Multichannel is not omnichannel
- Multichannel: you handle email, phone and WhatsApp. Each channel in its own place.
- Omnichannel: the customer sends an email, calls two days later and sends a WhatsApp message on Friday. Whoever handles it sees all three on the same screen, in order.
They are easy to confuse. The test is simple: if an agent has to open two programs to know what a customer has been told, it is not omnichannel.
Why it matters
Because one of the hardest complaints to defend is “I told you and there is no record of it.” And the customer is usually right: they said it through a channel that is not in the system.
The usual mistake
Adding channels before unifying them. Opening WhatsApp without integrating it multiplies the problem instead of solving it.