Multi-channel management workshop

Since the early nineties, governmental organizations have been using a variety of customer service channels. These channels have different characteristics and are used for communication, interaction, transaction and distribution of products and/or services. Among the traditional channels, like the front desk and the telephone, citizens and enterprises have access to digital channels like websites and e-mail. Channel usage statistics indicate that citizens still prefer the more expensive personal channels (desk and telephone) to the newer cost efficient digital channels. Many governmental organizations struggle with the integration and management of these service channels. The solutions to these multichannel problems are usually developed on a pragmatic and an ad hoc basis, without having solid scientific and methodological grounds. One of the challenges that governmental organizations face, is to fulfill the basic principle of 'free channel choice', i.e. citizens have the right to choose to use the channel of their preference. This freedom of choice implies that governmental organizations should provide all services through all channels even if this is illogical. In order to effectively and efficiently deploy customer service channels, more insight on citizen behavior as well as organizational and technological solutions is required.