TMC (News - Alert) has reported extensively on the desire of business customers to demand multichannel experiences from their chosen brands. They want voice, video, text, and email, and they want it on their desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and all other devices both mobile and static. This has even led to the ubiquitous term "omnichannel" that is so widely used it is causing confusion concerning its actual meaning and the ramifications of its use.

To make matters worse, according to a recent blog post at Genesys (News - Alert), customers are demanding that they be able to switch modes within single conversations. It points to a Banking Tech study that says 34 percent of banking customers have reported starting conversations on their desktops and ending them on completely different devices. Granted, transitions like this may include starting a conversation through desktop-based email and later calling businesses to confirm the settlement of an issue -- in that case there would be no switching modes mid-sentence. However, it still places a lot of pressure on businesses to make sure they keep all customer data in a centralized location that agents such as a banking representative can easily access.

This issue becomes even more complicated when multiple departments are involved. If a customer sends an email to marketing and follows up with a call to customer service, he will expect that those two departments have communicated. And this has led to banks implementing so-called "one bank" programs that attempt to tie those connection points to each other. They make it possible for customers to do more than just access their account information from anywhere; they make it possible for bankers to access customer information from any time and from any device from any point inside or outside their banks.

Genesys says banks are pushed to make customer experiences as fluid as possible across any device and any communication modality. As Banking Tech puts it, "In order to increase user satisfaction and loyalty, banks must offer cross-channel capabilities that allow customers to do more than just access information from anywhere." And as TMC has said, "Self-service can only go so far and it is still the personal touch that has significant impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty."

It is for those reasons that Genesys will be hosting a webinar on Oct. 21 titled "Best Practices - Using Digital Channels to Provide Superior Customer Experiences." It will feature Nicole Sturgill, the research director from the corporate executive board at TowerGroup, and Lizanne Kaiser, the senior principal business consultant at Genesys. The speakers will focus on the customer journey and how they use multiple channels of communication, and it will provide an analysis of customer input concerning issues they have with their business-related experiences. Lastly, the talk will also provide businesses with guidance about how to improve their digital services and improve customer service outcomes. Interested parties can register for the event at this link.