[SCVS Live Chat] Engaging Customers Through Social Support

[PaulGi Lithium Alumni (Retired)]

Archive of live chat with Esteban Kolsky, President of Thinkjar, Engaging Customers through Social Support

[ 11/10/10 6:51 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Good Morning everyone

[ 11/10/10 6:51 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: Good Morning, everyone -- ready to talk Knowledge? Social? Social Knowledge?

[ 11/10/10 6:51 AM] Paul G - Lithium: welcome to our virtual chat!

[ 11/10/10 6:51 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Hi everyone - welcome to our virtual chat. I am delighted to welcome Esteban Kolsky, president of Thinkjar

[ 11/10/10 6:52 AM] Paul G - Lithium: and we're here to talk about knowledge management and how it's changing in context of social

[ 11/10/10 6:52 AM] Paul G - Lithium: So good morning Esteban, thanks for joining us

[ 11/10/10 6:53 AM] Paul G - Lithium: I have some questions for you to kick thinks off, but if people have questions, please just jump in and we'll get through them all

[ 11/10/10 6:53 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: My pleasure, thanks for having me.

[ 11/10/10 6:53 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Great - lets get going

[ 11/10/10 6:54 AM] Nishith.Gupta: Hello all

[ 11/10/10 6:54 AM] Paul G - Lithium: QUESTION: I think that we're all familiar with traditional knowledge management, so how is this changing with social? or more over what is social knowledge management?

[ 11/10/10 6:55 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: That is an interesting question

[ 11/10/10 6:55 AM] Scott.Bewley: Where is social knowledge management evolving to ?

[ 11/10/10 6:55 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: there is a change in knowledge that happens with social, mostly as a result of adding lots and lots of "new friends" to knowledge generation

[ 11/10/10 6:55 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: what used to be done by the company exclusively, it is now carried out by armies of unpaid peers (as Altimeter calls them)

[ 11/10/10 6:56 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: this brings a series of issues that we can explore today here

[ 11/10/10 6:56 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: let's try to answer some of those as we go through

[ 11/10/10 6:56 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: to me social knowledge is the ability that the organization develops to manage the process of integrating knowledge created elsewhere into their process requiring kowledge

[ 11/10/10 6:57 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Great. So how does socially generated knowledge differ from that traditionally produced by say, a tech doc organisation,

[ 11/10/10 6:57 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: social knowledge is more raw, but also more timely usually

[ 11/10/10 6:58 AM] Nishith.Gupta: primarily when we talk about 'social KM' , it means only user generated content or sharing knowledge between employees(social collaboration) is also a part of it?

[ 11/10/10 6:58 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: the processes that the organization has in place to manage knowledge tend to make the process of creating knowledge pretty - but lenghty

[ 11/10/10 6:59 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: nishtih, it is a good question - and it is a question of context. there is no difference in essence between customers generating knowledge and employees generating knowledge (when outside of the standard processes) -- the company must embrace knowledge and expertise where it exists and allow it to be crated and propagated

[ 11/10/10 7:00 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Well we certainly know that a lot of users are more knowledgeable about the use of products than even the companies that build them, so makes sense that they should be involved in the creation of material

[ 11/10/10 7:00 AM] Jennifer.Henning: how do you get users to open up and share content initially?

[ 11/10/10 7:01 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: jennifer, as with anything else that lies in a community - it is about bringin the right users to it first, and then make it easy to use

[ 11/10/10 7:01 AM] Paul G - Lithium: so is socially generated knowledge more trustworthy? or can we say that people believe socially generated material more?

[ 11/10/10 7:01 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: once you have those basics in place, then it becomes an issue of rewards

[ 11/10/10 7:01 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: which is a tricky place to be, you don't want to seem to be offering financial compensation (that is an entire different issue with ramifications)

[ 11/10/10 7:02 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: but you do want to be able to offer a sort of recognition, reward to people who offeer their time and knowledge

[ 11/10/10 7:02 AM] Marty.Thompson: As the former product marketing guy for a KM product, I am beginning to think that the added social element might actual move companies to more effectively fold KM into their overall CRM use. Are you seeing this a an opportunity or trend?

