Leveraging cloud computing to achieve customer interaction

Just five years ago, companies were still trying to integrate voice, network and face-to-face interactions. They then needed to look for a single customer view and ways to enhance the customer experience and more efficient customer service.

  In a very short time, this situation has become much more complex. Companies are now using social media and a variety of devices to interact with customers. Applications using smartphones and tablets are becoming the preferred method of business. Self-Service services are becoming the standard way for companies to start interacting with their customers initially.

  After all, it is much easier to rent a taxi from a smartphone client than to wait in line at the curb or contact a taxi agency. In fact, more and more things that need to be done by employees can now be solved by customer self-help.

  Applications that use self-service also enable enterprises to collect customer data more accurately and efficiently. The data can then be analyzed to support other business activities, ranging from sales and marketing to product development.

  New forms of customer engagement in the Asia Pacific region are taking a significantly different degree. In Australia, it is now commonplace for clients to participate in the use of social media. However, in other areas, people are still more likely to avoid using social media in the workplace. Even if the region uses apps on smartphones and tablets it is now commonplace and has 3G or 4G networks.

  Ensuring that the overall customer experience improves and integrates all customer contact points is a major issue that today's enterprises must consider. This is a serious challenge. A handful of companies have successfully integrated their services successfully. And the use of cloud computing can be easier to manage in many ways, easy to provide services to customers. Cloud hosting of customer interaction is a huge benefit. In particular, this delivery model allows businesses to manage as customers ' needs increase and decrease. For example, online retailers can adjust to seasonal needs. Hosting e-business applications in cloud services enables retailers to take full advantage of the increased demand. Cloud-based e-business applications often provide greater scalability.

  For enterprises, it is quicker and more efficient to use cloud computing to promote new customer-interactive service applications. For example, an airline may release a new application to allow users to remotely reference flight time dynamics. This type of service can be used quickly using cloud computing. At the same time, sudden increases in demand can be managed more efficiently through cloud computing.

  Today, multiple clients providing customers with applications across mobile devices and social media are on dayGradually become a standard of enterprise. Some applications, such as voice services, will remain in their current state. The enterprise will need to consolidate different clients and different delivery modes. In other words, the hybrid cloud environment will be the primary means of supporting multiple clients over the next few years. The most critical challenge for an enterprise is the need to integrate all these client and delivery patterns into the cloud service. It also brings business opportunities for it vendors who provide integration of software and services.

  The author Andrew Milroy is vice president of information and Communication technology Asia Pacific, Frost&sullivan Corporation (Frost-Chali).
 

(editor: Heritage)