This website does not support Internet Explorer. Please, switch to Edge, Chrome, or Firefox browser to view this page.

Learn about IE support
Best Practices

Is omnichannel the silver bullet?

a person looking at different retailing channels when shopping online
Published: January 16, 2015Reading time: 2 min
Vikas Goel Chief Human Resources Officer
Vikas GoelChief Human Resources Officer
Published: January 16, 2015

I was talking to an omnichannel executive at a major retailer, and he shared an interesting story with me.

He and his daughter were driving in Midwest USA when they saw a truck that read: “Anything, Anywhere, Anytime.”  His daughter turned to him and asked, “Dad, isn’t that what you are trying to do at your company?”. He smiled and nodded, however, he didn’t have a good answer to her question. It got him thinking: If a trucking company is talking about this, how could traditional omnichannel create a lasting differentiation for his or her company? The executive took this experience back to his company and used it to drive a more holistic transformation that includes elements of Omni-Channel, but goes much further than a traditional Omni-Channel Initiative.

Is omnichannel the silver bullet?

Not really, but a superior Customer Experience is! It was the heart of retailing yesterday, even more relevant today, and will remain at the core of retailing in the future. How many retailers have a truly cross-function leader responsible for Customer Experience who is not the CEO?

Omni-channel is a key driver of Customer Experience. While having a person spearhead the Omni-channel initiative is important,  creating a broader role to enable a winning Customer Experience is vital. The obvious question this raises is, “why do we not see this role more frequently?” For one, Customer Experience touches every aspect of the organization, which makes it difficult to define responsibility and accountability. It inevitably creates a matrix organization that is difficult to manage. But the value of re-purposing the existing role or creating a new role is huge to retailers.

The discussion about omnichannel or customer experience czar is important because it sets the tone for how an organization prioritizes and executes improvement initiatives. Today, these investments might be skewed towards Omni-channel without a full understanding of the overall Customer Experience, the benefit of each initiative, and how the various initiatives are being synchronized.

In summary, Omni-channel is important, but it should be evaluated and synchronized in the broader context of Customer Experience. Organizationally, broadening the responsibility of an omnichannel executive to total Customer Experience can be very beneficial to a retailer.

Leaders gartner header image

o9 Solutions recognized as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Supply Chain Planning Solutions

Download for free the full Magic Quadrant now.

I agree to the privacy policy.

I agree to the privacy policy.

About the author

Vikas Goel Chief Human Resources Officer

Vikas Goel

Chief Human Resources Officer

Vikas Goel is the Chief Customer Officer at o9 Solutions. He has over 25 years of experience in planning and analytics across multiple domains. In his current role, he is responsible for client success, value delivery, and partner enablement globally.

Resources

View our related articles, white papers, use cases & videos

White Paper15 min

Sustainable Supply Chains: Mapping the Path

O9 whitepaper sustainability planning framework 2 mockup 1
White Paper20 min

Multi-Tier supply chain collaboration and risk management

O9 pov supplier collaboration mockup 1
news3 min

o9 Solutions Announces Hyderabad Office and Strategic Partnership With Telangana Government to Develop World-Class Supply Chain Talent

by o9 Solutions
Deaa5e03 afdb 4bce 9a45 41c945783223
news2 min

o9 Solutions Enables Digital Transformation at Shurtape Technologies

by o9 Solutions
O9 pr shurtape web banner 1 1
news3 min

o9 Takes Big Steps in Augmenting Its Industry-leading Integrated Planning Platform with Generative AI Capabilities

by o9 Solutions
[o9 pr gen ai newsroom]
article7 min

o9 Digital Brain Building Blocks Innovations - September 2023

by Igor Rikalo
Request a demo o9
© – o9 Solutions, Inc.
Privacy policy
Cookie Policy
Privacy policy