How to Use the Cloud as a Path to the Intelligent Enterprise
Shortly after the plane touched down on a recent business trip, the airline sent me a survey to evaluate my flight experience. After I checked into my hotel, a notification popped up on my phone inviting me to provide feedback on my arrival. Customer surveys have become a standard practice, but the possibilities to analyze customer surveys and turn the data into business insights has changed dramatically, thanks to the cloud.
By 2022 more than 72 percent of companies worldwide will have adopted cloud computing as part of their business model based on the Future of Jobs Survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Cloud computing infrastructure and applications is the fastest growing IT spending category according to the research and advisory company Gartner. The adoption of cloud computing varies by geographic region, industry, and company size. Some companies are faster to move to the cloud than others. However, the key driver for cloud adoption is universal: the need to accelerate digital transformation and become an intelligent enterprise to succeed in our experience economy.
Experience management (XM) is on top of the CEO’s digital transformation agenda today. By becoming an Intelligent Enterprise companies can deliver exceptional experiences for their employees and customers. An intelligent enterprise has the ability to transform data into action across all lines of business. It breaks down silos and adopts dynamic, cross-functional business processes. An intelligent enterprise is the foundation for creating the best possible experiences for internal and external stakeholders. It is a game changer for engaging with customers as well as for knowing where to invest to get the maximum return.
Cloud computing offers a secure path to becoming an intelligent enterprise. Here are three key reasons on why and how to use cloud computing as a transformational force in the enterprise.
Innovation Platform
The cloud is a reliable path for business transformation and continuous innovation. When operating in the cloud, companies have a flexible IT infrastructure that can accommodate the business to changing market conditions and customer preferences. They have secure access to core business applications, analytics and collaboration tools. This gives them the agility to scale, adapt their business model and capture new opportunities. With the right enterprise cloud strategy, usually in a multi cloud environment, companies can become a more agile and intelligent business.
Intelligent Business Models
The next wave of intelligent technologies and capabilities are facilitated by the cloud. Cloud capabilities go far beyond storage, computing and network. New technologies, such as robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet of things (IOT), can be consumed via the cloud and augment a company’s core capabilities. By combining intelligent technologies and services, cloud computing can catapult companies into a new dimension of competitiveness. They can operate more efficiently and accelerate product development. Moreover, companies can break out of a traditional industry mold and reinvent themselves across industries for the future. Using the cloud, companies can use technology innovation to transform their business model for sustainable growth.
Experience Management
Above all, the cloud enables companies to create a new level of customer experience. Companies rise and fall based on how their customers experience their products and services. One of the key challenges for brands is to deliver a consistent quality and highly engaging customer experience across all points of contacts and throughout the customer life cycle. Combined with data analytics and AI, cloud computing is opening up new ways for organizations to interact with customers and take the pulse of their customer satisfaction by collecting, analyzing and acting upon customer experience data in real-time. The insights can be used to adjust service models, identify areas of need and launch new products and value-added services that provide the best possible experiences for customers and other stakeholders.
The cloud plays a critical role in achieving the transformative potential of combining experience data with operational data to help organizations create breakthrough customer experiences and results. It is a reliable path for companies to make the leap and become an intelligence enterprise. When starting the journey, take into account that the cloud offers a standard. It requires projects, programs and managed services to leverage all of the XaaS cloud offerings (across IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS). By combining the features of the different cloud & service models, you can make the transformation journey your own.
