The cloud’s scalable, always-available resources open a range of possibilities for enterprises aiming to deliver innovative customer experiences. By leveraging cloud technology, companies can modernize existing applications and create new solutions that enhance customer satisfaction and engagement. This article explores how various enterprises are using cloud solutions to achieve these goals, focusing on the benefits and specific use cases in different industries.
Traeger’s Smart Grills: A Case Study in IoT and Cloud Integration
To make a brisket that’s tender and juicy, backyard chefs must cook it slowly and at a low temperature, followed by a high-heat finish. But many Traeger customers have a secret weapon with which to cook their meat to perfection: an Internet of Things (IoT)–enabled grill connected to the cloud that sends real-time cooking information and alerts to their smartphones.
Traeger, which sells two lines of Wi-Fi-enabled wood-pellet grills, has deployed an IoT platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide its customers with the best cooking experience and assistance possible. Customers can throw their meat onto the grill and monitor the cooking temperature on a mobile app as they go about their days. Cooks can choose a recipe, press a “make now” button, and the grill will follow the recipe’s heating and cooking time instructions. Traeger’s smart grills also send notifications when the grill is running out of pellets or when the meat is ready.
“Our goal is to make everyone a backyard hero, not just people who’ve spent years learning how to cook a brisket,” says Joshua Scott, Traeger’s vice president of infrastructure and architecture. “Everyday Joes like me can still cook a good brisket on the weekend.”
This integration of IoT and cloud technology exemplifies how companies can use the cloud to enhance customer experiences. By providing real-time data and control, Traeger allows its customers to achieve professional-level cooking results without the need for extensive expertise.
The Cloud Increases App Availability
The cloud can scale to meet seasonal or sudden changes in demand and has worldwide availability, ensuring reliable service and uptime, says Roy Illsley, Omdia’s chief analyst of IT operations. “Availability is one thing the cloud can generally offer because it’s got near endless resources scaled to meet demand,” Illsley says. “So, in theory, with all of their availability zones, you should be 100 percent available and running smoothly.”
Enterprises can also mine their data in the cloud to improve customer service. Artificial intelligence (AI)–powered chatbots can assist customers and answer questions, such as when their packages will arrive. Because the cloud is ubiquitous, it can improve customer experiences in various contexts, from home chefs remotely monitoring meat on backyard grills to airline passengers downloading boarding passes to their phones.
“In terms of customer experiences, the cloud and mobility have really opened up the world,” Illsley says. “You can do everything on your phone.”
Cloud Enables Customer Experience Optimization
Traeger, based in Salt Lake City, has migrated its data, including its applications and website operations, to the cloud. In 2018, the company deployed its IoT infrastructure on AWS, which allowed it to introduce smart wood-pellet grills in early 2019, says Barry Haertel, a Traeger systems administrator.
Today, when a customer fires up an IoT-enabled grill, sensors transmit real-time data to Traeger’s IoT platform on AWS, which then communicates with the customer’s mobile app. This setup wouldn’t be possible without the cloud, Scott says: “An IoT business like Traeger’s only works in the cloud. Putting something like this on-premises would be silly because we’d have to provision servers based on our peaks. That’s not economical or efficient.”
In fact, weekends and holidays are 10 times busier than weekdays. The company’s IoT platform on AWS processes up to 48 billion messages per month. “As more cooks come online, we can scale our resources to meet their needs,” Scott says.
Utilizing AWS for Enhanced Customer Service
Traeger uses AWS IoT Core and AWS IoT Device Management to securely connect, manage, and monitor Traeger’s smart grills. Data is stored on Amazon’s DynamoDB, a fully managed NoSQL database. The company also uses serverless computing services — AWS Fargate to run containers and AWS Lambda to run code — without having to provision or manage the infrastructure, Haertel says.
These high-level AWS services allow the Traeger team to focus on business logic and writing code while AWS manages the infrastructure, including dynamic scaling and security. “The cloud takes that workload off us so we can focus on providing a great experience to our customers,” Haertel says.
Traeger’s three product teams — which are focused on IoT, the mobile app, and website operations — work with business teams to gather requirements, monitor trends, and develop new features and services to meet customer needs, Scott says.
Expanding Digital Offerings
On the Traeger website, customers can buy grills, pellets, rubs, and sauces. They can also find recipes and learn cooking tips from video tutorials, articles, and virtual classes. The company has also released three major versions of the mobile app.
Customers can use the app to find recipes. Based on the recipe and portion of meat, the app guides customers through the cooking process, including when to inject the meat, wrap it in foil, or turn up the heat. They can turn on the Super Smoke mode to smoke the meat. It also alerts them when the food is ready. “It helps our customers get those perfect grilling experiences,” Haertel says.
Cloud Solutions in the Mortgage Industry
The mortgage industry is another sector benefiting significantly from cloud solutions. Mortgage industry software maker Optimal Blue can quickly build new apps and services for its customers because of Azure’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering, which provides a complete software development and deployment environment, says CTO Seever Sulaiman.
Cloud resources include as-a-service infrastructure such as servers, storage, and networking, as well as middleware, development tools, databases, and analytics tools. “The cloud allows us to focus on innovation,” Sulaiman says. “Our team doesn’t have to worry about technical operations when it comes to PaaS, such as standing up and patching servers and hardening SQL databases with security. The cloud does that for us. With PaaS resources, we can speed up development and go to market faster.”
In 2017, Optimal Blue built APIs that allow mortgage lenders to integrate its product and pricing engine into their own loan origination systems. To do so, the company used Azure API Management, which lets it configure, publish, and secure APIs. Optimal Blue’s product and pricing engine, which is used to lock about 40 percent of all mortgages completed nationwide today, allows mortgage originators to find and compare loan prices and options for their customers.
“Now, originators can log in to their own loan origination system, and within it, they can get loan rates from our PPE,” Sulaiman says.
Consolidating Applications for Enhanced Performance
More recently, the company consolidated three applications — two existing hedging and trading applications and a digital mortgage marketplace that connects loan buyers and sellers — into a single application on Azure. The new application, called CompassEdge, also provides anonymized data so that customers who buy and sell loans can see how they are performing compared with their competitors.
The Optimal Blue development team was able to quickly build that feature by using Azure Data Factory, which integrated the data into a data warehouse, Sulaiman says. The overall result is an improved customer experience. “It’s a more advanced, sophisticated application for our customers.”
Conclusion
The adoption of cloud solutions by enterprises is transforming customer experiences across various industries. By leveraging the scalability, reliability, and advanced capabilities of cloud platforms, companies like Traeger and Optimal Blue are able to deliver innovative and personalized services to their customers. Whether it’s enabling backyard chefs to cook the perfect brisket or helping mortgage lenders streamline their processes, the cloud is opening new possibilities for enhancing customer satisfaction and engagement. As more enterprises embrace cloud technology, the potential for delivering exceptional customer experiences will continue to grow. By focusing on innovation and leveraging the best capabilities of cloud platforms, companies can stay ahead of the competition and meet the evolving needs of their customers. The future of customer experience lies in the cloud, and enterprises that harness its power will be well-positioned for success