Why Unified Interaction Management is The Future of the Contact Center

Virtually every financial institution that interacts with account holders has been operating with a “channel strategy.” Until recently, a channel-focused strategy was the only strategy banks and credit unions could operate under, since digital technology and digital banking platforms each evolved separately. But now, with the emergence of Unified Interaction Management (UIM), there is an alternative that is much better for both financial institutions and account holders.

A Channel Strategy Made Sense. Until Now.

Old Strategy: How can we manage each channel account holders use to contact us—including phone, digital, chat, email and social media? 

Most banks and credit unions first developed their service model based around a nucleus of telephony, as almost all non-branch interactions were conducted by phone. However, as newer technologies emerged and the preference for digital interactions increased, most financial institutions then began expanding their call centers into contact centers. That meant staffing different teams to manage each new channel–all of which were piled on top of incoming telephone calls–hence, a channel strategy.

However, there is now another alternative: One that’s more evolved, gives financial institutions a chance to keep up with, or even stay ahead of digital banking platform transformation at competitive organizations. With the advent of ChannelLess™ architecture, it is now possible to evolve to UIM.

UIM = The “Right” Interaction Every Time

Evolved Strategy: How can we create the best interaction for each account holder, regardless of which channel they use and which channel they move to during the interaction? 

The demand to “meet the account holder where they are” has traditionally meant, “to meet them in the channel they choose.” But consider this: All too often, an account holder chooses a channel that isn’t the best fit for their exact need.

Here are the four most common examples of inefficient interactions that may be happening hour after hour, day after day with account holders:

1. Account holders start in digital, but end abandoning their digital journey and start again on the phone, creating a high-effort experience.
2. Account holders call on the phone, but could have easily resolved their specific issue without live assistance–resulting in lost efficiencies.
3. Account holders interact with a bot that can’t handle their specific issue, leading to friction and failure.
4. Account holders initiate a chat session for an issue or need that can’t be fully resolved in chat.

By adopting a UIM model–where all elements of the contact center, digital customer service and AI/automation are all unified within a single ChannelLess™ platform–each of the above interactions can be quickly driven down to a level of “practically zero.”

Seamless Best-Fit Interactions for Your Account Holders

In UIM, it doesn’t matter which channel an account holder chooses to contact your financial institution. They are seamlessly transitioned to the “best-fit” interaction type. For some interactions, that means virtual assistance. In other cases, live assistance–sometimes through messaging and sometimes through OnScreen Voice interactions. The trick is to match the right interaction type to an account holder’s specific need at that moment.

Bottom line: Until recently, your financial institution likely only had the option to operate with a channel-driven strategy. But evolving to an interaction strategy is now within your grasp. What matters to each account holder is the interaction they are having right now. There’s a strategy that can greatly increase the measurable value of getting interactions “right.”

Powered by Glia, Alkami’s Unified Interaction Management solution breaks down the walls of traditional support by combining all communication means into one unified, seamless experience. Regardless of where it begins, each interaction can easily and seamlessly move between channels, without losing continuity and context or having to restart the conversation.