What is an Omnichannel Contact Center? Benefits, Features, and Best Practices

An omnichannel contact center is a customer service solution that integrates various communication channels into one unified platform. These channels include voice and digital channels. It uses a cloud-based phone system to manage data across multiple channels.

Voice calls, live chat, SMS, text, email, and social media messages are popular channels of omnichannel contact centers.

Multichannel and omnichannel both involve multiple communication channels, but the difference is how they are managed. A multichannel contact center manages each channel separately, whereas an omnichannel center centralizes all the channels and data on a single platform.

The table below provides a quick insight into multichannel and omnichannel contact centers:
 

Consumers have their preferred channel or may use different channels throughout their communication with the brand. In this case, omnichannel can be a good solution for a business with a long purchase journey.

A business aiming to provide consistent real-time channel switching and improve overall customer experience should consider an omnichannel call center.

Omnichannel supports customers by providing access to brand information through any channel they prefer with faster issue resolution. It benefits not only clients but also businesses. It offers centralized data, eliminating the hassle of roaming through multiple channels.

Customers can browse, purchase, and engage with the business through their preferred channel. Omnichannel facilitates seamless real-time channel switches even during live communication without skipping a bit.

For example, customers can initiate communication through email, make purchases from calls, request help on chat, and further engage via social media.

Advanced IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and automated call distribution (ACD) allow customers to call routing to the relevant department faster. This leaves the team available for complicated issues.

Moreover, with user interaction history, agents don’t need to ask repetitive questions if consumers switch channels. It makes multiple agents work on the same issue, saving time and effort for both customers and agents.

Omnichannel centers centralize data and transfer it to all integrated channels, regardless of how consumers interact. This allows agents to tailor their services according to customer's preferences.

Omnichannel supports automated call routing, reducing the effort to switch calls from different platforms. It also has a remote call forwarding function, allowing inbound calls to transfer from the agent's desk phone to a smartphone to their voicemail.

These omnichannel features allow agents to focus on a core task without any interruption. It benefits employees working remotely as they can access any channel.

A cloud-based data system enables an omnichannel contact center to manage customer data. These data are synced across multiple channels, allowing agents to track across supported channels. This gives managers a deep insight into overall call center performance.

The omnichannel call center offers winning features with a delicate combination of multiple-channel integration, self-service AI tools such as IVR, and proactive agents.
 

• Channel Integration
  An omnichannel contact center should be able to integrate multiple channels into a single platform without interruption. This ensures customers that they get consistent service across all channels.
• Omnichannel Routing
  An omnichannel contact center routes customer issues across multiple communication channels by queries or skills. Based on interaction history, calls are directed to qualified or available representatives.
• Third-Party Integration
  Integrate popular CRM tools and other third-party apps to enable automated tools for data entry, saving time and increasing agent efficiency. Its in-built functionalities offer team collaboration, access to real-time performance insights, and customizable workflow.
• Workforce Management
  Leverage the omnichannel contact center live dashboard function to manage your call center. Analyze your performance, streamline agent scheduling, supervise your team in real-time, and systemize the operation easily.

To improve omnichannel contact center performance, prioritize client communication preferences. Integrate CRM and AI tools to unify and analyze customer information from multiple sources.

Additionally, provide self-service options, a transparent way to connect with live agents, and optimize your internal knowledge base to improve customer experience.
 

1. Deliver Consistent Cross-Channel Support
   Make sure users get a consistent experience even when switching channels without losing a bit of information.
    
2. Improve Self-Service Option
   Provide self-service options such as IVR and AI chatbots for customers to reach for instant queries or resolutions.
    
3. Integrate CRM System
   Integration of CRM tools centralizes customer data and provides you with deep user insight from multiple channels.
    
4. Provide a Clear Path to Live Agent
   Be sure to provide easy access to live agents for customers who want to connect with them immediately. It frees them from a loop of a series of FAQs and bots.
    
