Known as the KnowledgeBase and run from their Customer Service Centre (CSC) in Leeds, the system has been built using the journalistic skill, knowledge and experience of the Haymarket Network team managing VWG’s Desktop retailer extranet. The KnowledgeBase editorial team are based in-house at the CSC, in the same way that the Desktop editorial team are based at VWG’s headquarters in Milton Keynes. Using their editorial craft and managing feedback and contribution from the CSC advisor team, the system is designed to use the principles of social networking and crowd sourcing to share best practice and improve customer service.
The CSC is where customer service calls or emails go for any of the main VWG brands: Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. These calls and emails could be from customers or retailers and cover anything at all, from engine faults to delivery delays; from new launch information requests to booking test drives.
The team of advisors at the CSC manage these vital issues and the Haymarket team source and publish the answers on the KnowledgeBase. The issues are often complex and involve much liaison with the Milton Keynes head office, to try and find out the solution that keeps the customer happy and ultimately keeps them loyal. Given the complexity of some of the issues, this answer could involve many different stakeholders within the brands and across the VWG business and getting it wrong is ultimately costly for VWG.
The KnowledgeBase system is accessible to all the advisors and is managed by an editorial team based at the CSC, whose task it is to take new queries sent to them by the advisors and work with the brands to create an approved answer, which is then posted to the system and can be used by all the advisors.
The principle is that it is the first port of call for any of the advisors and should help them solve customer issues more quickly and more consistently and deliver even better customer satisfaction for the VWG brands.
Carl Rodgerson, Group Editor for Desktop, said: "This is a ground breaking use of editorial skill and craft to help VWG deliver consistent and correct answers to customers first time every time."
Petra Krivinskas, Quality Manager for the VWG Contact Strategy team, backed this up, saying: "We’re really excited about the potential for this system to deliver improvements in customer satisfaction. The energy and enthusiasm of the Haymarket team, alongside their editorial approach, has been very refreshing."
