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Slow cloud take-up among IT execs limits joined-up customer experience
Cloud computing promises to declutter IT and link systems easily. Despite the benefits, adoption of the cloud for customer engagement remains low
A new study has highlighted a disconnect between the business’ strategy for a modern customer experience and the ability to deliver this through cloud technologies.
The research, from Aspect Software and the Cloud Industry Forum, found that most organisations are aware of the vast potential of cloud services in enhancing the customer experience.
Just 6% of the 100 C-suite decision-makers in both IT and non-IT roles who participated in the Clear Skies for Customer Service report said they did not feel cloud has an important role to play.
Introducing the report, Alex Hinton, CEO of the Cloud Industry Forum, wrote: “For customer interaction to work in the best possible way, organisations need to move away from the disjointed, disparate nature of older systems, towards a new configuration that emphasises speed and agility.”
According to Hinton, by adding the power of cloud-based systems to the customer engagement mix, organisations will be able to deliver the efficiency their customers have come to expect. “In a world where speed and convenience are everything, this has never been more important,” he wrote.
However, despite this widespread recognition, adoption of cloud technology for customer engagement remains low overall.
While cloud-based integration may indeed offer businesses the best way to link up legacy systems to create a seamless customer experience, few IT departments have plans to boost their cloud footprint. The study found only 37% IT leaders said they use cloud-based systems.
Read more about joined-up customer engagement
- Research shows that customer experience will boost business, but IT and the people across the organisation need to embrace data analytics.
- As more business is done digitally, customer experience is becoming a key responsibility for IT leaders, according to technology executives at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium.
According to Aspect Software, this points to a clear disparity between an awareness of cloud’s benefits and attempts to bring the technology into effect.
“Stephen Ball, senior vice-president for Europe & Africa at Aspect Software, said: “The research reveals that although organisations are aware of the potential for cloud to bring greater efficiency and a more joined-up customer experience, there is still a lot of work to be done to bridge this gap between perceptions and actually having the technology in place.”
