Oracle is painting a picture that can only be recognized when seen from afar. Getting closer one sees lack of cohesiveness and lots of functional overlap. This functional overlap in one specific area is certainly most intriguing to me and that is Knowledge Management. Of the many Oracle acquisitions, the ones mentioned in this article all have historically had their own knowledge management capabilities and approaches. Primus was about managing knowledge, Inquira was about searching knowledge, and RightNow was about delivering knowledge. One of the fallouts out of merging these companies is deciding on a single functional solution for Knowledge Management. It does not make sense to maintain different repositories with different structures in the uber-Oracle platform. 

 
What will be the core of this uber-KM platform? Based on Oracle’s positioning it would appear to be the company formerly-known as Inquira, and this may certainly be a reasonable choice. Primus never developed into an option like many Primus customers were hoping, and many of who are now running for the exit. What will this mean for RightNow customers and the future, especially since RightNow offers its own search engine and requires much more structured knowledge designed for support-specific requirements than Inquira? Time will tell, but one can expect a fair degree of ambiguity and uncertainty. The Oracle Knowledge Management Frankenstein is a story that is being written, and unfortunately Mary Shelley is not around to ghostwrite it.

Over the course of the two and a half days we covered a lot of material, training, industry best practices for using knowledge, a peek into RightAnswers future plans and road map.  Plus, there was lots of networking and learning from each other going on in the Birds-of-a-Feather and Round Table sessions.  Not to mention all the fun we had at the Welcome Reception on the water looking out at the New York skyline, our BINGO games and even a few chuckles as the RightAnswers team attempted to add humor in our presentations.

Between last year and this, it seems that so many of you have expanded the use of RightAnswers in your organizations either by using more platform components and/or implementing beyond the IT department. We are so happy that we have provided you with a solution that is not only scalable in numbers but scalable horizontally across the enterprise. As new challenges arise throughout the year remember that we are your partner and can offer guidance on how to meet your challenges and make these projects successful. 

For me what resonated most was that so many of you either told me personally, included it on your evaluation forms, or sent an email to let us know that participating in IMPACT made you feel like part of a family.  As the marketing director, part of what I try to convey is that RightAnswers does really care about your success and that we each take on that challenge personally.  So for me, feedback like this means that we are succeeding in delivering on that promise.

We have already begun to look at what the next generation of this event will be.  We have a number of great ideas, some of which have come from you.  Your RightAnswers team will be in touch over the next several weeks to get your input what will serve you best as IMPACT evolves.  In the mean time, if you have any ideas you would like to share I would love to hear from you.  vmathieson at rightanswers.com

Bill Purcell, Incident Manager at Paychex, gave a great presentation as he shared his experiences, stories of their journey, and best practices around their success with Knowledge Management and Self-Service.  Bill’s passion on the topic, and their success with RightAnswers was clear and his perspective truly engaged the entire audience.  Analyst talks by design are middle of the road in tone, often weighing pro’s and con’s of technology decisions and we as listeners come away unsure of the choice to make.   Bill’s presentation really stood apart from the other sessions due to his real world results, which left little doubt on the recommendation – Knowledge Management and Self-Service does work, does deliver results and when approached as a discipline will transform the organization to increase productivity and save lots of money – implement now.

It is hard not to be biased, as I was extremely proud of everything Bill had to say about his project’s success and about us, but many of the other attendees thought his presentation was the best one of the event.  Attendees got the real facts and experiences from one of their own and throughout the session Bill laid out a detailed plan and framework for others to leverage – a real home run.

Congratulations Bill on a great session.  You and your team should be proud of all that you have accomplished.

The diversity of the list speaks to the varied ways in which knowledge management is rising in importance with so many organizations having a unique focus on markets, technology, and overall value proposition.   I like the space we are in; it is squarely focused on providing organizations that specialize in supporting fellow employees, students, and customers with a knowledge platform solving the issues of today and just as important, addressing the challenges of tomorrow. 

As the user perspective continues to expand and users’ expectations for support services grow, the challenges and opportunities for everyone merge.  For us, delivering great technology targeted for this market is a piece of the puzzle, proactively working with our clients on the best ways to address these emerging challenges is where the real satisfaction is found.

