As technology permeates every aspect of our lives, customer experience has become the key factor determining whether a product or service can succeed. In particular, the development of internet technology has made brand quality experience replace price as the most important concern for customers. Therefore, more and more enterprises are rapidly adjusting their processes to become customer-centric.

With the increasing popularity of cloud computing, more enterprises hope to use cloud computing as a pathway to find solutions best suited for customers, enabling them to stand out in competition. According to the 2018 IDG Cloud Computing Survey, 57% of business executives surveyed indicated that improving customer service and experience is one of the main reasons for investing in cloud solutions.

So, how does cloud computing technology improve customer experience?

1. Anytime, Anywhere — Unlimited Access

One of the most fundamental considerations for ensuring higher customer satisfaction is the ability to conveniently access data anytime, anywhere. From e-commerce to media to finance, more and more enterprises are providing customers with 24-hour self-service. Customers have almost no reason to reject applications that allow them to log in anytime and anywhere, and access various functions, products, and services at any time. Data can only be accessed from anywhere in the world, on any device, and at any time when it is stored in the cloud.

Additionally, many cloud-based services can help organizations automate certain processes, thereby improving customer service perception—such as providing service support during idle times day or night, or offering broader products, services, or other benefits to loyal customers. When access to data is restricted due to geographical and time considerations of internal infrastructure, customers may feel frustrated by long wait times before service. The cloud solves this problem well.

Enterprises know that even small delays can negatively impact their business. A study by security and delivery provider Radware found that websites with a 5-second load time have a 38% lower conversion rate than faster-loading competitor websites. Furthermore, research shows that the optimal load time for a website is approximately 3 seconds, far below the generally perceived 7.25-second load time. Only by moving data centers to the cloud and automating key operations with the help of cloud-based services can enterprises ensure websites are always available to visitors and significantly improve load times.

Regarding website content distribution and acceleration, major cloud vendors have provided solutions. As the leader in cloud computing, AWS's CloudFront solution stands out among them. (For AWS CloudFront product introductions and solutions, see the AWS website https://amazonaws-china.com/cn/caching/cdn/. Due to space limitations, we won't elaborate here.)

2. Personalized Experience Through Data Collection and Analysis

Given that most of us live in a world of connected devices, the cloud—with its unlimited data storage capacity and convenient unlimited access to data anytime—more quickly provides enterprises moving to the cloud with unique advantages in generating and collecting large amounts of data. Increasingly mature big data analytics capabilities help enterprises better understand and serve their customers, while AI and IoT technology applications create unlimited opportunities and imagination space for the progress and development of customer experience. Data stored in the cloud can help enterprises analyze and predict customer behavior—behaviors that are interactions between enterprise brands and customers at various service touchpoints, not limited to face-to-face. When designing new businesses or entirely new IoT-based products, the more data available to enterprises, the better they can serve customers, and the greater their chances of success.

3. Better Security

As customers entrust more and more data to enterprises, they also expect enterprises to take all possible precautions to ensure the security of their sensitive data, especially for financial products and tools. This puts enormous pressure on enterprises with on-premises data centers, forcing them to make large-scale capital investments to ensure security. Reputable cloud computing companies have the necessary experience and expertise in protecting servers from attacks and data breaches, ensuring maximum protection of digital information. Additionally, good partners also have rich experience in cloud security, helping enterprises allocate resources to other goal-oriented tasks rather than maintaining security standards. Taking AWS as an example, AWS's customer compliance center has the longest uptime and highest efficiency, making it highly attractive to customers. As Adrian Heeson, Operations Director at British Gas, said: "A year ago, I still believed the cloud wouldn't be as secure as a physical data center. Now, I thoroughly enjoy the higher security and lower risk the cloud brings. There's no doubt we achieved this through AWS." (If interested in AWS cloud security, please refer to the AWS website https://amazonaws-china.com/cn/security/)