What Is Knowledge Management AI?

Knowledge management AI uses artificial intelligence to capture, organize, and share information – including everything from policy to institutional knowledge – within an organization. It helps automate the process of collecting data, making it easily accessible to your customer service team when they need it, improving customer experience.

Our research finds that 82% of agents say customers want more than they used to. Moreover, 69% of agents say they have a tough time balancing customer service speed and quality. That’s where knowledge management AI comes into play to provide your service reps with the most up-to-date information so they can meet rising expectations.

This in-depth guide will help you understand the multiple facets of knowledge management AI — what it is, how it works, why it's valuable, and how it transforms customer service operations.

Knowledge management AI is the application of artificial intelligence to retrieve, store, and share a company's collective knowledge effectively.

It works by using technologies like natural language processing and machine learning to analyze and organize vast amounts of data, historical context, and company policy, making it easily accessible to customer service reps. This allows the reps to quickly find accurate information and provide better, more personalized support to customers.

Knowledge management provides a convenient, consistent way to store and convey practices and policies – including company policies, ensuring service reps are compliant with up-to-date information. It also pulls in documents from external sources that help customer service teams make more informed decisions. Salesforce's Unified Knowledge platform is one example of this technology in action — it integrates both knowledge resources from third-party systems and customer data from Data Cloud so agents have the information they need to resolve cases faster.

Adding AI to knowledge management helps customer service reps by providing quick access to accurate and up-to-date information, so they can resolve customer issues more efficiently. With technologies such as generative AI, customer service teams can combine information they already have with fresh information from external sources.

For customers, this means faster and more accurate responses.

AI significantly improves knowledge management in customer service by making information more accessible and relevant.

By employing natural language processing and machine learning, AI can analyze and categorize large volumes of data from various sources, such as customer interactions, structured and unstructured data, product documentation, and company policies. This ensures that the most up-to-date and pertinent information is readily available to service reps, reducing the time spent searching for answers and increasing the accuracy of responses.

Moreover, AI can proactively suggest solutions and anticipate customer needs based on context and historical data. It can also automate routine tasks like updating knowledge management bases and answering FAQs, freeing up reps to focus on more complex and high-value activities. For customers, this means faster resolution times, more personalized support, and an overall improved service experience.

By continuously learning and adapting, AI helps to maintain a dynamic and effective knowledge management system that benefits both reps and customers alike.

There are many benefits to using knowledge management AI, including:

Operational efficiency

Knowledge management AI enables faster response times by quickly surfacing relevant information for agents and customers alike. AI can also automate case routing and prioritization, boosting productivity and speed of service delivery.

Consistency in responses

Knowledge management AI ensures standardized and accurate responses across all customer service channels, improving the reliability of your service. It also ensures that your service reps can stay up-to-date on the most relevant company policies, so customer service is always consistent and compliant.

Improved problem solving

Knowledge management AI can analyze complex data to provide insights and recommendations for resolving customer issues. This can improve first-contact resolution and boost customer satisfaction.

Cost efficiency

By automating routine tasks and deflecting common cases, knowledge management AI reduces the workload on customer service reps, leading to significant cost savings by minimizing human effort spent on repetitive and time-consuming work.

Additionally, by using generative AI and a robust knowledge base, you can provide accurate and relevant answers to frequently asked questions without the need for service rep intervention. This can be seamlessly implemented through chatbots or self-service portals, further increasing efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Scalability
Knowledge management AI allows your customer service to scale seamlessly during peak times or as your business grows. Your team will be able to handle increased volume without compromising speed or service quality.

Key features of knowledge management AI include:

• Automated knowledge base creation: AI can generate and update knowledge base articles by analyzing customer interactions and structured or unstructured data sources.
• Intelligent search and retrieval: AI-powered search systems provide instant and accurate information, enhancing both agent efficiency and self-service experiences for customers.
• Personalized recommendations: Our research finds that 81% of customers expect a personal touch more than they used to. AI suggests relevant knowledge or solutions based on the context of customer inquiries, enabling tailored responses.
• Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP enables AI systems to understand and respond to queries in natural language, improving chatbot and virtual assistant performance.
• Continuous learning: AI models can learn from new data and interactions, continuously improving the accuracy and relevance of information provided to customers. Agentforce Service Agents can continuously improve their own performance through self-learning.

These features optimize customer service by reducing response times, ensuring information accuracy, and scaling support operations.

To implement AI knowledge management, follow these steps to ensure a comprehensive and effective approach:

• Assess your business needs: Start with figuring out exactly what your customers and operations require. Is obsolete software holding you back? Are you routinely experiencing delays that frustrate customers? What are your competitors doing that you want to emulate?
• Prepare your data: Gather and clean relevant data from customer interactions, support tickets, and knowledge articles. Ensure data is well-structured and accessible for AI algorithms.
• Select the right AI technology: Choose AI solutions tailored to knowledge management. Consider tools that offer seamless integration with your existing system. Agentforce Article Recommendations help your team resolve customer cases efficiently by recommending applicable knowledge base articles.
• Implement your solution: Develop and deploy AI models to capture, organize, and retrieve information efficiently.
• Integrate it with your CRM and other systems: Seamlessly connect your AI knowledge management solution with Salesforce Service Cloud or other CRM platforms. This will ensure a unified and cohesive customer service ecosystem — helping your team to resolve issues faster with having all data and tools in one location.
• Use change management and train your team: Get your team on board with change management to ensure smooth adopting and user engagement. With Trailhead, Salesforce's free learning platform, your team can upskill on AI and new processes. Encourage your team to join the Serviceblazer Community, where they can learn best AI practices for knowledge management through collaboration.
• Monitor performance metrics and optimize as necessary: Track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as response times, customer satisfaction, and case deflection rates. Continuously refine and optimize your AI models based on performance data and feedback.

AI knowledge management is crucial in customer service because it enables faster and more accurate responses to customer inquiries by providing agents with real-time access to relevant information.

Salesforce Service Cloud excels in knowledge management by letting both agents and customers swiftly access the most relevant answers to common queries, accelerating case resolution. It seamlessly surfaces pertinent articles and resources in the Help Center or agent console, reducing the cognitive burden on support teams.

AI knowledge management not only improves the efficiency of customer service operations but also enhances the overall customer experience by reducing wait times and increasing the accuracy of solutions provided. Ready to get started?