Customers increasingly expect a seamless experience regardless of how they reach out to your business. Unless you operate an omnichannel contact center, it’s almost impossible to deliver.
Instead of the frictionless service they desire, customers too often find themselves being passed from agent to agent, explaining the same situation over and over. It’s repetitive. It’s tedious. It’s a good enough reason to lose faith in any company and take their business elsewhere.
A fully optimized cloud-based omnichannel contact center solution connects everything from live chats to social media, and SMS to your CRM system, creating that seamless customer experience and empowering agents to hit KPIs.
Long story short, the customer journey is one of the most important aspects of your business and an omnichannel contact center ensures you can meet customers where they are.
But what actually is it? Read on, and find out, or skip ahead, if you like:
- What is an omnichannel contact center?
- The benefits of omnichannel contact centers
- Omnichannel contact center software features to look for
- Beyond omnichannel contact center features: What else to expect from a software provider
- Tips for implementing an omnichannel strategy
What is an omnichannel contact center?
An omnichannel cloud contact center is a customer service platform that allows agents to seamlessly switch back and forth across channels when seeking support. It’s also sometimes referred to as cloud-based contact center software that handles customer interactions across multiple channels.
Contact center vs call center
Unlike a call center, a contact center handles a wide range of communication channels—not just phone calls. Customers can reach out to a business over the phone, of course, but also via live chat, social media, email, and more.
Most companies today run contact centers, not call centers. Contact center agents typically have the following responsibilities:
- Handling inbound and outbound calls
- Verifying customer information
- Resolving customer complaints and providing general customer support
- Responding to emails and SMS messages
- Staffing live chat channels
- Social media support (on channels such as WhatsApp and Instagram)
Most contact centers work using VoIP-based software which combines interactive voice response (IVR), call screening, voicemail, predictive dialer, call recording, SMS, conference calling, video calling, and more to ensure top quality customer experiences and aid customer retention.
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Omnichannel vs multichannel contact center
So, what about omnichannel? Where does that come in and what does it mean? That’s most easily understood when you compare omnichannel and the similar, but different, “multichannel”.
An omnichannel approach is a cross-channel strategy that organizations use to streamline all the channels that they provide customer support on in order to create a better customer journey. Communication channels and their supporting resources are integrated and work together as part of one greater whole.
A multichannel approach, on the other hand, also involves multiple channels—the difference is an agent can’t see every single channel’s conversations in one place. For example, with an omnichannel solution, an agent can see from their dashboard that a customer who just called has already reached out twice in the past month—once on email and once on Facebook. With a multichannel contact center, the agent wouldn’t be able to see these different interactions in one place.
The omnichannel concept can apply across many different areas of business. An omnichannel shopping experience, for example, might connect the online, in-store, and in-app experience for a customer so they can earn reward points, access relevant product tutorials, or find products more easily.
Put simply, omnichannel means that every cog in a machine connects. In a contact center, that means customers can seek support by seamlessly switching back and forth across channels, whether that’s:
- Phone calls
- Video calls
- SMS
- Social media
- Live chat
- Mobile apps
- Self-service channels like FAQs or knowledge bases
Let’s say Shiv has ordered a new phone online, but it’s damaged. She’s called her network provider a few times and is calling again to resolve the issue. The omnichannel cloud contact center software the phone company uses tracks her details and establishes that Shiv has called in several times already. The agent knows Shiv has an open case, saving her the need to repeat herself.
What if Shiv needs to show the damages? Using an omnichannel cloud contact center, the agent can switch from phone call to text, allowing Shiv to take a photo of the phone and send it over.
Hosted, cloud-based contact center software handles Shiv’s interactions across multiple touchpoints, ensuring that no data is left behind.
The benefits of omnichannel contact centers
So, now that you know the meaning of omnichannel contact centers, how can they help you? What are the benefits?
Better customer experiences
The main aim of omnichannel cloud contact centers is to boost the customer experience. The contact center functions to communicate with your customers. So, it should communicate in the very best way.
Customers hate sitting on hold. It can be incredibly frustrating. However, if they’re able to communicate with you via chat, SMS, or social media, this eliminates waiting times.
