Summary

KCS is a journey, one that expands our view and understanding of the customer experience as well as creates a broader view of the value the organization is creating. The phases of adoption are the building blocks for success. If we keep expanding our view, the landscape will keep changing along the way. That makes for an exciting, engaging transformation.

By using relevant measures for each phase of the KCS evolution, we can successfully track our progress and document the dramatic contribution knowledge can make to enable customer success and organizational effectiveness. We can demonstrate tangible customer, employee, financial, and process benefits—if we create relevant operational and cultural baselines at the beginning that map to the organizational goals (the strategic framework).

The benefits realized in each phase are incremental and compounding. The Plan and Design phase is an investment, the Adopt in Waves phase is a combination of investment and benefit. The benefits we realize in the Build Proficiency phase are big, and the benefits realized in the Optimize and Innovate phase are huge (see KCS: The Great Enabler in the KCS v6 Adoption & Transformation Guide).

We often refer to KCS a "delayed gratification model." Since KCS adoptions extend across years, support for KCS can fade if the benefits are not made explicit. This is the reason the phases are so helpful in explaining the KCS adoption journey and its evolving benefits. When the stakeholders understand how and why the measures of success must change, and how the benefits evolve and increase over time, it is easier to sustain their enthusiasm and support for Knowledge-Centered Service.

The phases or building blocks for success take us to the horizon. As organizations make the transformation to a knowledge-centered model and have mastered each of the building blocks it gives us some insight as to what is next.  Can we improve the organization's effectiveness in solving new issues through Intelligent Swarming? Can we become more predictive by offering customers information we have, which they would value, but don't know to ask us for? Can we identify a new leadership framework for an adaptive organization?  The Consortium Members are working on these ideas and we can see the measurement model must continue to evolve. The journey continues.