Being part of the KMWorld 100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management is a reflection of our diverse, global user community of over 500 clients and nearly 5 million end users, our platform, and the great results our clients achieve.  Behind these results, is our technology, the services we offer, and the best practices we promote, as well as our constant collaboration with and listening to our clients.  My belief is that our clear focus on these elements fuels our success, and discovering new ways to strengthen these areas will continue to yield great results for our clients and RightAnswers.

Thank you to all our clients for your support over the years and for working so closely with us.  Lastly, congratulations to the RightAnswers team for making the list; it is yet another acknowledgement of your skills, and dedication.

As the Director of Global Sales, I have the privilege of working with various companies across a number of different industries – including federal government and military organizations.  We recognize the unique challenges that these organizations are faced with in terms of providing support to diverse user groups, their unique security needs and limited resources.

To address the needs of the federal market, RightAnswers has fostered strategic partnerships.  In addition to Lockheed Martin, we have grown the number of channel partners that are delivering and integrating the RightAnswers Unified Knowledge Suite.   Some of these include General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, BMC, SRA and MITRE.

As I have emphasized to our government customers, the RightAnswers flagship product can be utilized to centralize support operations, reduce costs and deliver responsive service to employees and external audiences, known as constituents.

Moving into 2011, we will continue to build on this year’s momentum and anticipate making several announcements  showcasing how government organizations are embracing RightAnswers to streamline their internal and external support operations.

In speaking with our clients throughout the conference, they were really impressed at both the quality of the event and the professionalism with which it was coordinated.  I personally had dozens of people come up to me and tell me how great the conference was and how it was the best conference they have ever been to.  To receive feedback like that is truly what makes hosting an event like this worthwhile.

Two key items that we wanted to focus on during the conference were collaborating with our clients, and the idea of Enterprise Support Knowledge.  Over the past year, we have been working closely with clients to have them use our solution not only for their service desk needs, but also in other areas where knowledge can support their organization.   During the conference, we listened to stories about how our clients are doing just that.   We learned much more about how they are expanding their use of the RightAnswers solution, and it was very exciting to hear.

When you see and hear the enthusiasm of our clients together in this type of setting, it confirms the good work we are doing, as well as the impact we are having on all of our customers.  This was truly a great feeling.

On behalf of the entire RightAnswers team, I would like to thank all of our customers who attended.  In addition, I’d like to thank our keynote speakers – Eveline Oehrlich, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research and Jerry Markbreit, former NFL referee.  Our partners were also a big part of making this event a great success.  HCL was presented with our Innovative Partner of the Year award during day #2.  The award honors the fastest growing alliances within the RightAnswers partner program.  We thank all of our partners that attended this event.

IMPACT 2010 was a great milestone for our company, but it is only the beginning.  I am excited about the customer advisory committee we kicked off at the conference, and look forward to planning IMPACT 2011 which will be held in New York City.  Thanks again to everyone, and we look forward to seeing you next year!

As a partner with RightAnswers, HCL has implemented knowledge-driven solutions utilizing the RightAnswers Unified Knowledge Suite.  The companies jointly handle several accounts across the globe in the US, UK and Singapore serving the needs of financial services, media/entertainment, utility/energy, and manufacturing organizations.

Mr. Anubhav Saxena (Vice President – Global Marketing, Strategy and Alliances, HCL Technologies) had this to say regarding the achievement:

“We are delighted to have been chosen as the ‘Innovative Partner of the Year’ by RightAnswers.  At HCL, innovation has been identified as the key driver for sustaining a competitive edge in the market.  This award is a testimonial of our continued efforts towards providing innovative business solutions that have been applauded by our customers globally.”

We look forward to continuing a long and prosperous relationship with HCL, as well as all of our current and future partners.

The afternoon kicked off with three track sessions, including a Q&A forum with Eveline Oehrlich (Senior Analyst @ Forrester Research).  This session allowed customers to follow-up with Eveline based on her keynote speech that was delivered earlier in the day.  During the session, customers expressed concerns about how to get support analysts “buy-in” to use knowledge and self-service tools such as the ones offered by RightAnswers.  Eveline mentioned that one of the biggest factors is measuring accountability.  In addition, according to Eveline, “first call resolution and customer satisfaction should be the number one goal of every organization.”