They also hate repeating their problem over and over again to different agents. When an omnichannel solution is in place, your customer service agents are more in the know and don’t need to ask repetitive and tedious questions.
All in all, this creates a better customer experience, creating more loyal customers.
Improving agent efficiency
A good omnichannel contact center solution doesn’t just benefit customers—it makes your agents’ jobs easier too.
By connecting and seamlessly integrating your communication channels, it gives agents all the information they need right at their fingertips. There’s no more siloed data or digging through different platforms to find past customer interactions.
The best contact center solutions will also integrate with your CRM platform and other business tools. That means agents have a wealth of information all in one place to work as efficiently as possible. RingCX and RingCentral Contact Center, for example, integrates with over 300 other solutions.
Visibility into social media conversations
Consumers are all over social media. When they have complaints, they don’t just call in or email anymore. Often, especially with Gen Z customers, social media is the first point of contact.
This is a huge reason why an omnichannel contact center is so beneficial—it can connect all your social media accounts and conversations in one place.
By integrating your social media platforms with other support channels like phone and SMS communication, you can make it easier for agents to go through the full customer journey and see where and when customers previously contacted you. Whether that’s on Facebook Messenger or Instagram Live chat, an omnichannel solution can help you connect to customers quicker than ever before.
Creating a global voice
Business continuity is key. An intelligent omnichannel cloud contact center creates the opportunity to create a global voice for your business.
For companies with agents in different regions, an omnichannel contact center that’s powered by AI can help train your agents to use the same language and messaging across all digital and offline channels.
RingCentral’s platform, for example, has AI-powered speech analytics, along with workforce management and performance management features.
Omnichannel contact center software features to look for
There are a lot of omnichannel contact center solutions to choose from. How can you ensure you select the right one for you? One first step is to check that any potential software includes the must-have features that your business can’t do without.
Before committing to any omnichannel contact center solutions, make sure it has:
- Skills-based routing: Connecting customers with the right agents, no matter whether that’s through social media, web chat, or text messages.
- Agent management: Optimizing agent schedules and preventing long hold times for customers. This also increases agent productivity and minimizes agent effort.
- Real-time insights: Improving sales and service with real-time reports and data monitoring to ensure that your business performs as well as possible.
- AI-powered assistance: Providing real-time guidance to agents during interactions and automating processes like call scoring.
- Wide range of supported channels: Seamlessly connecting any and every communication channel that’s important to your customers.
- Native integrations with other tools: Connecting your other business tools, like your CRM or calendars, makes for a true omnichannel solution.
- Scalability: Adapt to customer demands and seasonal fluctuations by easily onboarding new agents or adding extra features.
RingCX and RingCentral Contact Center can connect your contact center agents with customers on their channels of choice, keeping your customers happy and creating a more streamlined customer experience.
Beyond omnichannel contact center features: What else to expect from a software provider
As important as securing the best omnichannel contact center features is, the feature set that a provider can offer isn’t all you need to think about.
When choosing between software solutions, make sure to also consider:
- Ease of deployment – A platform can boast all the features in the world, but if your teams can’t work out how to use them, they’re no good to you. Look for a solution that makes deployment a breeze and that you can get up-and-running in days rather than weeks.
- Ease of use – Your chosen omnichannel contact center solution should be as intuitive as possible. You want your agents to be able to complete their day-to-day tasks simply and swiftly. If your solution integrates seamlessly with your internal communications tool—like RingCX and RingEX do—all the better.
- Availability of support – No matter how intuitive a solution may be, you’ll likely need support from your provider from time to time. Make sure you can reach them when you need to and how you need to.
- Reliability and security – Check out any prospective provider’s uptime guarantees to ensure your software will always be available to you. If you’re in a regulated industry like healthcare, ensure your provider has the requisite security and compliance certifications too.
Tips for implementing an omnichannel strategy
First things first, what actually is an omnichannel strategy? It’s important to note that an omnichannel strategy isn’t just about investing in the right software or being on every single channel available. Here’s how to get started with implementing an omnichannel strategy into your contact center:
1. Do your customer journey mapping
A customer journey map is a visual story of your customers’ interactions with your brand. Creating one helps you step into a customer’s shoes and see your business from the customer’s perspective.
