The application of knowledge management in call centres

Purpose – The paper proposes to evaluate the need for knowledge management in a call centre for improving quality of customer services, by addressing the issues specifically relating to information and knowledge management.Design/methodology/approach – Methodology adopted in this research is qualitative, namely ethnography. After examining six models from literature review, a knowledge management model is developed for implementation to assess the required effort to compare against the expected benefits.Findings – Knowledge management could be achieved by effectively managing the five roles of knowledge, namely knowledge acquisition, utilisation, adaptation, distribution, and generation. Comparison of the benefits against the efforts has clearly justified the knowledge management efforts in the case study.Research limitations/implications – The knowledge management model could be adapted in other service sectors with similar characteristics to a call centre.Practical implications – The paper provides deta...

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