Insights/Whitepaper Omnichannel roadmap
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Omnichannel roadmap: from multichannel to real omnichannel in four phases.
Most organisations already have several channels: phone, email, chat, WhatsApp. That is multichannel. Omnichannel is something else: a customer who gets the same answers on every channel, employees who see the full history and a manager who steers across all channels. This omnichannel roadmap describes in four phases how to get there, with three cases from our own practice. 24 pages, written by the consultants who do this every day.
What is in it
Four phases, three cases, 24 pages.
Strategy first, then the channel. That is the common thread of the roadmap. A new channel or a new platform solves nothing if you do not first know what your customers want, what your organisation can handle and how you are going to steer. The four phases follow the approach we use with our clients.
- Phase 1: Take stock. Where are you now?A functional and technological analysis of your current channels, systems and processes, plus customer research. Which channels do your customers really use, and why? Where do things get stuck?
- Phase 2: Strategy and governance model. What do you want to achieve?Goals, objectives and preconditions, aligned with your brand promise. A benchmark against the market. And a governance model: who steers on what, with which service standards, and how do you divide employees across channels (channel blending).
- Phase 3: Select and set up. Which platform, which supplier?From statement of requirements to RFP and supplier selection, followed by functional and technical design, implementation and migration. Including communication to the people who work with it every day.
- Phase 4: Steer and manage. How do you keep it working?Real-time insight across all channels, management that is secured, and continuity when it gets busy or when circumstances change. Omnichannel is not a project with an end date.
Three cases
How it went in practice.
Each phase is worked out with a case from a client where we did it ourselves. The names are confidential; the approach and the outcome are included.
Case 1 · Grid operation
The grid operator: from strategy to roadmap.
A Belgian grid operator for electricity and natural gas in all municipalities of Flanders wanted to take a step forward in customer service. We took stock of the current situation, drew up a customer service strategy, tested it against the market with a benchmark and delivered a governance model plus a roadmap with new channels and self-service. The foundation for the transition from multichannel to omnichannel.
Case 2 · Association
The association with 800,000 members: a new platform, remotely.
An independent association that helps almost 800,000 members with buying, selling and living in their home, with customer contact by phone, chat, WhatsApp and email. The existing solution was no longer adequate. After a preliminary study and an RFP process, we chose the best-fitting platform and the right supplier together, and migrated the entire contact centre remotely, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Case 3 · Insurer
The insurer: steering and managing when it matters.
One of the largest insurers in the Netherlands has a telephony environment with a contact centre, but no in-house expertise for day-to-day management. Effecta handles on-site management, the standby service and supplier contact, arranged home working in 2020 and supports the annual switching peak. The call centre kept running and customer satisfaction averages above 8.
Who it is for
For anyone who has to justify the next step.
The whitepaper is written for customer contact managers, heads of customer contact centres and programme managers at healthcare organisations, municipalities, insurers and other organisations with a lot of customer contact. For anyone considering a new platform, preparing a tender or simply wanting to know why the current channels do not work together. You do not need technical knowledge; you do need the wish to understand first and then choose.
- After reading it you know which phase your organisation is in and what the logical next step is.
- You have a checklist per phase that you can use straight away in a project plan, business case or tender.
- Three real projects show you where it usually goes wrong and how to prevent that, with no supplier interest involved.
Prefer to know where you stand first? Take the Real Contact Scan, or read on in the knowledge base.
Download the omnichannel roadmap
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- Since 1998
- Independent of brand or supplier
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Since 1998. Independent of brand or supplier. GDPR-proof.