The future of CX isn’t more channels. It’s fewer, better ones.

For the last decade, omnichannel has been the rallying cry of customer experience. Every conference keynote, every pitch deck, every vendor roadmap promised the same thing: More channels. More reach. More choice. And on paper, it all made perfect sense. If customers could contact you anywhere, anytime, in any way, then surely satisfaction would skyrocket?

But yet here we are in 2025:

• Customers are more frustrated than ever.

• Agents are stretched across too many tools.

• Leaders are struggling to connect the dots between all these channels.

• AI adoption and acceleration is hampered by separate platforms.

We didn’t fix CX. We fragmented it!

Perhaps it would be true to say that customers never actually wanted every channel. Instead, perhaps they wanted: The right channels, working seamlessly, every single time. A phone call that doesn’t require repeating themselves after a chatbot. A webchat that can escalate to video without a drop-off. Or an app experience that resolves the issue without forcing them to switch channels at all.

It’s not about being everywhere. It’s about being consistently excellent where it matters most.

More channels = more complexity

Every new channel isn’t just a toggle in a settings menu. It’s a new integration. A new workflow. A new training requirement for your team. Another point of failure in your reporting stack.

When CX leaders chase more without thinking about better, the result is predictable:

• Agents juggling tabs and tools instead of customers.

• Fragmented data across siloed platforms.

• Customers repeating themselves across different channels.

• Operations costs creeping higher with every addition.

The omnichannel dream can quickly become a multichannel mess.

The brands winning in CX aren’t offering every channel

If your omnichannel strategy is simply a growing list of icons, you're doing it for the wrong reason. Why fewer, better channels outperform scattergun multichannel strategies:

• Customers drop you after one bad experience, regardless of channel. Over 50% of customers will switch to a competitor following a single poor experience.

• Agents struggle with context gaps. 70–80% of brands admit they aren’t delivering a truly cohesive journey across channels, and meanwhile, 77% of customers say they expect teams to collaborate, so they don’t have to repeat themselves.

• Retention and revenue gains come from doing fewer channels right. Firms with strong omnichannel strategies retain 89% of their customers versus just 33% for weaker ones, and omnichannel customers often generate 30% higher lifetime value

What fewer, better channels look like in practice

Context follows the customer, no matter where they go. Customers expect every interaction to pick up where the last one ended. With proper engineering, AI and automation keep context intact, reducing effort and boosting loyalty.

AI and automation that work regardless of entry point. 360° orchestration lets intelligent assistants like Zoom Virtual Agent resolve routine issues, whether the customer initiates contact via chat, voice, or video.

Agents focus on outcomes, not tab management. By stripping away channel noise, agents can dedicate time to high-value work: resolving complex issues, building relationships, recovering friction, not bouncing between 12 tabs.

Zoom Contact Centre: fewer, better, integrated

Zoom Contact Centre flips the old logic. Instead of stitching together individual solutions for voice, video, chat, and messaging, it delivers them in a single platform, with one interface for agents, one source of truth for customer data, and built-in AI to keep conversations moving.

Add Zoom Virtual Agent into the mix and you’ve got:

• Prompt-based, agentic AI that works across both voice and chat without duplicated configs.

• Automation that resolves customer needs on the first touch - no matter the channel.

• Escalations that carry context straight to a live agent, so customers never start from scratch.

This is what “fewer, better” looks like in action.

It’s not about cutting channels. It’s about cutting the noise.

Fewer, better channels isn’t a step backwards, it’s a step towards clarity:

• For customers: no confusion about where to get help.

• For agents: a single, powerful workspace.

• For leaders: a leaner, faster, more measurable operation.

The future of CX isn’t a race to see who can support the most icons on their contact page. It’s a race to see who can deliver the best experience, with the least friction.

Let’s design your fewer, better strategy

Acceleraate is a Zoom Platinum Partner and CX specialist, helping businesses replace bloated stacks with AI-first, unified contact centre solutions.

If you’re ready to swap more for better, let’s talk.