Web chat tends to be far more preferred by the younger generation than the older generation (and it seems "younger" is about 25 years old. Of course it doesn't have to be this way, both customers and agents are likely to fall closely to this demographic. The multi-media contact center needs to evaluate how to staff the various queues. Your staffing strategy will depend on how much volume is expected per unique channel. If there is enough volume to justify dedicated chat agents, you may be better off hiring and staffing chat as a specialty. Otherwise you'll have to be careful to put agents into the chat queue who are comfortable working in that channel.
Agents should be able to type well and to express themselves accurately, succinctly, and in proper grammar. A good template library of responses helps, but the agents still need to be trusted to go "off script". If you've decided that agents can handle multiple chat sessions concurrently, you need to be sure those agents are up to the task of task-switching. Some people are very well-suited for task-switching … others are flat-out terrible (bless their hearts) at hopping back and forth between distinct conversations. Since chat sessions have a longer average handle time, choose wisely your strategy for who works that channel.
