Many companies today are making a tremendous effort to transition to the cloud, expanding beyond the on-premise software model that has long served as the foundation for information access. Software giant Microsoft (News - Alert), in particular, has just pledged to spend 90 percent of its $9.6 billion research and development budget on its cloud strategy this year.
But some companies are ahead of the game, and RightNow, a provider of cloud-based customer experience software products, is one of them. The company’s CEO, Greg Gianforte (News - Alert), stopped by Fox Business today to sound off on how his CRM cloud computing company is prospering since its move to the cloud, and how by doing so, this gives companies like his a competitive advantage.
RightNow is focused on solving one very real and prominent problem experienced by a majority of today’s frustrated customers, and that is the need for faster access to information. According to Gianforte, RightNow has honed in on providing customer-experience solutions in the cloud to help large businesses prosper.
“We are empowering customers to help themselves,” said Gianforte. RightNow, which boasts of 2,000 clients and deals with a whopping 8 million customers each day, partners with its clients and outsource partners in order to deliver a better customer experience.
RightNow has moved far from the older, non-cloud approach, which, according to Gianforte, takes longer and is more costly for organizations. Where the non-cloud vendors fall short, RightNow has instead focused on external client interaction to enable large consumer businesses to deliver enhanced experiences, interactions and security.
“By moving software to the cloud, you can surround it with the appropriate security measures and increase the level of security,” said Gianforte.
And RightNow has certainly seen success, driven by its cloud-based, interactive business model. The company, whose stock hit a 52-week high today, consists of an outstanding repertoire of clients including PayPal (News - Alert), eHarmoney, Black & Decker, Nikon and Yahoo. As of close trading on Monday, RightNow shares were up 39.4 percent year to date.
Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Juliana Kenny