[ 11/10/10 7:02 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: that is an excellent point

[ 11/10/10 7:02 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: actually, it is an opportunity - but hidden as a burden

[ 11/10/10 7:03 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: organizations must understand the implications of having others "speak " for them

[ 11/10/10 7:03 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: and that speech has to comply with their systems, processes, and compliance elementts in place

[ 11/10/10 7:03 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: so at first look, social knowledge is a burden

[ 11/10/10 7:04 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: but when you look closely, the results make it an opportubity to interact better with customers and consumers

[ 11/10/10 7:04 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: paul, sorry -- missed your question

[ 11/10/10 7:04 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: when it comes to trust, people do see social knowledge as being trustworthy

[ 11/10/10 7:05 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: the problem we are having today, without a rating or reputation for the people answering the question it is hard to understand and place trust

[ 11/10/10 7:05 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: so we may end up placing trust in the wrong person or wrong answer

[ 11/10/10 7:05 AM] Paul G - Lithium: So that is definitely where the building of a reputation comes in

[ 11/10/10 7:05 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: users must always understand who is answering, not just take the knowledge as presnted

[ 11/10/10 7:05 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: exactly, reputation is essential to social knowledge

[ 11/10/10 7:06 AM] Paul G - Lithium: If people have questions, please just let us know

[ 11/10/10 7:06 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: i can answer questions about how to repair your car -- but you definitely don't want to take that answer

[ 11/10/10 7:06 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: if you were to check on my background, you'd see that i know mostly nothing about repairing cars

[ 11/10/10 7:06 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: what i always tell customers: just because it is online does not mean it is right

[ 11/10/10 7:06 AM] Paul G - Lithium: So you talked that this is seen as initially burdensome for orgs, what are some initial steps that people should take to start to organize for social knowledge?

[ 11/10/10 7:07 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: interesting question

[ 11/10/10 7:07 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: the first thing, they need to make sure that bringing knwoeldge from the "outside world" is something they can live with

[ 11/10/10 7:08 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: there may or may not be a good model to make it happen, it is not always just about opening floodgates and let it come in

[ 11/10/10 7:08 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: for example

[ 11/10/10 7:08 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: some orgainzation may not be organized to guarantee compliance from external sources

[ 11/10/10 7:08 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: or they may not be able to share knowledge without making sure it works as expected

[ 11/10/10 7:09 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: so, the very first step is to ensure you can do it and that is benefits the organizxation

[ 11/10/10 7:09 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: second, start looking at the requirements that bsiness units have to use that knowledge

[ 11/10/10 7:09 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: that must match the value of teh knowedge coming in

[ 11/10/10 7:09 AM] Maria.Kolozina: Should the consultancy comany be involved in moderation of the company (a client)'s social network accounts? Or is it better to train the company ?

[ 11/10/10 7:10 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: third, (and then it is your question maria) make sure you have the proper systems and processes in place -- nothing kills users will to contribute than their efforts vanish in a bad setup

[ 11/10/10 7:10 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: maria -moderation is a tricky business

[ 11/10/10 7:11 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: let's assume that you have to have some sort of moderation (not always a good idea), then the company is better served by doing its own moderation

[ 11/10/10 7:11 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: outsroucing is not very useful if you do it for critical or core processes or functions. you want to keep that within the control of the company. customer interaction is critical for most organization.

[ 11/10/10 7:12 AM] Paul G - Lithium: So what you're saying is that outside help isn't that useful if your core business objectives aren't aligned around social interaction anyway

[ 11/10/10 7:13 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: please, do make sure you ask your questions at any time -- we will get to them as we can

[ 11/10/10 7:13 AM] Brian.Kling: Also, it's a relationship right? You wouldn't hire a consultant to talk live with your customer, you are building a relationship

[ 11/10/10 7:13 AM] Maria.Kolozina: yes, so then it is better provide training?

[ 11/10/10 7:13 AM] Brian Fisher: I would think keeping moderation internally also supports the ability to react quickly and most appropriately.

[ 11/10/10 7:14 AM] Andreas.Gotthelf: How should external and internal knowledge, there is lots of especially in old and large organizations, be integrated or not and who should do this job?

[ 11/10/10 7:14 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: absolulety. maria - yes, it is better to train and let the company handle the moderating if it has to happen

[ 11/10/10 7:14 AM] Marty.Thompson: Reputation in the context of how well a comment or statement solves a problem, for example, has worked pretty well in the KM space. I am a bit concerned that social channels are beginning to rely upon sentiment analysis as the defacto tool. Perhaps a more holistic "dashboard" of a participant might be in the works somewhere out there.

[ 11/10/10 7:14 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Esteban, let's take Andreas' and then Marty's

[ 11/10/10 7:14 AM] Maria.Kolozina: Esteban, thanks a lot!

