“How do I get started with effortless, personal, omnichannel customer service?”

This question is one that I frequently get from the biggest to the smallest brands and everything in between. As much as the term “omnichannel” has been used—and overused—it is surprising that, while everyone talks about omnichannel, so few companies are actually offering it. People want easy, effortless omnichannel customer service but companies are failing to deliver. In this era of business disruption, effortless personal omnichannel is the key to winning.

Both Gartner and IQPC estimate that only 5 percent of companies today are offering true omnichannel. Dimension Data indicates that 8.4 percent of companies have all channels connected, with nearly 60 percent of companies being totally siloed and finding customer experience (CX) too difficult. Yet, the technology is here to do what nearly all companies and consumers want but, until now, has been elusive.

So how do you get started? Here is a quick overview of what true omnichannel looks like, plus five keys for putting effortless and personal omnichannel customer service in play at your company, whether it’s big or small.