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From the Top
As a part of our Cool CRM series, we occasionally interview industry leaders to tell us what cool things they are doing. Today, we visit with Tom Millay, the general manager of Consona's CRM division.
CRMAdvocate:
Tom, we highlighted Consona as a Cool CRM company. Do your customers think you are cool?
Millay:
Maybe "cool" in the nerdiest sense of the word. They do think it’s cool when they see the power of a knowledge-centered initiative as they build ROI while improving every key metric on their dashboards. They are also finding some cool ways to support their customers using our products.
CRMAdvocate:
How do you differentiate Consona CRM?
Millay:
Our alignment with KCS* best practices and our dedication to building a complete suite of customer service and support offerings really sets Consona apart. In fact, we are the only KCS* Verified v4 whole solution. Consona CRM solutions support the customer relationship with knowledge at the center of every interaction across channels – including self-service, chat, communities and email. And advanced analytics allow for unprecedented insight into your initiative, as you measure cases and knowledge together. There are a lot of decent point solutions out there that specialize in areas such as sales or service or marketing, but none has a complete solution set designed to improve the entire customer experience throughout the customer lifecycle.
CRMAdvocate:
Do you need to follow KCS* to use your Knowledge Driven Support solution?
Millay:
Not at all. We built KDS** around best practices and we believe KCS* is the "best" set of best practices, but there are no built-in requirements to follow KCS methodologies. In fact, KDS** also offers an extremely high value for enterprise help desks, many of which follow ITIL methodologies, and Consona products also help fulfill many needs recommended by ITIL.
CRMAdvocate:
How is your Cloud hosting option different than the SaaS products that have taken the market by storm?
Millay:
The Consona Cloud leverages the Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 infrastructure to offer distinct advantages over first-generation software-as-a-service models. Like traditional SaaS, there are cost savings tied to reduced hardware and infrastructure investments. But when you host on the Consona Cloud, you are not sharing an application and database with many other companies – you are utilizing you own instance of the software. This means you have unprecedented control over customizations and integration. It’s also highly portable and extremely secure.
CRMAdvocate:
What type of companies do you typically work with?
Millay:
Our sweet spots are high tech software and hardware, telecommunications and IT service desks. Those organizations recognized the value of knowledge management long ago, and as they release new products and acquire other companies, they really need the benefits that an agent-facing knowledge base and self-service can offer. Really, any company supporting complex products or services, from medical equipment manufacturers to financial services companies will benefit from integrated case and knowledge management.
* Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) is a best practice developed by the members of the Consortium for Service Innovation.
Over the course of four revisions, KCS has evolved and grown to become a rich methodology: a set of practices for creating
and maintaining knowledge in a support environment. Unlike the traditional add-on process of knowledge engineering, KCS is
an integral part of day-to-day operation in support centers - KCS becomes the way people solve problems and creates knowledge
as a by-product of problem solving. Learn more.
** The Consona Knowledge Driven Support solution (KDS) is inspired by KCS, meaning that knowledge management (KM) and
case management functionality are combined into a single agent workbench—not scattered across multiple tabs or screens.
Whether or not a contact or support center adopts KCS, agents will still resolve issues faster with knowledge from all
relevant sources at their fingertips. Analytics will leverage the linkages between cases and knowledge to understand the
primary contact drivers, unlocking the voice of the customer. And self-service will deliver knowledge created in the customer’s
context—captured, in fact, immediately in the moment of resolution. Learn more.
More about Consona.
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Tom Millay