Following these track sessions were two additional meetings – one with Simon Yelsky (VP of Product Management & Client Success) and the other session included a presentation from Bomgar, a RightAnswers’ partner.  Simon discussed supporting your applications using RightAnswers content effectively.  The session provided customers with insights and strategies that they could implement at their respective organizations.  During the partner session, Russ Duffey (VP of Business Development at Bomgar) spoke about combining knowledge management and remote support.  Following the presentation Tony Salgado (Solutions Engineer at Bomgar) and Keith Berg (VP of Professional Services @ RightAnswers) provided a demo of how the two companies are working together to provide “extended self-service” capabilities.

Following these two track sessions, Paychex gave a presentation on how “KCS is the Foundation of Support.”  The day was capped by two more forums:

• “First Contact Resolution” (Peter McGarahan, Principal, McGarahan & Associates)
• “Unified Knowledge Suite Beyond v6” (Simon Yelsky, VP of Product Management and Client Success; Mark Sutter, VP of Product Development)

The day concluded with a Q&A discussion between customers and the RightAnswers’ management team.  This provided customers with a great forum to express some of their ideas and strategies.  During this session, Bill Pollie (VP of Business Development at RightAnswers) presented HCL with RightAnswers’ Innovative Partner of the Year Award.

Our morning session included an introductory speech by RightAnswers’ President and CEO Jeff Weinstein.  After breakfast, we broke out into three track sessions which included various topics on industry trends and RightAnswers-specific themes.  Highlighting one of these early morning tracks was Peter McGarahan’s address on “Reducing Support Costs Without Sacrificing Service Quality.”  During this presentation, Peter introduced what he called a “Shift Left Strategy.”  This strategy is based on establishing a laser focus on increasing First Contact Resolution (FCR) resulting in lower support costs, improved time to respond/resolve (SLAs) and increased customer satisfaction. 

The early morning track sessions were followed by a keynote speech from Eveline Oehrlich, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research.  Eveline gave an entertaining and engaging presentation entitled “Knowledge is Power! Knowledge is Collaboration!”  Eveline noted that knowledge management is about automation, objects, processes and capabilities.  Her insight and unique perspective into industry trends was a welcome addition to the conference. 

Following Eveline’s keynote, three additional track sessions were offered to customers on various topics including: 

• “Getting Ready for the Cloud” (Mark Sutter – VP of Product Development @ RightAnswers)
• “Unified Knowledge Suite for Customer Service”  (Keith Berg – VP of Professional Services @ RightAnswers)
• “Get Answers to Your Questions About Upgrading to the Unified Knowledge Suite v6” (RightAnswers team)

After these mid-morning track sessions, Jeff Weinstein and Simon Yelsky (VP of Product Management & Client Successes at RightAnswers) provided their product vision for RightAnswers to all attendees.  Stay tuned for more updates about the afternoon session and Day 3 of IMPACT 2010!

As the VP of Engineering at RightAnswers, I deal with a lot technical aspects of the job.  I find that part of my job is to understand how products in our industry actually work, under the hood – to check if there is anything fundamentally new and interesting.  I read the patents, I read white papers about the products – and more often than not, I find that very little is unique or new to this “amazing” technology being advertised.  Patents seem to be granted on work that was done 10 or 15 years ago – mostly because it looks good to the market – not with the idea that the patent would stand up in court.

Next time you evaluate a product that claims to have “never-seen-before” technology, take a closer look.  Many of these new technologies have been around for quite some time, just under different terms.

My advice to people who don’t have the time or inclination to understand the technology behind the terms that they read is the following:  find out if it works for your purposes.  Test the software or product.  Even if the company cannot offer a trial of their product, they still have demo systems available.  This is your best bet to make sure the product is right for you, or your company.

It would be nice if all product marketing materials clearly stated what their “marketing breakthroughs” are.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  It is often best to go with a product in which the technology is clearly understood, and one that is offered by a reliable company.  My policy in the current market is that when something sounds like snake oil, I assume it is until proven otherwise.