The modern-day enterprise uses multiple channels of communication to reach out to employees as well as customers. That makes sense as there are many benefits to using this method of communication. Brands such as Disney, Bank of America, Timberland, Starbucks, and Amazon have been showing the omnichannel way to connect with their customers.
‘Omnichannel’ refers to the combination of the web, mobile, digital, voice, and other such devices that create an interconnected environment for communications. At the very heart of this beautiful ecosystem is audio-visual technology. What do we mean? Let’s discuss.
What Is Omnichannel?
This is an approach that nurtures and engages users by giving them access to their information, offers, products, and support services. They use several channels, devices, and platforms to do this.
There’s a growing number of omnichannel use cases for the modern-day enterprise and many of them rely on AV and Unified Communication and UCaaS solutions to enable just that. That entails companies would offer support using Messenger, email, live chat, phone, etc. An omnichannel approach can be applied to your marketing efforts, sales, and other service areas too.
Benefits of An Omnichannel Enterprise
1. Greater Reach
You’ll be reaching your customers where they are by using an omnichannel strategy. They won’t have to search to find your brand or to communicate with you. They’d find it almost instantly whether they’re searching Google, social media platforms, or even the phone book and they can initiate a two-way connection anywhere.
2. Boost in Profits
If your prospects are ready to purchase your products, they’ll find it easier to buy them if your items are available on multiple channels and platforms. That way, you can offer a multi-channel retail experience which would also ensure it’s easier to purchase. They are also more likely to renew their subscriptions and secure recurring revenue if the process is smooth, seamless, and within arm’s length.
3. Higher Customer Satisfaction
Your customers would be happier in the long run if they have many methods to reach your sales teams and customer service. They’ll also feel better if they can get support from, you when they need it, where they need it. By making their user experience easier, you’ll reduce churn and help them return to you for their needs.
Multi-Channel vs. Omni-Channel
In an environment that’s multi-channel, your user will have access to a wide variety of options to communicate with others. Many of these won’t be connected or synchronized. But during an omnichannel experience, these won’t be the only multiple channels. These would be connected to you so that you’ll be able to move between each seamlessly. Essentially, there are two differences:
Omni-channel experiences have to use multiple channels, but not all multi-channel experiences are omnichannel. For example, you can use amazing mobile marketing, excellent social media campaigns, and a beautifully designed website. But to work together, you’ll need to use an omnichannel experience for your customers.
Omni-channel experiences also account for devices and platforms. On the other hand, a multi-channel strategy would include just a few, say two or three channels. While an omnichannel experience would include all the channels, devices, and platforms.
A multi-channel experience is what would help businesses invest in today. That includes using a blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, and more. Each of these can be used to engage with and connect to customers. In most cases, these customers lack a seamless experience and consistent messaging across platforms. These also account for each platform and device that can be used to interact with the company. It creates an equally efficient and positive experience.
Audio-Visual Technology in Omnichannel Comms
A U.S snowboarding company, Burton, has a logistics application that connects their sales points and ties them into their back-end systems. Their customers can also buy their goods from various channels, such as stores, dealers, and Burton’s e-commerce websites. If the warehouse runs out of snowboards or children’s backpacks, employees can scour stores and get their products sent to various buyers quickly. Their employees themselves can walk around with their tablets, tags, and package-specific items for shipment.
Another company, BRI Security, is tackling the overwhelming task of processing a huge volume of handwritten reports and other data by giving their field operatives a new app called BOSS. With BOSS, this company can receive job information, attach pictures, record observations, log their breaks, and do ‘welfare checks’ – all from their mobile devices. Both these companies are using audio-visual technology to create holistic experiences for their customers.
Digital signages are another way for companies to reap the maximum impact of audio-visual technology to power their enterprises. These can be used to communicate a vast amount of information in a short time. Companies can use this in several ways and get excellent results for their communication strategies, especially when it comes to delivering vast volumes of information to either the public or to their employees.
You’ll notice in all these examples how audio-visual technology is imperative to create a seamless experience. Powerful AV solutions are helping companies innovate and leverage the full capabilities of the omnichannel strategy. Customers get a more immersive experience that makes them “feel” the products and offerings better and more realistically. They can explain their problems better when they need support and get more meaningful responses from the support team. For employees too, better AV solutions help improve communication, collaboration, and correlation. That’s enterprises looking to go omnichannel must partner up with an experienced company that has access to a range of powerful products and the expertise to design a rich solution set. That way you’ll gain access to the top-notch audio-visual equipment you need to power your omnichannel enterprise. Let us show you the possibilities of the omnichannel enterprise.
