Part 1: Assessing the Current State: Needs Analysis and Information Gathering Learn how to assess the current state of your technical support content by looking through the lens of content strategy and content engineering. Traditionally, technical details about products and services were considered to be post-purchase content. Technical information — the stuff contained in owner’s manuals, user guides, and other instructional materials — was provided to consumers only after they purchased a product or service. However, that’s changing as companies recognize that prospects often search the web for technical content to make purchasing decisions. Think of a technical resource center as an online, one-stop shop for information about your products and services. Over time, and done well, a technical resource center can help you grow your business by attracting prospects, while simultaneously working to support and build loyalty and trust with existing customers. Presented November 27, 2018, at Quadrus Conference Center for Information Development World 2018.

1. Day 1: Assessing the Current State of your Content Delivery
Joe Gelb
President & Head of
Business Development

2. → Find answers quickly
→ Where, when you need it
→ Relevant, personalized
Answer Engage Monetize
3 Pillars of Digital Experience for Technical Resources

3. Answer Engage Monetize
→ Promote user interaction
→ Engage with customers
→ Know your audience
3 Pillars of Digital Experience for Technical Resources
Feedback

4. Answer Engage Monetize
→ Provide actionable insights
→ Optimize your product, support
marketing and sales
→ Turn content into revenue
3 Pillars of Digital Experience for Technical Resources
Related articles
Analytics
Feedback

5. Your Goal: Drive up the content value chain
Available & Useful EngagingFindable Drives Business
BusinessValue
Content Function
Covers all functionality
Matches customer needs
Search works, finds
what you need
Interactive and
personalized
experience
Effort & spending
Human Machine / AI

6. Driving up the content value chain
Few companies
cross this point
Engaging
Interactive and
personalized
experience
Findable
Search works,
finds what you
need
Drives Business
BusinessValue
Available & Useful
Covers all functionality
Matches customer needs
Why are we down here?
→ Content is hard to find
→ Too many clicks to find answers
→ Search is not useful
→ Content lives on multiple sites
→ KB articles separated from
documentation
→ No feedback or effective search
analytics
The Result of our Current State:
Our audience can’t find content that we know exists!
→ Experience is not integrated across all products
to support enterprise-level offerings
→ Wasted opportunity for case deflection
→ Wasted opportunity to gather metrics
→ Wasted opportunity to engage
→ Wasted opportunity to convert leads
→ Federated search is not enough:
Users are drowning in content

7. 5x content updates
90% content
turnaround
10% content
development costs
The Results of an Effective Technical Resource Center: Measurable ROI
Increased
Self-Service
Improved
Engagement
Increased
Productivity
30% case deflection
15% CES
37% organic search
traffic
Where you need to be
17% returning users
10x user feedback
23% session duration
15% CTA conversion
More
Business
BusinessValue
18% NPS
8% churn
18% support costs
4% upsell
22% FCR
69% AHT
Few companies cross this point

8. Technical Resources Today: Curated Content
• PDFs
• WebHelp
• Customers hunt
• Typical:
• Admin Guide
• Install Guide
• Config Guide
• User Guide
• Release Notes
Product
Documentation
Support Site
Product Docs
Product A, v1.0
Product A, v1.5

9. Technical Resources Today: Curated Content
• PowerPoint
• PDF
• Videos
• Typical:
• Courses / Modules
• E-Learning
• Often copied from
documentation and
becomes outdated
Learning &
Training
University
Courses
Product A, v1.0
Product A, v1.5

10. Technical Resources Today: Reactive Content
• KB Articles
• Case Resolution
• Search
Knowledgebase
• Typical:
• How-to Articles
• Troubleshooting
• Tech Notes
• Service Bulletins
Support
Knowledge
Base
Support Site
Knowledge Base

11. Technical Resources Today: Crowd-Sourced Content
• Threads
• Disorganized
• Search in chats
• Customers hunt
• Typical:
• Repeated questions
• Star responders
• Inconsistency
• Quickly becomes
obsolete
Forum
Chat
Talk Back
Community
Post your question…

