Web Success Stories

• product information that is effectively structured for online
  
• fewer calls to their 800 line
  
• a shorter sales cycle for their products, and
  
• product information that is easy to access and create.

Better business communication cuts call volume by 80%

A $5 billion medical device manufacturer was searching for a way to simplify and improve their end-user product literature. Over 200 employees participated in an Information Mapping seminar. By partnering with Information Mapping, they redesigned literature that clearly and effectively answered customers' questions - resulting in an 80% decrease in calls to the customer service call center.

With more time available to focus on customer satisfaction rather than problem resolution, the call center was able to take a more proactive role in the organization's overall customer strategy. Information Mapping's unique method is now applied to writing reports, proposals, package inserts, SOPs, and other communications throughout the organization.

Accessible online information reduces costs by 20%

A leading credit card company received an average of 800,000 telephone calls to the customer service center weekly. Representatives referred to the documentation for an average of 38% of these incoming calls. The organization's goal was to streamline the documentation internationally, and set a standard for these reference material. They wanted to improve the level of customer satisfaction by decreasing the amount of time it takes a representative to resolve a customer issue. By working with Information Mapping to successfully convert 5,000 pages of information from paper to online, the average duration of phone calls was reduced drastically - by 60 seconds each, with a cost savings of 20%!

Mapped Intranet cuts training time by 50%

When a global hospitality company needed to standardize its facilities management procedures, they engaged Information Mapping to develop worldwide standards and create hundreds of pages of information for their Intranet. The company's global procedures are now clear, concise, easy to navigate, and they can be instantly updated from headquarters. Users throughout the world now use this system as their first point of reference for fast, accurate, up-to-date information.

Standardized Web content makes information easy to access

When a global computer hardware maker began utilizing the Web, it found that it needed to improve how it managed large volumes of complex content. Information Mapping created a standard design for content and navigation, and its seminars, Designing Information for the Web and Writing for the Web, became required training for all authors contributing to the various Web sites. As a result, employees and customers now have fast, easy access to information, and feedback has improved significantly.

Sun Microsystems Uses IMI's Web Seminars to Help Organize Intranet Information

In a recent interview, Clay Fontes, a Senior Education Specialist at SunU with over 10 years experience in training and employee development, talked about the Information Mapping course offering.

"Our IMI classes are one of many tools we offer at SunU to help our employees post their information on Sun's Intranet," says Clay. "The great thing about the Information Mapping Method is that it forces you to organize. It demands that you chunk down the information. You may already be a good content developer or information designer but the method really helps you break down the information even further so it can be well presented to meet your users' needs on the site."

Schneider Electric Uses Information Access to Improve Sales

3500 registered users throughout the distribution network submit content and share knowledge though their Web browsers. The system is used to answer over 6,000 telephone and 60,000 web site inquiries per month, and every inquiry allows them to collect feedback and add or change information to meet user needs. Since the system was implemented, Schneider's Automation Business has seen sales increase dramatically, and the number of delighted customers who are "extremely satisfied" and would "highly recommend" the products has more than doubled.

"Information Mapping was the method we selected for our content development. It makes non-writers into better writers, makes translation easier, and presents information in a way that people clearly understand. Every document I have written using the Information Mapping method has been successful in its purpose," says John.

HCA Physician Services' Knowledge Management Initiative-The Interactive Practice (IP)

HCA Physician Services engaged Information Mapping to assist in the IP initiative. According to Noel McDonagh, Senior Consulting Manager of Information Mapping who undertook the project, we offered a solution that incorporated participating in a multi-disciplinary Steering Committee, establishing a Process Improvement Team for each phase, creating a team consensus on best practices, developing blueprints to capture knowledge, and designing an architecture to deliver the information to an online environment.

The above solution set the stage for a Knowledge Management initiative that would structure communities of practices, identify community leaders and subject matter experts, discover and define best practices, appoint knowledge writers, design content that aligns with the organization?s technical capabilities to deliver the knowledge, and create systems to continuously validate knowledge and evaluate changes.

The success of the IP project enabled the organization to create, distribute, store, manage, share and access knowledge. It also enabled HCA to affirm its vision of "putting patients first and focusing on delivering value to local communities."

"The IP now operates as the on-line Desk Reference for HCA Physician Services? 300 medical practices and regional billing facilities," said Susan Silva, Director of On-Line Training, HCA Physician Services.