To include in all engagements, a plan to transition knowledge to clients through training, tools and alternative resources.
Kenway had been engaged with a large telecommunications company and had accrued a great deal of knowledge about their Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solution. Client resources had become dependent on Kenway to help manage the day to day operations of the system. While client management understood the need to build internal knowledge and skills to take over application support, they felt they did not have the time and/or resources to complete a successful transition.
Realizing this dependency, Kenway identified and escalated the risk that the client would not be able to manage the IVR business processes if consulting resources were no longer available.
After discussing the risk with client management, Kenway embarked on an initiative to develop a set of improved processes and associated documentation to aid in an effective knowledge transfer. They then trained client resources until they were comfortable taking over on their own. This allowed client resources to better understand the overall process and begin to take on a significant amount of operational work in an environment that still provided the access to Kenway for questions and support.
After the knowledge transfer process was completed, the client resources were prepared to manage the IVR system moving forward, which significantly decreased the cost of operating this system. Kenway was able to transition to a true services model, providing consultative services rather than operational ones, thereby providing more value for the client’s investment.
Kenway knew there was a possibility of losing revenue by decreasing its operational workload but pursued the transition anyway as it put the client in a better long term situation. Since moving the operational work, the client has requested additional consultative services from Kenway in this and other domains.