Multi-channel Communications

Research has shown that staff attrition is eased by multi-media blending, as agents find that their work is more varied and interesting. Yet many organisations are concerned they do not have the skills and experience to support non-voice channels. Although each media requires a different approach, there are plenty of tools available, including templated responses, skills-based routing, workforce management and in-call data, to ensure agents respond knowledgeably.

In many organisations each channel has been added and managed separately resulting in silos of interactions and data that cannot be accessed by the rest of the contact centre. At the heart of a successful multichannel contact centre solution is the universal queue, which is able to receive, analyse, queue and route interactions to the correct agent or group. This is complemented by a single knowledge base which incorporates customer data including any past interactions that they may have had with the business, regardless of channel. This 360 degree view of the customer enables cross channel analytics for continuing service improvements.

Despite the very low levels of customer interactions via social media (just 0.7% of inbound traffic), the extremely high profile nature of this channel and its potential to have a far-reaching, negative affect on brand, means it is viewed as far more important than the statistics suggest. However it was clear from our recent report that the level of enthusiasm is linked to the sector the contact centre serves.

Recognising that satisfying the demands of today’s highly connected consumers requires a strong commitment to the omni-channel — enabling customers to interact with their brands anytime, anywhere, and from any device. Download the latest report from Call Centre IQ, sponsored by Enghouse Interactive, to understand the omni-channel market place and learn more about the omni-channel customer.