At the end of the day, business is about the customer.
The business case for the cloud is usually discussed in terms of how it can positively influence internal business processes, and it is true that it has a strong role when it comes to internal processes. But the cloud is about more than just internal processes. It also can have a positive impact on the customer experience (CX), and no business should pass up the opportunity to make its customers happier.
“The cloud provides businesses with a platform that is secure, reliable and less expensive than on-premise solutions,” Lisa Bonanno noted in a recent post for Angel Voice, the blog of customer experience solutions provider, Angel. But, businesses also “are able to collaborate faster and stay connected from any location, enabling them to create a better customer experience for their customers.”
Bonanno outlined four ways the cloud helps boost the customer experience: through flexibility, personalization, trust and collaboration.
“Having access to your personal or business data from any location is by far the biggest benefit the cloud,” according to Bonanno.
Using the cloud, businesses bring greater flexibility to the customer and scalability. Businesses also are duplicating its successes on the mobile platform by creating their own mobile applications that give customers yet another way to interact with the brand.
In an age where consumers are coming to expect a custom experience, the cloud also provides the personalization that customers want.
“By having access to past customer behaviors through cloud-based analytics platforms, companies are able to provide completely personalized interactions, build more customized solutions and address concerns based on what they already know to further customize the CX,” noted Bonanno.
Through the analytics that can now be used thanks to the cloud, agents can start customer service calls knowing what the customer purchased in the past. This is real power that can help the agent understand the customer better.
Trust is also improved by the cloud. Two-way conversations with users through personalized inbound and outbound communication is possible now. Customers are able to receive proactive reminders about appointments and have a more consistent connection with the business, and on the business side there is more opportunity to build sustained engagement. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction and more loyalty.
Finally, the cloud creates collaboration with the customer. Through the cloud, businesses now can create an open forum where there’s room for collaboration and feedback on the product like there wasn’t in the past.
It all adds up to a better experience for the customer.
“Businesses that provide customers with cloud-based products or just communicating with them through cloud-based technology are not only creating a more valuable and unique CX, but they are also doing a better job of putting their customers’ needs first,” according to Bonanno.
Edited by Carlos Olivera