Day: May 26, 2016

It is a well-known strategy among web designers to provide a seamless experience across devices. They call it the responsive design. When one speaks about responsive design, one can open a website on a desktop, tablet, and a cellphone simultaneously, and the website adjusts to the screen size without losing, distorting the intended user experience. Responsive design is all about making browsing and accessing information across devices seamless. Now, if we use the same philosophy in marketing, we would imagine that there has to be a similar marketing strategy across devices and channels, both online and offline. Some people call this omni-channel experience. What is the omni-channel business model? Omni-channel model (sometimes spelled omnichannel or omni channel) is not just about providing a seamless experience across devices. The responsive design already does that. It takes responsive philosophy a step further and uses seamlessness across the enterprise. This naturally means whether one is working for a company, a customer who is shopping or a person who is interested in information, all experience seamlessness in its true sense, across different channels. Omni-channel business model is not just about doing multi-channel model in a seamless and better way. It is about running a business as if all channels, spaces and business processes were one and the same, regardless of who is doing what in which situation. This seamlessness brings in more accountability, efficiency, productivity and of course, enhances user experience. Most big companies already follow omni-channel business models. Amazon, for instance, has a seamless way of conducting business across mobile and desktop devices, while also coordinating with logistics, inventories, and CRM. We can say, omni-channel business model is enterprise processes and responsive design on steroids. Indeed, omni-channel business model is being used by smaller businesses too. This brings us to the topic of SMEs making use of omni-channel models in order to make it big. There are both opportunities and challenges with this strategy. In this article, let us take a look at both. Understanding omni-channel model at a deeper level Omni-channel business model is all about how you enable your clients and customers to engage with various channels and help you remain in sync with the business processes all along so that you can ensure as much as possible that there is a checkout in the end. It is bringing both online and offline channels together while remaining true to your core business philosophy. It is about taking multi-channel model to a completely new level where integration and seamlessness make it a different business model altogether. A good omni-channel model makes use of multiple channels and uses consumer data to integrate business objectives, design, goals and communication across channels and devices. For instance, your new customer may have asked you a question on Twitter. However, when they land up at your brick and mortar store, they shouldn’t have to explain everything they need from the beginning. It is about being aware of the context and providing a business process management that is in sync with agile personalization. It is about bringing the cloud and on-premise solutions together. It is about creating a unitary experience across social media, mobile devices, agencies, stores and the web. All this involves a knowledge infused process consisting of Experience analytics Live chatting and co-browsing Web self-service Guided scripting Marketing campaigns Social media campaigns Online and offline communication Responsive technology Knowledge management With many SMEs adopting omni-channel business model as a primary strategy, it is important to understand both the challenges and opportunities it provides. There are a number of both pros and cons. In this section let us take a look at some of the most important challenges and opportunities. These are the challenges: Associating Omni-channel model with inventory As previously said, going omni-channel is all about ensuring that there is seamlessness and integration across channels and media. This also means the inventory must be available or not available, depending on whatever the case, in a seamless manner. This takes a considerable effort as people who purchase in a brick and mortar store may find that what they need is no longer available, even if they had cross-checked before leaving home. It becomes slightly difficult to ensure that omni-channel is really seamless in certain situations like this unless there is someone to monitor all the time and also to communicate to the customers. It is not always perfect. Staying relevant in a changing market While omni-channel model is as relevant as it could get today, remaining relevant in all spheres of your business may be a challenge. This means, remaining omni-channel throughout your business career remains a challenge for a number of reasons. Marketing techniques, customer preferences, technology etc change very quickly. To be omni-channel truly, one needs to also remain in sync with the changes and make all those changes seamless across business processes. Remaining technically up-to-date One of the main reasons why omni-channel business model is preferred is because it lets customers and staff to have a seamless experience no matter where they access different business processes, which of course includes buying or selling. However, for this seamlessness to remain consistent, one needs to continuously seek the help of developers and responsive designers who ensure that deeper levels of integration are made possible. There is nothing more undesirable than being irrelevant in a world that is constantly changing. Staff training Being omni-channel also requires the help and assistance of the staff. Staff will need to be trained about its challenges and also the custom process of handling an omni-channel strategy. While this may not sound like a lot, training the staff requires additional expenditure and probable investment made to customize existing HRMS, through which training models can be delivered. While there are many challenges to using omni-channel models, there are many advantages and opportunities too, for the SME sector. Let us take a look at some of the important ones: Redefine your digital brand Going omni-channel helps you to redefine yourself in a digital space.