Great knowledge management systems are a foundation of the banking industry today. Is your operation keeping up with current best practices?
Knowledge management (KM) is at the heart of almost any banking operation. From maintaining regulatory compliance to boosting customer satisfaction – KM is a must. KM also impacts other elements of a banking operation, including securing protected customer records and boosting your overall workforce productivity.
Your agents need to know vital information on demand. Your decision-makers need actionable intelligence for business decisions. Your customers need to have faith in your bank.
A great AI-powered knowledge management system (KMS), properly implemented and maintained, enables all of this. With the right combination of tools and strategy, your financial institution will be ready for the challenges of years to come.
What Knowledge Management Challenges Currently Hold Banks Back?
The vast array of knowledge which must be accessed quickly and accurately by banks and their agents can create a number of significant challenges. There could ultimately be a domino effect, where issues with KM create more and more problems down the line.
Some of the biggest issues include:
- Outdated or inconsistent information. Whenever an agent or customer accesses information, it must be up-to-date – and it should be the same information any other agent or customer receives.
- Siloed databases. Can every eligible agent access every data source necessary to do their job, quickly and from a single source? Otherwise, they’re wasting time and energy trying to find answers.
- Security breaches. The more your data is spread across multiple sources, the more avenues of intrusion are open to malicious actors. A single well-secured information repository can reduce breaches.
- Regulatory failures. Few industries are as tightly overseen and regulated than banking. Any legal issues are a costly, avoidable waste. A good KMS can help prevent this through smart oversight.
- Slow onboarding. Turnover is high in banking, so new hires should be brought up to speed quickly to avoid costly waste or understaffing issues. Modern KMS tools can integrate training directly into the larger systems, reducing training time.
- Poor customer service. Banks struggle to keep people happy in the best of times. Long waits for service, or incorrect information, can quickly drive customers away.
- Lack of customer-facing portals. A majority of people would rather do banking online, or through a mobile app, and only visit when absolutely necessary. Centralized AI-powered KM systems can enable this.
The solution to all of these is to develop and encourage good knowledge management practices throughout a financial institution, combined with smart software tools that enable those practices to flourish.
What Are The Current Best Practices For Banking Knowledge Management?
Knowledge management systems have been a part of banking ever since the World Bank implemented the first such system in 1996. Banks across the world quickly followed suit, resulting in years of experimentation and learning as they developed strong strategies.
The experience gained has led to some clear lessons in how to best apply KM principles and benefit quickly from their adoption.
1. Understand that knowledge management is an ongoing process.
Installing a new software product is a one-time affair which should not need to be repeated any time soon. However, that does not mean that knowledge management is a fire-and-forget solution. Good KM is an ongoing, evolving process that needs to be constantly overseen, refined, and perfected as you go.
Otherwise, a financial institution could find itself behind the times, with processes which were sufficient ten years ago, but now holds them back as other banks pull ahead.
This understanding should be the foundation of all KM work.
2. Assign ownership.
Is someone within your organization currently directly responsible for overseeing knowledge management and the systems behind it? If not, your institution needs a manager – preferably one dedicated to the job.
A dedicated KM manager can:
- Define content introduction and update workflows
- Dictate the structure of information, as well as stylistic consistency for content formatting, titling, data presentation, etc.
- Create and monitor performance KPIs.
- Be on alert for any issues or warnings from the system.
- Enforce data-retention and deletion policies.
- Ensure all SOPs and other procedures are followed.
- Make strategic decisions regarding the rollout of new KM-related features, such as when/how to implement customer-facing self-service portals.
3. Utilize phased deployments.
When introducing a major new software tool such as a KMS, it’s always big to start small. Start with one department – such as your contact center – or else a single branch.
Even a well-planned knowledge base upgrade will have hiccups and unexpected issues. This trial run will give you the knowledge needed to succeed going forward.
Then continue rollout phase-by-phase, with each getting easier than the last.
4. Encourage enthusiastic buy-in.
A workforce can be leery about new software tools, or avoid using them out of ingrained preference for familiar systems. Engage in a small ‘marketing’ campaign to get your employees onboard. Emphasize how much easier the new system will be, and the various ways it will allow them to hit their departmental or personal metrics.
If the workforce is happy to have a new tool, ROI will be stronger and come more quickly.
5. Keep gathering feedback.
Feedback from both your workforce and your customers is crucial for refining your KMS as well as your KM policies. Implement internal surveys from time to time, and be sure any customer surveys/questionnaires include questions about their experiences accessing information.
6. Focus on security.
A strong centralized knowledge base is easier to secure than a lot of distributed databases. Security should be a top priority. When implementing and maintaining a new KB, you should be in constant contact with your security team(s) to ensure they’re aware of the changes and ready to update their procedures as necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions About Financial KM Systems
In general:
– Accurate information dispersal.
– Standardized processes.
– Improved regulatory compliance.
– Faster / better customer service.
– Improved customer satisfaction scores.
– Better security.
– Fewer mistakes.
– Improved processing efficiency.
– Easier managerial oversight.
– Customer self-serve options with more features.
AI is excellent at pulling together information from large diverse sources, collating it, and presenting the information in easily accessible formats. AI can offer more useful, contextually-aware suggestions to CS workers and other agents, taking the customer’s own history into account.
This depends on how well-structured and organized your data currently is. The information does need to be cleaned and vetted for accuracy. However, once the data is ready, implementation can happen in just a few hours for a single office/department.
Absolutely. The best KMS systems are designed to integrate seamlessly with systems such as Microsoft Teams, Zendesk, or AWS.
How Can KMS Lighthouse Help My Financial Institution?
KMS Lighthouse is an AI-driven knowledge management solution that delivers reliable and accurate information, in a single easy-to-use interface. Every worker in your institution will have full access to the data they need, backed up by smart AI systems which are always looking to make their jobs easier.
KMS Lighthouse is trusted by businesses and financial institutions around the world, delivering excellent ROI while streamlining information-related processes throughout your organization.
Contact us to request a free demo.
