Workforce Management Featured Article
Is it Multichannel, or is it Omnichannel?
“We’re omnichannel. We have lots of channels.”
In the customer support industry today, “omnichannel” is an important buzzword. In many quarters, it has replaced the older “multichannel” descriptive to mean a contact center that can handle customers who may call, email, text, use online customer support or even resort to the old-fashioned U.S. postal service. But do “omnichannel” and “multichannel” really mean the same thing?
No, they don’t.
For a long time, “multichannel” contact centers would simply add new ways for customers to initiate a transaction. This didn’t mean the channels were added in a logical or progressive and integrated way: they were just added. “Omnichannel” has a distinctly different meaning from “multichannel,” and the difference is integration and interactivity, according to a recent blog post by Chuck Ciarlo, CEO of workforce optimization solutions provider Monet Software (News - Alert).
“In a multichannel environment, every communication option is a separate one, and the objective is to deliver consistent, quality service across the entire spectrum,” wrote Ciarlo. “Omnichannel introduces an additional option, of moving a customer from one channel to another within the same engagement. Of course, it's important to not just provide the capability of switching from email to phone or from phone to web chat, but to also be able to track quality throughout these interactions through recording and agent performance managements. This is important to make certain you are delivering a consistent customer experience form one channel to another.”
In other words, “multichannel” means communications channels that run parallel to one another. You can call, OR you can email. You can text, OR you can wait for Web chat on the website…but you’d best hope your transaction takes only one contact, because once that session is finished, agents working other channels won’t know anything about it.
In an omnichannel environment, a customer can easily cross channels within the same interaction, and the agent “follows” the customer. Today, customer expectations are high, and most customers expect that you will know who they are and what they want, regardless of how they reach out the first time, and regardless of which channels they switch to. It’s not an easy task: it means examining the customer journey carefully to understand how customers are most likely to want to use omnichannel experiences.
“If you are ready for omnichannel, one place to start is with an analysis of your current customer base,” wrote Ciarlo. “Which multichannel options do your customers use most often? What are the most likely transitions from these channels based on the reason for their contact?”
There’s no doubt omnichannel interactions are complex and involve more than just the customer and communications media. Ciarlo notes that it’s important to not just provide the capability of switching from email to phone or from phone to web chat, but to also be able to track quality throughout these interactions through recording and agent performance managements.
If you’re considering “going omnichannel,” make sure the solutions you use to track quality and performance and optimize your workforce are equipped to handle it. Otherwise, you may simply wind up confusing your customers…in multiple channels.
Edited by Alicia Young