Omnichannel has been a buzzword for a few years now as modern consumers demand a consistent, satisfying and effortless experience, every time, whatever the device or communications channel.

According to  Teleopti customer success manager Tommy Palomäki, this is placing increasing pressure on contact centre agents to be experts in everything – verbal communication, a linguist, gifted email writer, snappy Tweeter and vibrant video agent.

At the same time managers have welcomed the whole concept of multi-skilling as a cure-all for today’s epidemic of ‘do more with less’ culture, allowing them to deliver greater workforce flexibility, maximise agent skills and lower staffing costs all in one go.

He cited the latest research from Call Centre Helper which reveals a decline in the number of contact centers multi-skilling their advisors, dropping from 90.5 percent in 2015, to 80.4 percent in 2017.

Palomäki said that technology makes it possible to schedule agents for both blended and dedicated contact inquiries environments.

“If you then expect agents to provide the same excellent service across all channels, you’ll likely encounter some challenges,” he said.

He said that one size does not fit all. Text and email often involve similar content and require the same style of dialogue, dealing with social media or the most challenging of all, switching between voice calls to Web Chat or other social media requires an entirely different tone and approach altogether. Adding multiple support channels simply adds complexity. While it might be able to ask agents to handle emails between calls, or work emails between chats, it’s unlikely you’ll find agents who can consistently do chats and calls at the same time with the same proficiency.

Palomäki added that in a blended environment the problem with routing is that channels invariably use different platforms and is often assigned different priorities and Service Level Agreements (SLAs). This makes it difficult to track and predict service levels on an equitable basis across the entire contact centre.

If outfits agents to handle all channels at once, they are juggling with too many plates. Sooner or later one of the plates is going to break with a detrimental impact on customer service. It is not viable to expect an agent to be in the middle of a WebChat conversation but have to put that conversation on hold when a voice call comes through.

“By the time they go back to the Web Chat, their train of thought is lost possibly along with the customer, irritated by being abandoned and left waiting in the virtual ether”, he said.

Whether a company uses a blended or dedicated contact centre approach to serve your super-connected customers and support your agents, it is vital to ensure you rely on the latest Workforce Management (WFM) software to smooth the path to success, he claimed.

It is more important to focus on providing accurate forecasting whatever the channel, optimise schedules and consider what’s best for agents and the customer.

“Every contact centre is unique so establish what works best for yours. While blended is generally better for small teams and dedicated is better as teams grow, it’s worth experimenting. Don’t ignore the hard evidence. If call center statistics demonstrate that the majority of enquiries are voice-based or your organisation handles sensitive or highly emotive issues, don’t force customers to abandon traditional engagement methods in favour of the latest Web Chat or social media. If necessary, use your WFM to switch agents to different channels at different times of the day depending on customer demand”, Palomäki said

Agents need to help them multi-skill more easily by giving them the tools to do their job. For example, the ability to access, share and input into dynamic knowledge bases boosts performance and fosters team collaboration.

“The reality is that contact centers need to evolve into customer experience hubs where no one agent is expected to do it all. Instead, it’s often easier to assign agents with different tasks at different times of the day to ensure the best possible experience for agents and for customers. Combining this with the right WFM technology used in the right way can maximize agent skills and boost customer satisfaction, whatever the channel,” Palomäki said.