IDG Contributor Network: Cloud: The engine of the omni-channel customer experience

In a recent conversation, I was asked what I felt was the driving force behind the technology innovations disrupting businesses across the globe. Expecting some sort of a cloud computing-centric answer, my inquirer was surprised when I answered "time." Although cloud is certainly the engine underpinning many tech advancements, the driving force is the conservation of our most precious resource: time. 

We have created a connected world in which we have blasted through barriers to cram as much as possible into our daily lives. We save time by doing research online. We save time by texting when we can't talk. We save time by letting a GPS-enabled map guide us to our destination. Given all the enabling technologies at our disposal, it's no surprise our expectations from online transactions are projected onto our offline life. These mismatched expectations are the core reason why businesses are shifting from a multi-channel customer experience strategy to omni-channel.

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