SUCCESS STORIES
Intelligent knowledge management: Introduction of the MIRA knowledge platform at ZEISS Microscopy
Initial situation at ZEISS Microscopy
In the midst of a historically grown and extremely complex IT structure, the service information was located on decentralized servers, resulting in numerous data silos and a large number of access points. This fragmentation meant that information was not seamlessly available to service staff. Searching for a specific document required extensive prior knowledge and a lot of time. It became increasingly obvious that knowledge provision for service needed to change fundamentally and that the cost of doing nothing was simply far too high. Declining customer satisfaction was another trigger for this project.
The overriding aim was to speed up the service process at ZEISS Microscopy and increase quality.
Introduction of the MIRA knowledge platform
With the aim of creating a central access point for service employees, the Empolis Service Express knowledge platform was introduced, which bears the internal name MIRA at ZEISS. All service information is now made available centrally: the efficiency and effectiveness of the service team is further improved, processes are accelerated and service quality is generally enhanced. This has also significantly increased customer satisfaction.
The enrichment of metadata ensures easier retrievability. Information from the various data silos can be linked via the MIRA knowledge portal. Service employees can now find the technical information, spare parts catalog or marketing materials for their inquiry.
Knowledge is not only available company-wide, but also offline at any time – a particularly important functionality for the service department.
Currently, the service employees are primarily supported in diagnosis and troubleshooting by the content provided. The goal of enabling new colleagues to quickly become experts is supported by the knowledge sharing integrated into the portal. Best practices are recorded by service employees directly at the point of service and made available to all colleagues through a streamlined approval process. The integration of closed support tickets has also significantly shortened the time it takes to resolve problems. For very complex issues, numerous decision trees are created by experts so that service employees are quickly guided to the right solution.
The way to the goal
The introduction of the MIRA portal created a central access point for all relevant information and the starting point for our joint project. Our role as a consultant and implementation partner was to support ZEISS Microscopy on its way to becoming a future service organization.
In the first stage of the project, we concentrated on making all content from the various information repositories available and using an intelligent rights system to stem the flood of information for employees. This rights concept also made it possible to control access by external partners in accordance with the ZEISS partner strategy. This created the basis for connecting the spare parts catalog next. The metadata model was expanded and the product taxonomy was further refined so that the data silos were connected with each other in a fine-grained manner.
In the second step, we wanted to significantly improve the quality of the documents. We no longer recorded closed documents, but instead adopted a topic-oriented approach.
The final step was the recording of knowledge contributions for knowledge sharing, the creation of decision trees and the provision of closed tickets.
In addition to the pure implementation of the project steps, it is extremely important to work closely with the users right from the start to ensure the success of the project.
We supported ZEISS in all phases – from idea development to requirements specification, conception and rollout. But even after the rollout, we continue to support ZEISS in the continuous improvement of the portal.
The third feature comprises a database with special product numbers that refer to the customer’s products. This enables the service team to quickly access the specific product information of a particular customer.
Where is the journey going
The project is at a very good stage and has already achieved great results, but we are continuing to work with ZEISS to make it even better. Usability is to be further improved, for example a personalized start page for the service technicians increases efficiency. Our knowledge graph can be further refined to generate only the relevant information. Our next project steps include a service recommender and AI-based analyses.
Update: Der Service Copilot, ein intelligenter Assistent, wurde für ZEISS erfolgreich umgesetzt. Die Anwendung unterstützt durch einen KI-Chat, hinter dem ein KI-Agentensystem steht, die Servicetechniker und -technikerinnen bei der täglichen Arbeit
We look forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders at ZEISS RMS.
About ZEISS Research Microscopy Solutions
ZEISS Research Microscopy Solutions is the leading provider of light, electron, X-ray microscope systems, correlative microscopy and software solutions leveraging AI technologies. The portfolio comprises of products and services for life sciences, materials and industrial research, as well as education and clinical routine applications. The unit is headquartered in Jena. Additional production and development sites are located in Germany, UK, USA, China and Switzerland. ZEISS Research Microscopy Solutions is part of the Industrial Quality & Research segment.
Further information at www.zeiss.com/microscopy
