C ASE STUDY
ParTech Inc.
KNOVA® Solutions for Service Resolution Management
Knowledge at the Point of Sale: The High-Tech Side of Quick Service
Knowledge management has now become a way of life here at ParTech, and most of us wonder how we
ever did without it.”
— Tony Rampacek, Director of Support Services, Partech Inc.
Return on Investment at a
Glance:
ParTech Puts the “Quick” in Quick Service Food product development cycles; and integrations In the three years leading up to
Industry with third-party hardware, software, and a the KNOVA deployment, ParTech
Around the world, restaurants of all sizes variety of Internet and wireless systems, can support agents had authored few
rely on their point-of-sale systems to process make it difficult for even the most senior of solutions. In the three months
transactions quickly and efficiently. At a support agents. after the KNOVA system went
live, the agents authored eight
quick service restaurant, delays in settling
times the number of solutions.
a customer’s bill can ruin an otherwise In 2004, ParTech’s contact center managers
Within six months, the KNOVA
enjoyable decided that although they were meeting
knowledgebase contained more
customer customer expectations, they needed to than 26 times as many solutions.
experience and exceed those expectations to stay in front Other returns the company saw
damage that of their competition. As with most contact included:
customer’s loyalty. centers, staff turnover was resulting in
In the highly
knowledge gaps, primarily because the • Increased first call resolution by
competitive quick
service restaurant company’s existing knowledge management 7.5 percent.
segment, the product wasn’t able to capture an agent’s
expertise before he or she walked out the • Reduced average handle times
point-of-sale (POS) for complex products by 31
system is business-critical to handling the door. The results were growing call volume,
percent.
large volume of customers needed to increase longer call duration, and an increasing
margins and stay competitive. workload. Action was needed to improve • Reduced average handle times
declining service levels before they affected for simpler products by 13
With over 45,000 of its POS systems installed customer satisfaction. percent.
in 105 countries, ParTech is the leader in POS
systems purpose-built for the restaurant, • Decreased escalation rates by
KNOVA Software Provides Best Functionality
hospitality and retail sectors. In business for 25 percent.
nearly 30 years, ParTech’s customers know and Fit
they can rely on the company’s systems and After considering several enterprise products, • Saved approximately two
services to keep their businesses running and ParTech partnered with KNOVA, a Consona minutes per call.
their patrons satisfied. CRM solution and leading provider of
knowledge managment (KM) and service • Faster time-to-productivity for
resolution management (SRM) solutions. new support agents.
More Products, More Complexity and Heightened Not only would KNOVA easily integrate with
Customer Expectations ParTech’s Clarify CRM solution and workflow, it • A more consistent customer
As with any technology company, ParTech’s would also integrate seamlessly into the day- experience.
customers expect not just full-featured, to-day work of its support agents. Specifically,
robust solutions; they also demand quality it would capture information as it was • Enhanced future product
technical support to help them optimize created in the course of resolving customer releases via insight from
those solutions. Over the years, as customer issues, effectively filling the gaps in ParTech’s customer issues and requests.
expectations have increased, ParTech’s knowledge base and preventing new gaps
growing suite of POS systems needed to from being created.
Increasing product complexity; shorter adapt
“When we implemented the product we knew it was going to be a culture change to get people to use C A S E S T U DY
the tool, and it was. However, recently, we had a short outage where the system was not available on a
Saturday morning. I had to make a trip into the office to resolve the issue, and when I walked in the front
door I was met with cheering, because they knew I was there to fix the system. Knowledge management “Ultimately we successfully
has now become a way of life here at ParTech, and most of us wonder how we ever did without it.” implemented the system
— Tony Rampacek, Director of Support Services, ParTech Inc. and our processes over a 90
day period, and began to
build up our knowledge base
from that point to where it is
Like most contact centers, ParTech is under Just as ParTech is able to use the insights it
constant pressure to improve service while gains from KNOVA’s analytics to improve its today. Now, we have a robust
reducing costs. So when the company’s senior training, it is also able to improve its products. tool and process in place
management approved the KNOVA purchase, By tracking actual problems and solutions, it that allows us to continually
it made it clear that it expected all return is able to identify opportunities for usability improve our effectiveness
on investment (ROI) promises to be kept. enhancements. This information is then
and efficiency, provide
Since deploying the KNOVA system in 2004, shared with the development group, so it can
ParTech calculates it has exceeded its return be incorporated in future product releases. consistent resolutions for our
on investment goal of saving two minutes Not only does this result in higher-quality customers, and contribute to
per call, which translates into significant cost products that better meet customer needs, it the welfare of the company.”
savings for the company. also reduces the number of calls and increases
customer satisfaction. — Brad Winne,
Director of Support Services,
Using Service Resolution Management to Achieve ParTech Inc.
Significant, Tangible ROI
Content authoring and publishing are key to
any KM/SRM initiative’s success. In the three
years leading up to the KNOVA deployment,
ParTech support agents had authored few
solutions. In the three months after the
KNOVA system went live, the agents authored
eight times the number of solutions. Within
six months, the KNOVA knowledgebase
contained more than 26 times as many
solutions.
Although some of those new solutions
were authored by senior agents to capture
their knowledge in resolving more complex
problems, many were level-one issues
captured by KNOVA in real-time—as they
were resolved. Now, even if an agent can’t
find the exact resolution to a problem, he or
she can usually find a similar case to use as a
starting point.
Since deploying KNOVA, ParTech agents have
been able to quickly ramp up support for new
products, and effectively resolve issues from
day one. Although the agents had limited
knowledge of the new products, KNOVA’s
in-workflow authoring captured resolutions
as agents were on the phone with customers,
and made those resolutions available to other
agents. For example, after acquiring PixelPoint
in June 2006, average handle time was cut in
half in a six month timeframe—an efficiency
gain that would have taken two years to
accomplish in the past.
Knova,
a Consona CRM Solution
Toll Free (800) 572-5748
info@knova.com
www.knova.com