12. Technical Resources Today: Silos
Forum
Chat
Talk Back
Support
Technotes
KB Articles
Documentation
& Training
Prod A
Java
C
VB
.NET
Prod B
Java
C.
Prod A
User
Admin
Install
Config
Release
Deploy
Prod B
User.
Prod A
V1.0
V1.1
V1.15
V2.0
Prod B
V2.5
V3.0
V3.0.1
Prod A
Symptom 1
Symptom 2
Symptom 3
Symptom 4
Prod B
Symptom 1
Symptom 2
User A
Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
Case 4
Prod B
Case 1
Case 2
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Manuals APIs Courses KBs In my case Prod A Prod B Prod C

13. Technical Resources Today: Silos
Forum
Chat
Talk Back
Support
Technotes
KB Articles
Documentation
& Training
Prod A
Java
C
VB
.NET
Prod B
Java
C.
Prod A
User
Admin
Install
Config
Release
Deploy
Prod B
User.
Prod A
V1.0
V1.1
V1.15
V2.0
Prod B
V2.5
V3.0
V3.0.1
Prod A
Symptom 1
Symptom 2
Symptom 3
Symptom 4
Prod B
Symptom 1
Symptom 2
User A
Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
Case 4
Prod B
Case 1
Case 2
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Manuals APIs Courses KBs In my case Prod A Prod B Prod C

14. Modern Technical Resource Center: Crossing Silos
Forum
Chat
Talk Back
Support
Technotes
KB Articles
Documentation
Training
[Orchestration]

15. Version
Control
Partners
Portal
Documentation
Portal
Developers
Portal
Support Portal
Knowledgebase
CRM / Case
management
Authoring
Tools
TechDocs
API Docs
Learning &
Training
Community
Posts
KB Articles
Dev Tools
Content Type Content flow Touchpoint
Translation
Management
.com siteWCM/DXM
Typical
Content
Ecosystem:
Current
State
CCMS
Version Control
Support KB
Static PDF
HTML
In-Product
help
Application
Community
UniversityLMS
Community
Platform
User
assistance
platforms
What Comes Next?

16. Workshop Activity
• Which types of technical content do you produce in your
organization?
• Who owns the content creation and which tools do they
use?
• Who controls the distribution of that content?
• Where do different audiences typically go now to find
content?

17. Define your requirements and find gaps in current state:
Content Ingestion
Support Structured
Topic-based
Content
Support localized
content
Support for video
and multi-media
content
Low migration effort
and costs
Support multiple
formats with
consistent
presentation

18. Dynamic Site
Navigation
Cloud-based online
and offline content
Search clustering and
personalization
Ease of configuration
without requiring IT
resources
In-product help
Define your requirements and find gaps in current state:
User Experience

19. Access to content
based on
entitlements and
SSO
Personalized
content
collections
On-demand PDF
generation
Allow for multiple
paths to arrive at the
desired content
Define your requirements and find gaps in current state:
Personalization

20. User ratings and
feedback
Analytics and
Reports
SME content
collaboration
Link to support and
case-management
systems
Branded UX
design
Define your requirements and find gaps in current state:
Engagement and Monetization

21. © 2018 Riverbed Technology. All rights reserved. 21
About Aternity at Riverbed
SteelCentral Aternity
Lawrence Orin,
Documentation Manager, Aternity
(until recently)
• Runs in web browser
• Monitors performance of devices
• Monthly releases (Agile)
• Audience: IT/Product/Helpdesk
• DITA authoring, oXygen
• Me + 1 writer
• 26,000 hits per month
help.aternity.com
CSH

22. © 2018 Riverbed Technology. All rights reserved. 22
 Static PDFs (or HTML)
– Product  version  publication
– Behind login
– Customers hunt
 Book on the web
– TOC, index
– Fixed layout, print pages
 Not search-centered
Classic docs
Riverbed Docs: Original State

23. © 2018 Riverbed Technology. All rights reserved. 23
 Our Restaurant’s menu
– Public
– Gorgeous, tempting
– Never give away the recipes!
 Aims:
– Sell
– Upsell
– Maintain loyalty
– Thrill of what’s new
– Thrill of being the best
 Technical marketing
Business Focus / Customer Focus
Main Goals: Why do we have docs, anyway?