Paul Bodie provides an insight into his presentation for the itSMF Australia conference!

Paul, your topic for the itSMF Presentation is “Support the Business Case by using Knowledge Centered Support Practices”. What prompted you to consider this topic for the conference this year?

My passion is around organisational learning and creating and managing knowledge, specifically looking at ways to develop staff competencies within the workplace itself. Knowledge Centred Support (KCS) supports the idea that knowledge is the key asset of the service organisation, and creation of knowledge as an outcome of solving problems. It is still in an early adoption phase with many organisations only now commencing implementation of KCS, and some have not had any exposure at all! So when I was considering a topic for the conference, it seemed the logical choice to highlight the valuable benefits KCS can provide an organisation. KCS requires a holistic approach with people, technology, and process, so showing how an organisation has been going through this will be of real benefit to attendees.

Can you briefly explain what KCS is and where it came from?

KCS is a principle based methodology created by the Consortium for Service Innovation who began work in 1992 with the idea that knowledge is the key asset of the support organisation. Their goal was to improve and share best practices for capturing, structuring and reusing knowledge in support environment. A key principle of KCS is collaboration by capturing and codifying tacit knowledge for reuse. Therefore it is primarily about people although enabled by technology.


Can you give us an overview of the presentation?

We’ve been doing a lot of work with a large financial institution for a number of years now, with a more recent project being the implementation of KCS. This presentation is entirely focused around a case study on their initial implementation of KCS last year.

What stage is the client at regarding their implementation?

The client has completed its initial rollout which focussed on their Service Desk. At this point, subsequent roll outs to the remaining support groups are planned on an operational rather than project basis.

Are there any tangible benefits?

Yes, certainly there are tangible benefits. A follow up analysis of the results against the business case has yet to be carried out, however it is clear that implementation of Knowledge Centred Support practices has supported the client’s business case for reducing contact handling costs and improving staff productivity within the IAG Service Desk. Customer Satisfaction has also improved as well as time to proficiency.

Any last comments on what attendees will get out of attending your presentation?

During the presentation we will also identify some practical ways of facilitating change, and these will apply not only to KCS, but all ITIL processes.

Paul’s presentation is on Day 2 of the itSMF Australia conference, Tuesday, 24 August 2010 at 4.35 – 5.30pm.