Importance Of Consistency Among Different Channels In The Contact Center

Recently I was asked to participate in an expert round-up for how Fortune 500 companies Manage their Contact Center(s). More specifically, I was asked to provide insight on the importance of consistency among different channels within a Contact Center. There is a wide range of channels available in the Contact Center industry. Traditional calling is no longer the sole standard and thus the Call Center has evolved to the Contact Center, offering multiple channels such as email, chat, SMS, video, self-serve, social media etc. With the wide variation of channels and Contact Center technologies available, it is important to keep in mind the most important factor of all – the end user’s Customer Experience. Customers expect consistent service regardless of the channel they employ to communicate with an organization. As consumers, we form a perception of a company or brand based on a number factors including advertising and marketing messages, word of mouth recommendations and the experience of our network with the organization and our own past experience. This perception forms the basis for our interaction expectations. We don’t differentiate these expectations by channel. For the Contact Center, that means that we will be judged by our customers not only based on the service we deliver but also on the consistency of the service we deliver. This understanding combined with service delivery, service quality and ease of access to reduce customer effort creates the customer experience. The importance of understanding the interconnectedness of these elements cannot be overstated and only increases in importance as organizations evolve from multi-channel to omnichannel service delivery. Consistent among different channels is just one of the factors in the thousand moving parts of the Contact Center. Source: http://www.callcentertimes.com/Articles/tabid/59/ctl/NewsArticle/mid/407/CategoryID/1/NewsID/11545/Default.aspx