The first thing I will mention is that the title of this best practices guide “Smart Customer Service in a Multichannel World” isn’t an oversight regarding the term omnichannel. For the purposes of clarification, many vendors use the terms multichannel and omnichannel interchangeably. What’s most important to know, however, is that progressive companies are moving toward unified, or integrated, multichannel and omnichannel environments.   

The major takeaway from this special section is that delivering smart customer service is truly the defining imperative for organizations to gain competitive distinction among their customers. Scrambling to bolt on new channels to service customers has given way to a more thoughtful approach to customer communications that is not impeded by the limitations of technology.

The following pages of this guide are filled with useful information and challenging questions you should consider as you plot the most friction-free journey for your customers, regardless of the path they choose to take. And, as for the multichannel versus omnichannel distinction, I’ll defer to the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “We have deep depth.”  

Bob Fernekees
VP/Group Publisher
CRM Media
Information Today, Inc.