Omni Core · Omnichannel Integration · Module

The seams

Where the joins remain visible to the customer, and which of them matter — the list that turns integration into a backlog.

The idea

How it works

Every seam follows an organisational boundary. Different teams, different systems, different objectives — and the customer crosses all of it in one interaction.

Some seams are worth closing and most are not. The prioritisation is by how many customers hit them and what it costs when they do, rather than by how untidy they look internally.

Working with it

In practice

  1. 01

    List where the customer can see the boundary

    Different tone, repeated questions, contradictory information, a handover with a wait.

  2. 02

    Prioritise by volume and cost

    A seam hit by everyone matters more than one hit by a few, however visible the second is internally.

  3. 03

    Fix the organisational cause

    A seam following a reporting line is not closed by a system integration.

  4. 04

    Accept the ones not worth closing

    Explicitly, so that they stop being raised at every review.

One level in

The components of the seams

A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.

  1. The seam list

    Where the boundaries are visible to the customer.

    Learn
  2. The cost

    How many customers hit each and what it costs when they do.

    Learn
  3. The accepted

    Seams the organisation has decided not to close.

    Learn

A seam that follows a reporting line is not closed by a system integration, however good the integration is.