Jim Cubby of Enghouse Interactive shared a few moments with me at the Contact Center Demo and Conference (CCDemo). As the host of the Fast Leader Show Podcast, I have the blessing of introducing the Fast Leader Legion to people I feel have stories and to insights worth sharing on how to improve the employee and customer experience.
Watch Jim Cubby of Enghouse Interactive share contact center insights at Contact Center Demo and Conference with Jim Rembach Click to Tweet
At the CCDemo, I took the opportunity to learn more about the tools and solutions people are using to serve customers to improve the customer experience. As you can see in this interview with Jim, I also get a chance to ask about the Supervisor experience. As a former call center supervisor, and Advisory Board Chair of Call Center Coach, I know the supervisor plays a vital role in the customer experience and is the linchpin in an organization.
For those that may not be aware, Enghouse Interactive (pronounced Enj-house) is a subsidiary of Enghouse Systems Limited, a software and services company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol “ESL.” Founded in 1984, Enghouse Systems has grown both organically and through the acquisition of Arc Solutions, CosmoCom, Datapulse, Syntellect, Telrex, Trio, Zeacom, Andtek and ITSonix.
What Enghouse Interactive Does
Enghouse Interactive’s integrated suite of solutions includes multi-channel contact center, self-service, attendant operator consoles and workforce optimization. They believe this wide portfolio places them in the unique position to offer customers and partners a complete, fully featured solution from a single vendor. They support a full range of deployment methods from premise-based to private, public or community cloud and even hybrid requirements. Source: http://www.enghouseinteractive.com/about/aboutus/
Multi-channel versus omni-channel
I have to believe you are like me. Are you certain you know multi-channel versus omni-channel? I believe there are times when marketing messages and interpretation of that message don’t often match. The contact center and customer experience industries are rich with acronyms and terms that are supposed to help clear up confusion and create less effort. But even when this occurs there can be variations in the meanings. But we need to start somewhere.
Omer Minkara is the Vice President, Principal Analyst within Aberdeen Group. He covers the Best-in-Class practices and emerging trends in the technologies and business processes used to enhance customer experience across multiple interaction channels (e.g. social, mobile, web, email and call center).
In his article titled Multi-Channel vs Omni-Channel Customer Experience: Distinct Value in the Subtle Differences he helps us to take a clear understanding of these terms.
- Multi-channel: This term refers to companies using multiple channels (e.g. social media, web and email) to engage their customers. Companies with this approach are adopting two or more channels to engage their customers, however, they are not necessarily focused on delivering a seamless / consistent message across multiple touch-points. Furthermore, these programs don’t necessarily factor in optimizing the customer experience based on the different devices (e.g. smartphones, tablets and laptops) clients use to interact with the business.
- Omni-channel: While companies using this approach also use multiple channels to engage their customers they distinguish themselves through two additional factors; consistency and focus on devices involved within client interactions. These businesses are diligent to ensure that their customers receive the same experience and message through different channels and devices involved within their interactions with the firm. For example, a company that provides customers with the ability to engage it through a mobile app, social media portal and website would be focused to ensure that the look and feel as well as the messages they receive across each touch-point are seamless.
Now that you know the difference, do you know what you need? That actually is not the question you want to ask to answer the ultimate question. Omer recommends two things. You need think about what channels work. And you need to learn about your customers’ preference. Once you fully understand your customer, you can strategically include customer need into your channel mix.
Does Enghouse Interactive have what you need?
Over the past several months there have been some significant movements through acquisition and mergers to create solutions that are designed to reduce both employee and customer effort. Enghouse Interactive appears to have been one of the growth leaders in this area. In his interview, Jim even mentions movement in Gartner’s analysis of the industry.
So does Enghouse Interactive have what you need? This Jim doesn’t have that answer. Kathy Winslow, the Channel Marketing Manager with Enghouse Interactive was off camera during this interview and she shared that Jim was their top sales person. That’s the Jim that has your answer. Reach him at: jim.cubby [at] enghouse.com
Join me on the Fast Leader Show Podcast
The Fast Leader Show is a docuedutainment (don’t look it up I made it up) podcast released each Wednesday and hosted by Jim Rembach. Each week, Jim introduces you to real folks (from the call center industry and beyond) with real stories of how they were able to get over the hump and lead themselves or others better…faster. You’ll learn how to become a better leader (faster) through their stories by improving your employee and customer engagement through the power of improving your emotional intelligence. Get more human-centric and move onward and upward…faster.
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