The 4 Key Customer Service Omnichannel Considerations

specific customer channels," which he says is fine as long as there's consistency in the interactions.

On the personnel front, where companies are lacking is more likely in the analytics field than the contact center agent pool. "Companies lack the needed data scientists and analysts" to make sense of all the data that comes into the contact center, according to Ziv. Companies, therefore, need to select the right technology for the data they already have and the data they want to keep, he adds.

And then, organizational structures are still very much an issue. Some industry professionals suggest it's even bigger than the technology challenge. "Organizational alignment really is the biggest hurdle," Hasan says. "For most firms to become omnichannel, there's definitely an organizational realignment that needs to take place."

Experts recommend companies look to name a single person to a senior leadership role—as a chief customer experience officer or a similar title—who is responsible for all customer interactions from end to end. This person would also need to coordinate collaboration with people from other teams, such as marketing and IT, to get the most out of every channel. "This is key, before putting in any technology or strategy," Ziv says.

4. The Outsourcing Option

For many firms, the emergence of new channels comes at a difficult time. According to research by Ovum, more than 60 percent of companies have either frozen or decreased their contact center budgets, and the firm does not expect this to change for at least the next two or three years. This will make it difficult for companies to invest in the more robust technologies needed to offer omnichannel experiences.

For them, as well as for the companies simply having trouble coping with all of the new channels emerging, there are always outsourcing companies that have both the technology and people needed to offer omnichannel availability. "Outsourcers are very well equipped to handle omnichannel interactions," says Peter Ryan, Ovum's principal analyst covering business process outsourcing.

The benefits of turning over management of an omnichannel contact center to an outsourcer, he adds, "are multidimensional."

Ryan first points out that most firms do not have the money on hand to invest in multichannel deployments. Outsourcers, he says, already have the technology, management, and delivery expertise and can ensure a seamless operational transition for nonvoice consumers.

These companies can also help strategically guide enterprises across the omnichannel journey, "which is both complex and murky," Ryan says. "Given the limited resources among firms to invest in CRM, having a third party could prove to be a wise move over the long term," he concludes.

Of course, handling omnichannel customer service will be different for each company. Regardless of how it's done, though, experts agree that companies should measure the quality of their customer experience before, during, and after a transition to an omnichannel strategy.

Time, therefore, is the biggest requirement for any project. "It takes a long time to implement correctly. Becoming omnichannel is not a short-term thing," Hasan cautions. "It's a two- to four-year [project] rather than a one- or two-year deal."

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News Editor Leonard Klie can be reached at lklie@infotoday.com.

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