Knowledge Management with a Purpose

Velocity & Variabilityaka Lean Six Sigma

Gary JonesDir, Service Operations

• Manufacturer of data storage products

• Balanced between OEM and branded products

• Channel focused

• < 2,300 employees

• < $850m revenue

• 3 Quantum enterprise call centers • 2 partner staffed high-volume call centers

• 4 unique on-site Service Partners in addition to Quantum personnel (grows to 50+ in EMEA and APAC regions)

• 10,400 support calls per month• 80% responded to by a Service Partner

• 1,100 field support responses per month• 37% responded to by a Service Partner

Quantum Global Service - Overview

The Challenge

• Highly leveraged support model

• Multiple partners, regions, & languages

• Not a significant revenue resource for any of our service partners

• Quality could vary depending on the Service Partner

• Score high on expertise >> other categories would follow

• Loyalty scores (buy again, recommend) also followed the expertise curve on our periodic surveys

• The challenge: Managing the expertise of all these vendors!

In Search of a Direction

• We believed we were out-performing our CSAT scores

• Predictability was showing up as a significant component of expertise –

• If presented with the same information, would all Service Partners respond the same way, rapidly

• The variability of our global performance and the velocity of our global service processes had to be addressed – head on!

• Once we recognized how predictability influenced expertise, our KM initiatives had direction

Knowledge as a Product

• We linked our knowledge management process to the principles and philosophies of a franchised business:• Produce a product with a repeatable

and predictable result

• Deliver a product with minimal variability

• Abide by a continuous product improvement process based on rigorous quality metrics

• Base the business on a common set of resources and traditions inclusive of leading practices

• For Quantum Global Services, our product is knowledge

Driving Predictability

• Knowledge management - knowing what to do and how to do it, is the cornerstone of Quantum’s service delivery process

• Quantum manages its Service Partners much like a franchisor would manage a franchisee:

• Minimizing variability (six sigma)• Maximizing velocity (lean)• Providing value

• The franchise model clearly demonstrates scalability through replication of knowledge and process, with a predictable and measurable result

ValueValue

VariabilityVariability

VelocityVelocity

Knowledge Discovery

• Knowledge can be harvested from manysources and events:• FAQ key-word misses • Conclusions from healthy forum discussions • Misrouted questions/emails from customers• Issues that don’t follow predictable product or

process behavior• Internal help-me emails that have too many

people on the to: line• Creeping confusion (normally surfaces at weekly technical

collaboration meetings)• Requests for information that isn’t already available

• Quantum focuses content on topics that remove process complexity and knowledge variability

Knowledge Gets an Early Start

• Global Services is an active participant on all product development teams

• This model drives service design requirements into early gates/phases

• Three main areas of focus:• Knowledge Management & Transfer:

Assurance that current products incorporate findings from past learning's

• Core Product Capabilities: Ensure product can deliver meaningful management and diagnostic data

• Data Capture & Mining Capabilities: Ensure system-wide compatibility of all data elements for use in M2M applications

• Early engagement in the product development process ensures rich KM content early – when its needed most!

Knowledge Management Delivery

• Knowledge Management System (KMS)• Pull-based, closed loop. 3 access levels:

Customer / Service Partner / Quantum

• Discussion Forum (Soon to be wiki-ized)• On-line forum that encourages “what-if” discussions

• Learning & Education (LMS)• Content mgmt; course monitoring; “who knows what”,

“when did they learn it”, and “where are they”

• StorageCare Guardian – (DRM)• The ultimate KM solution that guides support personnel

to their next step

StorageCare Guardian

• Quantum’s latest technology investment for attacking variability and increasing velocity

• Parsing engines remove two levels of variability:

• What a customer can communicate

• What the next step should be

Measuring Partner Expertise

Transactional Surveys

•Survey contains quick links to call avoidance tools

•Survey visually communicates location of call centers

Organizational Structure

Final Comments on Knowledge Mgmt

• Knowledge management is key to building and maintaining a Global Service Network that Quantum customers can benefit from

• Knowledge management is one of the most critical elements of improving velocity and variability in our service delivery performance

• Quantum focuses its investments on tools that increase the velocity and decrease the variability of service delivery

• Knowledge delivery tools require investment and a unique level of commitment. Invest with a purpose in mind. Choices should extend beyond content delivery itself

• Knowledge discovery takes many forms. Be creative and purposeful. At Quantum, we have two key questions that drive our knowledge growth:• Why do people know the things they do (find out why and replicate it!)• Why don’t people know the things they should (find out why and fix it!)

Contact Information

Gary JonesDir, Service Operations

Quantum Corp (NYSE:DSS)gary.jones@quantum.com

(949) 466-3066

20062004, 20052004, 2005, 2006

Outsourcing