Happy Friday! Here’s our five picks for the best customer service, customer experience and mobile articles of the week, in no particular order.

The 6 Rings of the Modern Customer Experience by Blake Morgan

Research from Deloitte has found that over 60% of businesses view customer service in the contact center as a competitive differentiator. But what really comprises a modern customer experience? Is it technology? Is it the people like customer service reps who interact with the customer on their journey? According to customer experience expert Blake Morgan, all of those things and more are part of the six rings of the modern customer experience. The top, most central ring, Morgan writes, is the seamless experience.

If the customer is the focal point of your service strategy, you will have considered the experience of the customer at every point along the way. Is your customer journey more of game of hurdles than an escalator ride? Once you identify those hurdles for the customer, you will better be able to remove them.

At OneReach, we believe that a big part of the seamless experience comes from integrating communication channels. Once you remove those siloes, or hurdles, in customer communication, you’ll be able to provide an effortless, seamless experience for your customers.

Read the full article on Forbes.com.

How to Get the Fastest ROI from Your Customer Service Technology Investment by Holly Chessman

Investing in customer service technology is a big decision. You’ve got to find a solution that accommodates your company size and your budget, but also one that scales with you as you grow. When do you decide to make that investment, as roughly 90% of businesses will this year, how are you going to see a return on investment? The answer, as Glance’s Holly Chessman explains, lies in training.

When you look at adding new technology to your customer lifecycle process, look beyond product functionality and be sure that you find a technology partner that will also help you provide a thorough training program. With the proper training, your business can strengthen employee buy-in, broaden new technology usage, speed ROI, raise employee satisfaction, and improve productivity.

Your agents are the ones that are going to be interacting with your customer service technology on a regular basis, so make sure they know how to use it. In doing so, you’ll ensure that customers get a great experience every time and that agents feel empowered to provide them with one.

Read the full article on glance.net.

The Moral Case for Unified Communications by Andrew Prokop

At OneReach, we’re no stranger to making the case for unified communications. Companies that go omnichannel can provide customers with a better and smarter customer experience, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty along the way. But that’s not all unified communications can do. As communications industry expert Andrew Prokop points out in his thought-provoking article, unified communications can also be used to save a life.

Unified communications may not be able to stop problems from occurring, but it can help lessen the pain…Combining traditional telephone calls with text, conference, email, and even social media, people can be notified of an emergency as soon as it is recognized. Lives are saved and disasters avoided.

The value of unified communications isn’t just limited to customer service—it’s just as important in emergency situations. It’s important to take the time to reflect that the work and the tools communications pros use are making a world of difference.

Read the full article on nojitter.com.

You Can’t Have Great Service and a Low Price. Or Can You? by Chip Bell

Research has found that 86% of customers would be willing to spend more with a brand that provides great customer service. Naturally, this has companies attempting to provide the best service possible at the lowest cost. But customer service and cost can often be at odds—companies want to keep costs down but customer satisfaction up. With that being said, can there ever really be a happy medium between price and good service? According to customer service expert Chip Bell, there can. Just look at brands like Starbucks.

People love Starbucks because of their intentional emotional connection. You hear your name called three times from placing your order to the barista placing it on the counter (“Cinnamon Dolce for Jane”). Soft music, cushy chairs, and free Wi-Fi make you want to hang around and buy more coffee.

Companies that provide good service will create a sense of loyalty that keeps customers coming back and spending more money. So there’s no need to be so worried about cost—create a great customer experience and you’ll create lifelong customers as well.

Read the full article on customerthink.com.

9 Things You Need to Know to Give Millennials Great Customer Service by John Rampton

Society is often quick to dismiss millennials as narcissistic, tech-obsessed twenty-somethings who want to do everything with the least amount of effort. However, this broad sketch of Millennials doesn’t accurately represent who they are. As Josh Rampton points out, Millennials are self-reliant young adults who, yes, want things quickly but know how to get it across digital channels. In fact, Rampton points out that one of the things Millennials want from customer service is the option to access it on multiple channels.

Millennials want to choose how they’re going to communicate with brands, which includes SMS and social. The days of face-to-face communication are over. So make sure that you have other ways to keep in touch with millennials instead of just the phone. Only around 1 percent of the calls that we get to our company are from the millennial generation.

Millennials may tend towards using digital channels, but as the fastest growing demographic in the U.S., companies are going to have to start getting a little tech-obsessed too.

Read the full article on Entrepreneur.com.

Agree with our picks? Sound off in the comments on any articles we might have missed, and don’t forget to download our ebook on providing a great omnichannel experience.