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Omnichannel is a cross-channel strategy that companies and organizations use to better streamline their services with the goal of enhancing the customer journey. Many organizations use communication channels that work parallel rather than working together in their call centers, which gives a disjointed customer experience. There are several types of customer service strategies and types of channels, but omnichannel is the one that connects them into a single experience that is driven by resources that work together.
Read on to discover what an omnichannel contact center is and how it stands in comparison to other types of channels.
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A contact center, or call center, acts as a bridge between the customer and the company by handling inbound and outbound calls, verifying information, resolving customer complaints, providing support, responding to emails, and providing support via social media platforms. Many call centers use VoIP software to enhance these features and ensure quicker responses, but the omnichannel contact center gives a new level of experience for the customer.
An omnichannel call center or contact center features all the same abilities listed earlier, but with the added benefit of the customer service representative and the customer being able to switch between them seamlessly. For example, calling an omnichannel center is called by a customer with a damaged package that had just arrived. The agents can look up the details of that customer and switch from the phone to texting in order for the customer to take a photo of the phone without ever losing the call or needing to pause and switch.
Essentially, an omnichannel call center empowers its agents to have multiple touchpoints without losing data along the way.
Another popular form of call center is the multichannel contact center and while a valid form, let’s compare the two.
The multichannel contact center has the same features as most call centers, including text, social media, over web support, and voice support. The difference between the multichannel contact center and the more analog ones is what it is carried over, namely via an internet server. This provides for a multiple touchpoint integration and makes the contact center accessible from anywhere on both ends. This means that a company doesn’t need to invest in large infrastructure to support the demands of customer communications.
On the other hand, an omnichannel call center provides all the same things but across all channels simultaneously. When agents receive a call from a customer who is asking for an update, for example, the agents don’t need to start from scratch; they are able to access the same information as the previous one and continue the conversation. Omnichannel allows for customer information to be retained between the contact channels.
The essence of the omnichannel customer experience is to be a frictionless whole, enabling customers to begin their experience with agents in one channel and continue to another seamlessly. This allows for the customer to have more options regarding how they interact with your agents in whatever way is most convenient to them at the time and transfer to another as they wish, all without repeating themselves. Also, the research on omnichannel empowered agents shows better customer retention and higher revenue due to this seamless convenience while being able to provide for a broader audience and collecting better data, due to the multiple touchpoints.
Omnichannel contact center solutions and the contact center software that provides it should be able to provide the following:
A contact center solution provided by omnichannel should hit every single one of these points in order to provide the experience customers deserve while saving your agents from treading the same ground another one already has done.
With an AI-powered contact center, employees and customers can leverage the latest in AI and machine learning to achieve exactly what is needed in the moment.
Today’s consumer wants to connect using voice, chat, email, text, social, and self-service options. Provide a seamless experience across all devices and touchpoints.
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Chat with prospects and customers for personal, real-time interactions.
Visibility across all channels to ensure operation at peak performance and make data-driven business decisions.
Ensure a smooth transition and a quicker return on your investment with innovative user adoption strategies.
Extend your contact center tech stack — from CRM integrations to fresh ways to use artificial intelligence and automation.
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Cerium contact center assessments uncover new opportunities for revenue, reveal inefficiencies, and remove friction from your customer experience.
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