Fortunately, with every technical progression, providers are bringing plug-and-play integration of all channels, from Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to Slack and CRM systems, ever closer. The goal? Greater productivity, a better customer experience and overview and control of all business communications.

The customer is king. Companies wanting to retain customers must respond to their preferences. Therefore, customer engagement mainly revolves around communicating via the right channels, in addition to communicating the right message. And yet, many SMEs are not yet on board with omnichannel. They don’t know enough about their customers’ preferences or aren’t managing to integrate the necessary channels into their communication strategies.

But internally, too, the problem lies with communication. Many companies invest in digital assets like expensive ERP systems or project management applications but forget to combine them. This fragments internal business communication and compromises productivity, and overview and control are lost. Business applications are not integrated. Forgot your password? All too often, the surfeit of logins throws a spanner in the works. 

Ten years ago it was already clear that video would become the main driver of business communications and this trend has now gone into overdrive. Before 17 March 2020, everyone knew of solutions like Microsoft Teams and Zoom but few used them. Now, employees go from call to call but there is no integration at all with fixed or mobile telephony. Customers and colleagues cannot see who is busy. Telework is here to stay, but how, as a business leader, do you make this sustainable and keep your teams’ performances up?

Time is running out and many SMEs are running the risk of missing the omnichannel train. What is certain is that if they don’t jump on the digital bandwagon soon and embrace omnichannel, the more difficult they will find it to survive. Omnichannel business communication is the future. Although some steps do need to be taken first. That’s where the challenge lies. How exactly can you integrate, control and redistribute all the channels in the employee or customer journey?

The ultimate goal is a cloud-based orchestration platform in which all channels can be integrated for a full overview and total control, preferably with single sign-on via a Google or Microsoft account, for example. Soon, it won’t matter whether your customer calls your support service from WhatsApp, Messenger or their mobile, you will be able to see which channel they are contacting you on and still have insight into how quickly your employees have answered the call. But better customer management is also in the offing: a customer calls in, is immediately identified by or linked to the CRM system and the customer file opens for your employee. These are all steps forward that the cloud and integration make possible.

In this scenario mobile is undoubtedly leading the way, certainly with the arrival of 5G. Through access to mobile networks and with the help of call control you can fully integrate your mobile telephony and retain control. Mobile first is becoming standard, which means that every application without fail must be available on a mobile device.

It is therefore up to us, the providers, to pave the way for omnichannel communication and integration. With every new technological development this chapter moves closer. As Belgian market leader in cloud communications with our own pure cloud technology, we at Dstny are also in a position to determine for ourselves our roadmap for technical development and to connect directly with our customers. So we are working towards the future: an intuitive and mobile-driven orchestration platform for all communication channels, where companies no longer need to invest in back-end development but plug-and-play and can set up and manage their own communication tools simply, without IT knowledge.

It is our task to offer small and medium-sized enterprises the assurance that this transition will be as easy as possible so that they can differentiate themselves through greater productivity, a better customer experience and overview and control over all their business communications.