Omnichannel: the experience is built by people

Omnichannel is already part of the agenda of gaming organizations. Platforms are integrated, systems are connected, and digital and face-to-face channels begin to work as part of the same proposal. The conversation usually stays on that plane: what technology to choose, how to integrate it, how much to invest.

There is a question that appears much less and that, in practice, defines whether all this works or not: do the people who serve the customer understand how their work fits into that strategy?

My view is that an omnichannel strategy is defined in driving and is enabled with technology, but it is resolved in the behavior of each team. That's where you gain or lose the experience.

"Omnichannel is not implemented with technology, it is implemented with people who understand the role they have within it."

One customer, one brand

For the customer, "the room" and "the platform" do not exist as two different companies. There is a brand. And he hopes that the brand recognizes him, knows what he offered and responds in the same way on any channel.

Let's think about a fairly everyday scene. A customer comes to the room with a promotion they received that morning in the app and asks how to redeem it. The person who attends to it does not know it, because the campaign was communicated to the digital area but did not reach the operation. He politely replies that he is going to find out, and the customer waits a few minutes, gets a half-hearted answer and concludes that the company is not coordinated.

No one failed out of ill will. Internal communication failed. The technology worked and the strategy was well designed, but the last link, the one in front of the customer, was left without information. That's the point where omnichannel breaks down most often.

Communicating in room language

Strategies are usually formulated in a technical vocabulary: unified experience, customer journey, channel integration. That's right, but if it stays at that level, it doesn't change anything in the operation.

To communicate well is to translate. A customer service person who knows that the customer accumulates profits in the app and can guide them without referring them elsewhere. Responsible gaming staff who know how to coordinate a self-exclusion between the face-to-face and online channels, without the customer having to repeat the procedure. A manager who receives a news item before his team and can explain it, instead of finding out about it through a customer query. When someone sees their task within the strategy, the strategy ceases to be a concept and becomes work.

This also requires an order of information. Digital news has to reach middle managers in advance, so that they can explain them to their teams with criteria. A supervisor who finds out at the same time that the customer cannot lead the change, only react.

That digital does not compete with the position

When the online channel grows, it is natural that in face-to-face teams the question of their place appears. If no one responds to it, it is filled with rumours, and a team that looks at the change with distrust half-heartedly accompanies it.

The answer is not to reassure with speeches, but to show with facts: what role the classroom plays within the ecosystem, what skills are going to gain value, what training is offered to develop them. Personalized attention, dealing with the customer who arrives with doubts or accompaniment in responsible gaming are skills that the digital channel does not replace and that the venue can offer better than anyone else. When the worker understands where his place in growth lies, he stops looking at change from a distance and becomes an ally.

Train on how channels are connected

It is often assumed that the dining room staff knows the digital ecosystem of their own company. In practice, they often know it less than the customer.

Useful training in this area does not need to be extensive. It is enough for each team to be able to answer three things: what the customer can do in each channel, how that is articulated with the room and what to do when the customer brings a query that crosses both worlds. It is also advisable to verify that it was incorporated. A simulated consultation, a brief chat at the beginning of the shift or a space for teams to tell what questions they receive from the customer are more useful than a manual that no one reads.

It is one of the best return and lowest cost investments that an organization can make in this process, because it has a direct impact on something that the customer perceives immediately: consistency.

What Connects

Platforms are updated, and technology becomes accessible to everyone. What sets an organization apart is that its people understand what each thing is done for and what their part is.

Technology connects channels. People connect the experience.

* Julio César Uliassi is a Consultant in labor relations and human capital. Gaming Industry (NEA). consultoraju.com.ar