Craig Miller, chief technology officer at Proxicom, an e-business consulting and technology company, gave nearly 350 students a glimpse into the future of the communications business yesterday afternoon at the Newcomb Theater. Miller was the keynote speaker for the McIntire School of Commerce's Global Student Leadership Conference, which began Wednesday and ends today.
University students and representatives from other institutions - including the University of California-Berkeley and Texas A&M University - came to hear Miller speak about multi-channel delivery. Multi-channel delivery is the synchronizing of different methods of communication - using old and new technology - to provide a richer customer experience, Miller said.
Multi-channel delivery is not new. Many businesses today have multiple lines of communication, such as Internet sites, interactive TV, telephone call centers and mail catalogues.
Proxicom serves as an aid to companies to develop more efficient strategies for integrating the channels of technology with business needs.
Miller emphasized the importance of increasing the effectiveness of multi-channel communication in the future.
"Only the innovative survive in business," Miller said. "We must make the combination of channels stronger than any individual channel."
Miller said companies should ensure there is synergy between their channels and understand where each one works most appropriately in the business process.
Miller said that while Web sites are for displaying a great deal of information, they are best when clients want customer service.
Miller suggested companies use service hotlines so customers can interact with a human voice and get their concerns addressed more efficiently.
"We've never found a Web site that listens to people," Miller said.
Through multiple channels, "we are creating new ways to talk to people and those in our supply chain," he said.
Students who attended the speech said they were impressed with Miller's presentation.
"There are many opportunities" with the increasing efficiency of multi-channel delivery, third-year Commerce student Aditi Agarwal said.
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