It’s an exciting time for contact centers in healthcare. More and more health systems recognize the potential contact centers have to enhance the patient experience and generate revenue by using new technology to transform into multi-channel contact centers.
This multi-channel experience empowers patients to choose how and when to interact with their health system and allows the health system to communicate with its patients in the most effective manner. (Omni-channel contact centers, to take it a step further, integrate all channels to allow for seamless transitioning from one medium to the next.) Leveraging multi- and omni-channel contact center technologies improves care and engagement by contacting patients at the right time, with the right message, using their preferred channel of communications. Outbound communications and technology, for example, allow the contact center to play a vital role in both reducing preventable readmissions and generating revenue.
So how do you get from a contact center to the multi-channel experience? It might be tempting to start installing the latest and greatest technology tools out there, but that would result in a hodgepodge of new toys that do not necessarily play well with each other and will probably not be giving you the greatest return on investment.
Instead, create a clear strategy that starts from the top to ensure that enterprise goals trickle all the way down through the contact center. In other words, the overall organization’s mission and goals need to be echoed throughout the contact center. By starting with a plan of action, you prioritize what needs to happen to best serve your patients and help your health system. Some new technologies, while pretty cool, might not do a whole lot to improve processes, or worse, could create unnecessary burdens on your employees. Setting goals and prioritizing initiatives allows your organization to be smart about new technology and install only what is really needed.
It’s important to remember that technology choices do not drive the move to the multi-channel contact center, the strategy to provide a better patient experience does. Choosing the right technology for your organization and patients will ensure a cohesive, consistent experience for every patient every time.