It’s crucial as a first step towards adopting a true omnichannel approach. Here are some customer journey mapping tips:
- Do your research: Customer mapping relies on research. You need to drive the results you want. So, firstly gather as much data as possible about your customers. Where are they coming from? Which channels are most popular? Do they stay with you after the initial purchase?
- Run surveys and tests. If you have the bandwidth and resources, it’s always best to hear directly from your customers when building your map. You could put a heatmap on your website or survey existing customers, but it will be valuable to see how your customers’ journey actually looks, compared to what you see in your own analytics tools.
- Interview your team: Typically, your frontline staff will know your customers best. Talk to your agents and contact center leaders to get their perspective on how your customer journey currently looks.
- Measure it: Be sure to include KPIs or metrics at each step in the journey to help clarify performance gaps.
- Prioritize: It’s impossible to tackle everything at once. So, once you’ve completed the journey map, decide which pain points are the most important. From your list, you can create a productive and realistic roadmap that actually gets results.
2. Decide how many channels you want
Sure, all of them would be ideal, but few companies have the resources to have a huge presence on every single contact center channel. It’s often better to offer a few and do them right.
Establish your priorities. Do you want to get SMS right first before moving onto social media? Do you want to nail live chat before exploring automation via chatbots?
Having your customer journey map on hand will help you here. It’ll tell you what’s most important to your customers, and help you prioritize the right channels.
3. Address internal barriers
You don’t want to implement omnichannel services if your contact center is struggling with other factors like staffing or legacy technology. Make sure everything is streamlined and working well first.
4. Balance automation and human engagement
An optimal omnichannel customer experience is all about understanding how to match customer expectations with the most effective response. Some types of questions can be handled by chatbots, others can’t.
Get the balance right. Again, your customer journey map can help give you insight into how customers reach out to you and for what reasons. Where can automation enhance that and where is the human touch needed? If customers tend to call you about more complex troubleshooting questions, but use live chat for basic issues, you might want to keep your agents on the phones, and start experimenting with chatbots on live chat only for now.
5. Buy the software
Buying the software should be the final step when going omnichannel. Take the time to research the options and find the best software that addresses your specific customer journey’s gaps and needs. Don’t forget to assess your budget and make sure you’ve accounted for hidden costs and onboarding requirements (like how much time is needed to get started on the new platform).
An omnichannel contact center is how to futureproof your business
Today’s consumers expect businesses to meet them on their preferred channels and deliver a seamless customer experience no matter which of those channels they use.
If your business isn’t supported by the right omnichannel contact center solution, delivering that level of customer experience is nigh-on impossible.
If you’re looking for an omnichannel contact center solution, get a demo to learn more about RingCX and RingCentral Contact Center!
Omnichannel contact center FAQs
What is the difference between multichannel and omnichannel?
People tend to get multichannel and omnichannel muddled up.
As you know, omnichannel is a customer service function that allows customers to seamlessly switch back and forth across channels.
Multichannel is the term for a number of different channels, which run on different systems. Essentially, the difference is that omnichannel contact centers connect and optimize every element, whereas multichannel contact centers don’t.
Let’s take a closer look at the key differences:
| Multichannel contact center | Omnichannel contact center |
| Uses multiple channels to communicate with customers | Uses multiple channels to communicate with customers |
| Each channel provides different services | Channels can provide the same service |
| Each channel runs separately from the rest | Channels run together and cooperate |
| Every channel might use different software | All channels are run on the same software |
| Key information about a customer can be easily missed | Key information and data is tracked, ensuring that information isn’t missed |
| Customers have to repeat themselves to different agents via separate channels to solve a problem | Agents access all customer information, so the customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves |
What is the meaning of “contact center solutions”?
Contact center solutions or call center solutions are simply other terms for software alternatives. They’re often referred to as “solutions” because the software provides a solution for all your contact center problems.
How long does it take to create an omnichannel contact center?
When implementations are planned using the right omnichannel strategy, it shouldn’t take too long to make the switch to omnichannel.
Most implementations take a few weeks, with proper planning. However, this also depends on the size of the contact center. Contact centers with a large number of agents will require more planning and preparation.
Originally published Jun 20, 2024, updated Jul 23, 2024
