Talla Company Blog

Ever since Gmail shook up the free online storage game in 2004 by giving away a then-shocking gigabyte of space, individuals and businesses alike have become "digital hoarders" -- keeping all their old data around in case it becomes useful later -- regardless of the unacknowledged drawbacks of the practice. And while storage has become exponentially cheaper over the last 15 years, the hidden costs of digital hoarding may finally outweigh their benefits.

One of the contributing factors to social media addiction is FOMO, or fear of missing out. It's an unhealthy condition wherein smartphone users constantly check their notifications for fear they are being left out of rewarding social situations. It is a terrible reason to use -- or not use -- your smartphone or social media.

Unfortunately, a similar mal-adaptation is driving the artificial intelligence strategy at many businesses. They have FOMAI, fear of missing artificial intelligence.

Every time a sales representative responds to a prospect with the words "I don't know," your knowledge base has failed. While most knowledge base solutions aren't designed to explicitly support sales teams, there are still steps you can take to optimize your knowledge base content for sales success.

A properly organized and implemented knowledge base makes your customer support teams more effective and efficient by shortening the time it takes to solve customer problems. With quick, easy access to accurate technical and procedural documentation, your support team can close help tickets faster, improve customer satisfaction, and decrease customer churn.

Bad software is a waste of money, but the worst software hurts revenue -- and a bad knowledge base solution can be the worst software of all because it costs you money in ways you can't easily see. And, frankly, most knowledge base solutions on the market today turn out to be secret cost centers.

Artificial intelligence can change that.

For the past 15 years, every content management system and enterprise knowledge base has been built around some version of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make it easier for readers to find the valuable data hidden in your documentation. But that's a passive approach to making your data discoverable and relies on the hope that the answers your employees and customers need have already been documented and published.

First impressions matter, which is why Customer Success Teams are crucially important to the success of your company. They are often the first non-salespersons your customers meet, and they make sure that customers are satisfied and, well, successful with your solution.

There are lots of chatbots on the market today, and many of them are (supposedly) designed to help with customer support. While each type of support bot has its pros and cons, none of them are truly ready to fully replace human support representatives. Understanding that reality is key to implementing your support bot the right way.