The 2021 Knowledge Award for excellence in knowledge management in service goes to Sweden this year. The IKEA Group won the well-deserved award, which was presented at the USU World Summit 2021, with the implementation of its innovative service concept for knowledge management. USU’s award to the multinational furniture group honors in particular new, inspiring and demonstrably successful ideas in the practical application of USU Knowledge Management solutions.
“The Knowledge Award recognizes customers and partners who really stand out in developing new and innovative methods and service strategies in knowledge management, above all in practice,” says USU Managing Director Sven Kolb, commenting on award’s background and criteria.
Since spring 2020, IKEA has consistently standardized and optimized its knowledge-intensive international customer communication. They respond to over 100,000 daily inquiries via the web, email, chat and contact centers quickly, accurately, in the customer’s local language and in a cost-effective manner, providing an exceptional customer experience. At the same time, almost 20,000 documents in 23 languages are also used for internal needs, for example, to shorten onboarding and employee training by up to 50 percent.
“Within just 12 months, we were able to establish our new knowledge management solution in 25 customer support center. In hundreds of IKEA stores as well as on our website, customers can now easily obtain information on all topics via self-service or in person: from the optimal dimensions for living room and kitchen furniture to returning goods, ordering spare parts, financing options, Click & Collect guidelines during Covid-19 or specific questions such as how to best remove red wine stains from IKEA carpet,” says Rickard Hammarlund, Product Owner Customer Support Knowledge at IKEA.