[ 11/10/10 7:15 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: andreas, how it sghould be integrated is to make it look at one wholesome knowledge repository

[ 11/10/10 7:15 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: you may be able to indicate origin of the knowledge, but you have to ensure that it is all blended and working together

[ 11/10/10 7:15 AM] Nishith.Gupta: should KM be linked to some sort of reward points as this will serve a dual advantage? but I don't see many companies doing it

[ 11/10/10 7:15 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: a common mistake is to allow users to indicate they prefer only one or anther source of knowldge, the knowledge is valuable in all forms and should be in one location

[ 11/10/10 7:15 AM] Andreas.Gotthelf: thanks!

[ 11/10/10 7:16 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: as to who shoyuld do the job, that depends (yes, i know)

[ 11/10/10 7:16 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: there is not a single person to do this, it is tied to the km processes in place at the organization. if you make social kowledge part of the corporate knowledge, then you have the processes and people in place. don't try to separate them...

[ 11/10/10 7:17 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: marty,excellent point

[ 11/10/10 7:18 AM] Andreas.Gotthelf: agree, there should be a center of KM coordination thanks.

[ 11/10/10 7:18 AM] Charlie: interesting that Joe Cothrel, at the same time, is talking about "accepted solutions" in Lithium in his presentation as i type this

[ 11/10/10 7:18 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: sentiment is but a part of a complete profile for a user, not an exclusive value

[ 11/10/10 7:18 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Let's take Nishith's q next: should KM be linked to some sort of reward points as this will serve a dual advantage? but I don't see many companies doing it

[ 11/10/10 7:18 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: so if you are going to be using sentiment as aprt of reputation or rating, make sure it is integrated and aggreated with the rrest of the profile and other variables you will use

[ 11/10/10 7:19 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: nishith, rewards should exist and should be available -- with caveats

[ 11/10/10 7:19 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: physicial rewards are not wwhat we are looking for here, anyone who has done will tell you that physicial rewards train and incite the wrong behavior from customers

[ 11/10/10 7:20 AM] Nishith.Gupta: i believe KM can actually act as a plug-in to identify social influencers..as in how forums generally have different roles like newbiew, expert

[ 11/10/10 7:20 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: we are looking for ways to recognize and rewqard internally to the community their efforts and contributions -- peoplle do want to be recogniized for their work in many ways, moeny or other physical rewards are not the best way to do that

[ 11/10/10 7:20 AM] Paul G - Lithium: We have about 10 mins left, these are great questions everyone. keep em coming...

[ 11/10/10 7:21 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: nishith, what you are saying is essentialy the core of the rewards structure

[ 11/10/10 7:21 AM] Kevin Farr: Hi everyone-this Kevin from BusinesOnLine. Glad to see so many people in this morning's chat. I work in Social Media; please feel free to ask my any questions.

[ 11/10/10 7:21 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: newbies want to be experts, experts want more recognition

[ 11/10/10 7:21 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Thank's kevin, do you have a question for Esteban

[ 11/10/10 7:21 AM] Nishith.Gupta: agree..that's the point

[ 11/10/10 7:22 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Esteban, Can users from outside of the organization be empowered with official functions and roles?

[ 11/10/10 7:22 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: paul - tthis is someting that has been actually resolved many ways in the past

[ 11/10/10 7:23 AM] Kevin Farr: Nope, I am here to field questions on behalf of BusinessOnLine in support of BusinessOnLine and Litium's partnership.

[ 11/10/10 7:23 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: as an example, some vendors got intro trouble in compuserve (yes, that far back) -- legal trouble for not paying people who understood they were workig for the company

[ 11/10/10 7:23 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: so, it is a bit tricky

[ 11/10/10 7:24 AM] Nishith.Gupta: to cite a relevant example..not necessary KM..but Coke actually identified a popular FB fan page and have now officially pay the owners

[ 11/10/10 7:24 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: but the answer is yes. as long as you can define it well, and caveat their participation and rewards / compensation then it brings us closer to a colloborative model where we all benefit

[ 11/10/10 7:24 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: nishith, actually coke does not pay them in cash or product

[ 11/10/10 7:24 AM] Paul G - Lithium: And we certainly see that reward through reputation in many ways builds trust better and a higher level of participation than financial reward

[ 11/10/10 7:25 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: they reward them with access to information they can use to do their jobs better -- and that is an excellent point to highlight what i was saying about compensation models

[ 11/10/10 7:25 AM] Paul G - Lithium: We have about 5 mins left

[ 11/10/10 7:25 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: that is a great point paul

[ 11/10/10 7:25 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Is community-generated, community-managed content and knowledge the future of knowledge management?

