Delivering on customer expectation
In our last blog we explored the difference between Unified Communications and Contact Centre and why moving to a Contact Centre solution could be the answer for delivering a great customer experience. The modern contact centre plays a critical part in a company’s ability to stay ahead of competition and keep up with customer demands and this is where the Omni-channel v Multi-channel question comes into play. These demands have changed rapidly in the last few years with customers now using a mix of channels to communicate, while demanding ever more rapid response times.
“70% of customers want a seamless experience when they reach out to customer service. They want to move between channels and conversations with ease and not have to explain their issue time and time again”
Omni-channel v Multichannel – what’s the difference?
When it comes to Omni-channel v Multi-channel, both involve selling products or providing a service across more than one channel. Many contact centres deliver voice, web chat, social media and an email bolt-on but these applications are often managed in silos and are not connected to one another. The customer can’t easily switch from one channel to another without having to repeat themselves before getting a resolution. This is multi-channel which starts very much from each agent operating in its own silo.
The problem is that customers today don’t see a brand or service as a silo and they want to be able to communicate across multiple touch points seamlessly. Forcing a customer to stick to a single channel or making them switch but have to start from the beginning again ultimately creates friction and affects their experience.
Omni-channel starts with the customer in mind and breaks down the silos to join the communication touch points together into a seamless experience. All channels are managed centrally so the customers experience is consistent no matter what channel is used and so they can move between channels and devices without being interrupted. Conversations may start on SMS or web chat for example, but move to a phone call. The difference is that this conversation will have seamlessly flowed between the different channels with no interruption or repetition.
Benefits of omni-channel
Omni-channel is ultimately about understanding your customer’s journey. The concept of the ‘Super Agent’ means agents are trained to deal with a mix of voice, text, chat, social, video and real-time communications in a single consolidated queue. The customer will expect that the agent has all the data needed to solve the problem and that they know all about them based on previous interaction to ensure a resolution happens as smoothly and as quickly as possible.
” Nearly 70% of consumers expect support teams to collaborate so they don’t repeat themselves. This means companies need to manage customer data across all aspects of the customer experience and ensure that a single record of the customer persists across channels, devices, and requests ” .
Implementing an omni-channel contact centre solution
Organisations that want to create an exceptional customer experience need to consider how they will deploy a fully integrated omni-channel contact centre solution to support all channels of choice. Before implementing an omni-channel solution, its import to evaluate what channels should be available to your customer, which they prefer to use along the journey and how you will train your agents to deal with these interactions.
It’s vital to choose a partner that can advise on the various options available and provide a tailored solution to match business and customer requirements alongside budget and ROI.
Partner with Opus to deliver an Omni-channel Customer Experience
Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) is a cloud-based business solution intended to help companies access the service they need to support their customers over the cloud. The CCaaS model is ideal for contact centres of all sizes as it offers the scalability required to change your environment as the business needs evolve, along with the flexibility of being able to pay to purchase and pay for only the tools you need at the time.
At Opus we can implement a state of the art CCaaS solution with our industry leading partner Cirrus to provide the exact omni-channel contact centre solution that is required. Cirrus contact centre solutions combine best in class voice, SMS, chat, email and social media, with a true cloud infrastructure. Cirrus operates on a true real-time basis with unlimited scalability and the highest level of resilience and security. Its solutions activate the workforce, empower businesses and call centres and inform business leaders looking to drive exceptional business results and customer experience.
As an independent technology provider, Opus can also advise if a single on-premises or hybrid contact centre solution might be a better route for your business. As a Mitel Platinum Partner, The Mitel MiContact Centre is available as an on-premises, hybrid or cloud based portfolio of applications designed to maximise the efficiency of all contact centres, whether you have a small contact centre with a few customer service agents or a large multi-site centre in need of omni-channel capabilities.
Visit us at Call & Contact Centre Expo
We’re delighted to be exhibiting at Call & Contact Centre Expo, at ExCeL London on 18th and 19th March 2020. Call & Contact Centre is the ultimate event for customer engagement professionals and is the place to be if you’re looking to further your call & contact centre knowledge and success. Visit us on Stand 2450 to find out more about the Contact Centre solutions we offer.
To book a meeting on the stand add your details here.
