While customer service has always been a key focus factor for companies throughout nearly every industry and every market, there is a growing focus on treating the customer right. This focus is compounded by the fact that customers now have so many different ways to interact with a company.

This change has ushered in an environment of multi-channel customer service. For a number of organizations, this multi-channel communication is taking place in their contact center. While this shift can mean success for some companies, others are struggling to gauge the success of the engagement on these channels due to a lack of performance management.

According to Ovum (News - Alert), performance management is the process by which an enterprise can ensure it is meeting its goals in an effective and efficient manner. When applied to customer service, this concept focuses on the managerial and frontline performance of customer engagement across the contact center, Web and the front-office.

There are challenges that the enterprise will face, and they typically come from isolated systems, as well as a lack of standardized metrics and processes in place across the organization. As a result, it can be a challenge to meet the needs of management when it comes to information regarding multi-channel customer engagement.

In fact, with the increasing volumes of customer interactions, the emergence of new channels and the increased enterprise focus on customer loyalty, there is also an increase in the need for the enterprise to rethink their current performance management strategy. To do so, there are a few key elements an organization can employ.

First, it is important to use business outcomes to gauge the success of multi-channel customer engagement and to indentify key trends and consumer preferences that are shaping the multi-channel customer service environment today. Businesses also need to gain insight into the fundamental challenges that they are facing when tracking multi-channel performance. Once these companies understand the business benefits of performance management across all channels, they will be able to implement a platform that drives results.

Ovum research has shown that of 8,000 consumers throughout the world, the majority use three or more communication channels when trying to interact with customer service. Of these individuals, 25 percent use one or two channels, 52 percent use three to four and 22 percent use five or more. The majority – at 74 percent – use at least three channels when interacting with an enterprise for customer service related issues.

With such figures captured, it is imperative that the organization fully understand the challenges faced by their internal channels and how best to deliver optimal customer service across all channels to preserve loyalty and long-term revenue.