BUZZZZ : MULTI-CHANNEL & OMNI-CHANNEL

BUZZZZ : MULTI-CHANNEL & OMNI-CHANNEL

BUZZ WORD BINGO!!! Yes, I have been in multiple meetings where I hear the big buzz words mentioned above. In fact, a colleague of mine reckons we should be given score cards and check off the amount of times that the above are mentioned.  As much as I'm not a "buzz word" person...I always take into account the words and phrases that actually mean something. To anyone in the IT game, I'll be surprised if you haven't run into the above buzz words.

As a CRM person, I kinda think that things like "Multi Channel" and "Omni Channel" should be important. why? well its simple...

Loads of us use mobile devices... we constantly communicate through email, Whatsapp, Facebook, Phone calls and direct web page interaction. We are ALWAYS communicating with one another and loads of businesses. We are living a multichannel life every day. Without knowing it... we are communicating with people and businesses across various channels from a single device!

WHAAAT? YOU MEAN.... that businesses out there are open to chatting to me on channels such as Twitter? Well, Yes! yes they are! A number of businesses now a days are able to view and action a complaint (apparently now called a 'moan') or manage a piece of feedback through any feed or channel you are most comfortable. 

This means that you, as a consumer, are able to call, email, text, web chat, web interact, socially interact, smoke signal and potentially even carrier pigeon a number of businesses AND you can expect a response!

I don't know about you, but that sounds awesome....I actually recently experienced it with an insurance company here in the UK. Truly epic customer service across several channels. I went onto the web and read up about their offering, I filled out the form, web chatted the agent, called in to change some info and then left them an epic comment on Facebook just because they were great. I have since received notification emails and SMS's from them (I chose these as my preferred channel on registration) regarding cross sell offerings and general information.

Now, when I say "a number" of businesses, I use that term very loosely. Only a handful of companies have the ability to deal with you, as a consumer, over your desired channel. Hence the idea and identification of multi channel!

This is where it gets cool!.... prepare for levels of awesome that are unfathomable! OMNI CHANNEL! Omni channel is the ability to consolidate the multichannel communication into one singular customer journey which customers and users become both attuned and accustomed to. Moving from phone to email, to web interaction.... and all of this being tracked, monitored and stored against a single customer record or view.

Imagine calling into a customer service department as an existing customer... where they recognise you number, are able to tell you everything about the contract / service you have with them, and then hand you off to another department.... THAT DOESNT HAVE TO ASK YOU FOR YOUR DETAILS AGAIN! PLUS... they understand all of your interaction history. You are then able to end the call and interact with an agent over web chat, social, etc... who understands exactly what you have just requested and how to best help you.

THAT... Makes customer service better... THAT... makes MY consumer experience better!
When I call your company, I want to expect you to recognise who I am and where I have been (providing I am an existing customer). I want the agent on the other end of the phone or "channel" to understand my history and help me in a manner that best suites me.

MS Dynamics CRM helps businesses by offering various elements of the "Multi channel & Omni Channel" components. Dynamics just allows you, as an organisation, to bring it all together and manage your customer journeys effectively... IN A SINGLE CUSTOMER VIEW! Track interactions, activities and core information, which will allow your agents to have the "next best conversation" with the customer.

BOOM!