If you’ve heard of the term “contact center”, you may have also heard of the “omnichannel cloud contact center”. But what is the omnichannel cloud contact center, and what value can it deliver for your organization?
To understand omnichannel contact centers, you need to also understand what a multi-channel contact center is. We then look into why your omnichannel contact center needs to be cloud-based.
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Omnichannel versus Multichannel
Omni-Channel and multi-channel might sound similar, but the omnichannel contact center goes a step further.
A multichannel contact center supports multiple channels of communication.
These can include phone, email, web chat, social media, and more. These channels are processed individually, with no cross-channel connectivity or unified interface.
The multichannel contact center has a number of crucial limitations:
Customer interactions are not linked together across channels.
Agents cannot see previous interactions over separate channels.
Agents are not presented with a holistic picture of every customer.
This has serious ramifications for your Customer Experience (CX). Customers are forced to repeat information, driving up call times, increasing cost to serve, and creating frustration.
Advantages of the Omnichannel Contact Center
The omnichannel contact center solves this problem. Omnichannel supports a wide range of contact channels, but crucially, integrates those channels.
Conversations can be conducted across channels.
Agents can be presented with a complete record of interaction history to support every customer contact.
Data from any third-party system of record can be brought into the omnichannel contact center; empowering agents to deliver speedy, effective resolutions.
Customer data is shared across channels – no matter which channel a customer uses, that interaction will be recorded against that customer’s record.
The omnichannel cloud contact center doesn’t differentiate between channels; your customers can get in touch whenever, wherever, and however they like.
This integration ensures that an omnichannel contact center solution supports synchronous and asynchronous modes of communication seamlessly. The implications of this can transform your customer contact. But what is synchronous and asynchronous communication?
Synchronous: A communication that has a defined beginning and end, e.g., a phone call, and depends on real-time back-and-forth responses between the participants
Asynchronous: A communication that does not require an immediate response, e.g., an email, where a response can be delayed indefinitely and can be picked up where the parties left off, since the communication’s history is persistent
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The Omnichannel cloud contact center; Why does it make sense moving to the cloud?
An omnichannel contact center can be both on-prem and cloud. The omnichannel cloud contact center has several advantages over its on-prem equivalent, however:
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With a cloud-based solution, there’s no need for physical infrastructure.
No ‘rip-and-replace’; the transition to cloud is fast and effortless.
The solution is true cloud; so no requirement for you to power and maintain your own servers.
In-nation data centers provide full data sovereignty, the most advanced security, unrivaled reliability, and carbon off-setting programs.
An omnichannel cloud contact center can scale instantly to meet any level of demand.
With rich, constantly updated functionality, a cloud-based solution will always provide cutting-edge technology to give you a competitive edge.
99.999%+ availability offered by major providers like ourselves, means you can embrace that functionality without sacrificing reliability.
The omnichannel cloud contact center is the future of customer contact. As many on-prem providers begin to end support for legacy systems, there has never been a better time to take the leap to cloud. By taking this leap, your organization will not only introduce efficiencies, but will also be saved from extensive end of life costs relating to out of date, on-prem infrastructure.
The benefits of an Omnichannel cloud contact center solution
Automation
The omnichannel cloud contact center is constantly updated with cutting-edge CX technologies. First among these is Intelligent Automation. AI-powered Machine Agents® automate simple and repetitive tasks to take the pressure off your human agents.
Integrations
Data from any third-party system of record can be brought into the omnichannel cloud contact center to drive personalized customer interactions. Customer data is presented to the agent alongside each contact, leading to efficient, memorable interactions.
Cloud-Based Infrastructure
An omnichannel cloud contact center requires no expensive on-prem infrastructure. It can be accessed through a browser, via any internet-enabled device. New users can be added at the click of a button, and can work from anywhere. This flexibility makes it incredibly easy to scale capacity to meet surges in demand.
Reporting
The omnichannel cloud contact center runs on data. By bringing all channels of communication into a single, cloud-based platform, you can gain full visibility over your communications estate. The omnichannel cloud contact center allows you to create comprehensive, flexible reports, and get the most from your customer data.
Scalability
Scalability refers to your ability to answer any number of simultaneous contacts. In the omnichannel cloud contact center, new users can be added at the click of a button. Capacity can be expanded instantly to meet any level of demand, and to keep your customers satisfied at the most crucial moments.
The CX potential of an Omnichannel Cloud Contact Center
When it comes to omnichannel, the possibilities are endless. Discover the potential of the omnichannel cloud contact center and how it can enhance your CX, with these resources:
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Rebirth of Omni-Channel Retail
In the era of E-commerce, creating memorable customer experiences is the single most effective way of differentiating your brand. If you can create a physical space that customers will enjoy visiting, you can keep them coming back. This principle is the foundation of omni-channel retail.
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Social media is essential to customer engagement
Organizations can make the mistake of treating social media as a ‘back burner’ channel, viewing them as a lower priority than traditional channels. 45% of brands take more than five days to respond to messages through their Facebook pages. Compare this with the fact that 60% of customers expect a response within an hour, and you know there’s a gap to be bridged. Social media could be key to your contact center customer experience.
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Customer engagement hub
The customers of today and tomorrow expect quality as well as quantity. They expect hyper-personalization and easy access to the information they need, when they need it, on whatever channel they choose. A connected CX ecosystem, with cross-channel and cross-system intelligence, is what’s needed in the present — and in the future. Your CX needs a redesign from the ground up. A Customer Engagement Hub is your starting point.
The storm® Omnichannel Cloud Contact Center
If you’re ready to take the leap to cloud, Content Guru is ready to help. Content Guru’s omnichannel cloud contact center solution, storm®, ensures that customers contacts get quickly and accurately resolved – simply put, engagement made easy.
storm is used by over 1000 enterprise-scale public and private organizations in over 50 countries, and is trusted by leading global brands for mission-critical communications.
storm® CONTACT™
The world’s leading high-volume omnichannel cloud contact center solution.
storm® CONTACT:SOCIAL™
Create digitally fluent customer experience; bring social media channels into your omnichannel cloud contact center.
storm® FLOW™
Design seamless customer journeys with an intuitive, no-code interface.
brain® Contact Center Automation
The power of AI in the palm of your hand; make Intelligent Automation a key part of your omnichannel cloud contact center.
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