[ 11/10/10 7:25 AM] Marty.Thompson: You folks are making my morning! I think we might be seeing organizations that are early social adopters using it as a springboard to internal transformation. Are the technology providers, including Lithium, getting ready for this opportunity to help? It is less at that point about the SW, and much more so about the effects.

[ 11/10/10 7:25 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: ah, the question that always generates controversy!

[ 11/10/10 7:25 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: CG-CM knowledge is the future of KM, that is for certain

[ 11/10/10 7:26 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: we need better systems to manage the isssues we identified above (and some ofthers) but we must tap the peoplle who know what they are talking about to do what they do best

[ 11/10/10 7:27 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: the core issue is that community members are subject matter experts - even more so than organization's employees - since they live everday with the products and services. the organizatipon tends to rely on their knowledge of building and putting together the service or product for knowledge

[ 11/10/10 7:27 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: and the community member generate the "real world" version of that knowledge

[ 11/10/10 7:28 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: certainly there is placce for both, but you must have a good strategy in place with functioning ssytems to support taht

[ 11/10/10 7:28 AM] Paul G - Lithium: And certainly the users are also more attuned to rapidly discovering nuance and changes, often way before the company is aware

[ 11/10/10 7:29 AM] Paul G - Lithium: so tapping into that body of knowledge is very powerful if you are open to harnessing and working with it

[ 11/10/10 7:29 AM] Paul G - Lithium: okay we have time for maybe 2 more questions

[ 11/10/10 7:29 AM] Sonny.Parker: Do you see any systems or process standards for "harvesting" CG_CM knowledge to validate it and move it into mulitple languages anddelivery formats?

[ 11/10/10 7:29 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: Marty, I will let Lithium answer on their plans - i see a lot of good efforts across the market and i am quite satisfied with it - but it is about the effects-- which you cannot get without the technology to take advantage of it

[ 11/10/10 7:29 AM] Nishith.Gupta: this is one of the key use case of Social CRM. but still an end-to-end flow is yet to be derived. I think in next 3-4 months, there will be more clarity on Social KM + CRM

[ 11/10/10 7:30 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: sonny, multi language support is a very hard thing to do. there are few systems here and there, but for the most part there is not set way to do it

[ 11/10/10 7:30 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: you can translate language, set a corporate standard for a specific language, or manage them all separate

[ 11/10/10 7:30 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: and they all proved to be successful

[ 11/10/10 7:31 AM] Paul G - Lithium: So lets take Sonny's question and then finish with Nishith's

[ 11/10/10 7:31 AM] Charlie: you need workflow + business rules + machine translation support + a good multi-lingual language team + processes + procedures

[ 11/10/10 7:31 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: my personal fave is to have diff peoplle in your organixation that can handle the diff languages -- preferable in the location where it is being used (culturre, as well as language matters)

[ 11/10/10 7:32 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: nishith, i wuld agree with the position but extend the timframe a litlle to 6-9 months

[ 11/10/10 7:32 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: we need good proof that it works before we see higher adoption

[ 11/10/10 7:32 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Okay, wow, we're just about at time here. This was a great session, thanks so much for the Questions. Esteban will be back with us later today for a 2nd session if you'd like to join us

[ 11/10/10 7:32 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: charlie, i like what you said - i agree with that

[ 11/10/10 7:32 AM] Charlie: i love what you guys said! nice job

[ 11/10/10 7:32 AM] Nishith.Gupta: true..I am being optimistic because of my field

[ 11/10/10 7:32 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Thank you Esteban, thanks everyone!

[ 11/10/10 7:33 AM] Esteban.Kolsky: thanks very much for coming and participating, feel free to hang around the lobby if you have something else to talk about -- or see you later!

[ 11/10/10 7:33 AM] Sonny.Parker: Thanks.

[ 11/10/10 7:33 AM] Nishith.Gupta: thanks..I think we need such interactions more often

[ 11/10/10 7:33 AM] Maria.Kolozina: thanks

[ 11/10/10 7:33 AM] Paul G - Lithium: Thanks everyone.

[ 11/10/10 7:33 AM] Maria.Kolozina: Agree with Nishith