s Time To Adopt a New Knowledge Base
The need for a new knowledge base can be blatantly obvious, or difficult to determine. When used properly, the usage and impact of a knowledge base should be widespread across your institution. You’ll know it’s time to replace your knowledge base when:
- Employees cannot find documentation they need to do their every-day jobs.
- Errors and exceptions are causing delays in customer service.
- There are multiple “versions of truth” and/ or “tribal knowledge” preventing employees and consumers from getting accurate and up-to-date answers.
- Subject matter experts (SMEs) and managers are spending too much of their time answering questions.
- You call center is clogged with consumer calls seeking technical support.
- Your mobile and/or online banking adoption rates are low.
- Compliance risk is at large.
Knowledge Base for Banks and Credit Unions: It’s What Employees and Consumers Need
The need for a knowledge base at financial institutions is two-fold: an internal knowledge base for employees to access the information they need to do their jobs, and an external, consumer-facing knowledge base supplying self-service support on digital channels such as online and mobile banking.
For both employees and consumers, a good knowledge base delivers answers directly to their fingertips. It eliminates exhaustive searching, duplicate, or outdated information, and poor search results.
A good knowledge base will also:
- Provide employees with immediate and accurate answers.
- Free up key go-to resources and SMEs.
- Improve access to vital information.
- Allow for central management of policies and procedures.
- Analyze content usage to uncover critical training opportunities.
- Enable easy updates to vital documentation.
- Distribute procedural updates and new information.
- Allow for seamless assignment of an approval process to the right people.
- Ensure employees have access to the most current, compliant accurate information.
Knowledge Base + Centralized Content Strategy = The Perfect Pairing
When choosing your next knowledge base solution, keep in mind the technology component is just one part of the equation. The content within the knowledge base is equally as important, and oftentimes that piece does not come with the technology purchase. Pairing your knowledge base endeavor with a centralized content strategy will allow for your institution to create, update, manage, and disseminate content in an orderly and operationalized manner.
Banks and Credit Unions that partner with Engageware have seen tremendous success in large part due to the emphasis on a central content assembly process. In this process, one individual or team of individuals is designated as a Content Architect for all policies and procedures. Routing all content through this centralized structure ensures accountability and a methodical process for document review that can be assigned to various subject matter experts (SMEs) via a routing feature within Employee Knowledge Management.
The Benefits of a Knowledge Base
When you strike the right balance between a knowledge base technology and centralized content strategy, the results can be astounding.
- Increase in employee productivity and proficiency in internal operations.
- Reduction in employee frustration.
- Increase in account openings.
- Increase in employee confidence.
- Reduced inefficiencies.
- Decrease in internal (aka back office) support call and email volume.
- Faster ramp up of new employees.
What to Consider When Choosing a Bank-centric Knowledge Base
There are many products and services out there that serve as or offer knowledge base solutions, — from ZenDesk to Atlassian to Sharepoint, Capterra, and HelpScout. As a bank or credit union, you have unique needs and nuances to factor into your selection process. Try to find a provider that:
- Can provide banking specific search.
- Offers easy ongoing maintenance of information with features like Drafting & Approval Audit History — especially pertinent in a regulation-heavy industry, like banking.
- Seamlessly integrates with your existing intranet or portal.
- Offers content optimization services.
Finding the right knowledge base for your bank or credit union is no small task. The more informed and prepared you are about the need for and benefits of a knowledge base for your financial institution, the easier it will be to find the right fit for your employees, consumers, and bottom line.
You may also find our Ultimate Guide to Fixing Your Policies and Procedures helpful.