5. Go for Customer Journey Mapping
   Look up to customer journey map to pinpoint at which phase clients are struggling to communicate and advance to the resolution process.
    
6. Elevate Your Internal Knowledge Base
   Provide ongoing training about business products and services for accurate and best solutions.

The omnichannel contact center you choose depends upon your customer's preferred channel, budget, and the services a provider offers.
 

1. Communication Channel: Determine the most preferred communication channel by your target base customers. Integrate those channels that can generate traffic.
    
2. Availability integration: Check out whether a provider can integrate your most used third-party apps, including your current CRM.
    
3. Scalability: Research if a chosen provider is flexible enough to add custom functionality or another channel when needed.
    
4. Pricing: Evaluate the basic to premium price and features included in each package. Additionally, check out charge-per-user or custom options.
    
5. Customer Support: Confirm if a provider can provide access to 24/7 customer service. If so, which plans include it?
    
6. Security: Examine if all your business requirements are met by the provider. Explore how your data are backed up and if a customer retention policy is available.

Here is a list of the top omnichannel contact center platforms.

Calilio is an affordable, quality-driven VoIP service provider. It is powered by advanced AI tools, such as IVR and ACD, that increase the first-call resolution rate (FCR). Its CRM system gives agents access to customer histories for personalized service.
 

All Calilio plans include unified call box features that manage voice calls, SMS, and a web dialer in a single window. It has a real-time dashboard for performance tracking and workforce management.

Pricing :

• Basic plan: $12/month/user
• Business plan: $28/month/user

Aircall is an omnichannel communication software acclaimed for its 100+ integration with top CRM tools such as HubSpot, Slack, Zoho, noCRM.io, and many more. It provides seamless integration along with voice calls, SMS and MMS messaging in all its plans.
 

Call routing, contact sharing, analytic data, and a real-time dashboard are other features Aircall offers.

Pricing:

• Basic plan: $30/month/user
• Business plan: $50/month/user

8X8 is a cloud-based phone system that offers a unified communication platform for businesses. It combines voice, SMS, video conferencing, messaging, and automation that deliver personalized support.
 

Moreover, AI tools like IVR enable a self-service experience, increasing first-call resolution. The advanced features such as system analytics and receptionist console are only included in its higher-tier plan.

Pricing:

• Pricing details are not included on the 8x8 website.

Five9 is a cloud contact center that supports chat, voice, email, SMS and MMS, and social media messaging in one unified platform. It offers advanced features like IVR with speech recognition and intelligent virtual agents.

Furthermore, Its in-built integration with popular CRM tools such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, Microsoft, Oracle, and Zendesk provides comprehensive call management support.

Pricing:

• Digital plan: $119/month/user
• Core plan (Voice only): $119/month/user

Dialpad is an AI-powered communication center that provides seamless omnichannel customer support. It enables interaction through voice, video, SMS, and any digital channel the consumer prefers, with a smooth switch between channels.
 

From offering CRM tools integration to built-in analytic dashboards and sentiment analysis, customers can utilize real-time assist features.

Pricing:

• Standard: $15/month/user
• Pro: $25/month/user

An omnichannel contact center is a customer service function that syncs data across voice, email, SMA/MMS, video, social media, and other digital channels. It matches client and agent conversation dynamically, regardless of interaction channels. Moreover, its goal is to provide an excellent customer experience, ensuring a better communication strategy.

Calilio facilitates your business with a unified callbox function that centralizes message, SMS, and voice in one window. You can trace customer issues and queries through call notes and call recordings and avoid repetitive conversations. Sign up today with Calilio!!

A business with a daily high call volume, a long procedure to purchase, and that needs to keep up with customer demand queries should consider using an omnichannel contact center.

The omnichannel contact center implements a data encryption protocol that ensures customer data privacy and security.

The main difference between omnichannel and multichannel contact centers is that omnichannel centralizes multiple channels and data in a single platform, whereas multichannel handles all the communication channels separately.