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Customer Knowledge Management |
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Page 7 of 8
Summary
Customer knowledge management (CKM) is a term describing procedures used by organisations (in collaboration with their customers), to collect information regarding customers needs, wants, and expectations for use in the development of new and innovative products/services and/or product/service improvements. The key drivers associated with CKM processes include:
- Gauging performance compared to competitors;
- The desire to gain mutual value for both customers and the organisation;
- Ensuring customer satisfaction;
- Encouraging innovation and performance improvement;
Customer Knowledge is also a valuable organisational asset for competitive purposes - this knowledge can be used by organisations as they seek to lead the market with well-designed products and services. CKM can also lead to the better use of resources and plant by enabling organisations to focus on key issues and (possibly) dropping any activities of lesser importance.
Effective CKM employs both quantitative and qualitative information (otherwise described as explicit and tacit knowledge) gathered from customers. Valuable qualitative data is normally gathered via person-to-person interchanges that involve the sharing of tacit information. There are a variety of means for gathering qualitative information including:
- Customer focus group interviews;
- Customer Listening Posts;
- Quality Function Deployment; and
- Virtual Product Design Systems.
Managing customer knowledge involves a range of activities including:
- Acquiring, capturing, and storing data;
- Developing information by combining data; examining its context, employing theory;
- Creating knowledge and understanding based on this information;
- Disseminating this knowledge across the whole organisation; and
- Incorporation of new learning and ideas into day-to-day business processes.
To be most effective, CKM practices should be implemented in a planned way and have leadership support.
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