Via McKinsey&Company, 75% of online customers expect a response within 5 minutes. Are you prepared to deliver on that expectation? If not, make arrangements to do so, because this is the new reality of the cloud era.

It’s evident from these and other customer service stats and figures that the customer experience has been forever changed by the cloud. Not only have collective expectations skyrocketed, but the need for an “always connected” world means there’s no longer a viable off switch. This means businesses need to focus on innovating digital interactions and understanding how their customers engage with technology – all in the name of creating a supreme experience.

When compared to IT and other telecom industries, Unified Communications (UC) is still very much in its infancy. The way it has evolved has also affected the way customers react to UC and its benefits.

Although telephony and UC are often intertwined and link to a suite of common features such as conferencing and mobility, the true meaning of UC lies in full integration and knowing what your customer really wants – and delivering on it.

This leads us to the question: What do UC customers actually want? It’s not as difficult as you might think. Take a moment to evaluate what you yourself as a customer expect; most likely, you want a product/service to save time, integrate into your daily processes and be cost-effective. Otherwise, why would you use it?

Executing great customer service is a way to differentiate from other businesses and rise above your competition. This is becoming even more important than pricing, as a Walker study shows 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience.

Delivering exceptional customer service over the phone can be just as impactful than in-person, if not more.

Callers’ expectations to receive efficient and helpful phone service is at an all-time high – you’re competing against one-third of consumers saying they’d rather clean a toilet than speak with customer service (via a 2015 Aspect Consumer Experience survey).

That doesn’t mean, though, that it’s impossible to accomplish a stellar customer experience.

Think about all the time, money and creativity that goes into a successful marketing campaign.

A willingness to commit precious resources to such a project are just the prerequisites. Some of today’s best marketers believe that successful marketing requires creating an understanding of the target market that a business doesn’t yet understand -- that a robust campaign goes far beyond mere packaging and telling a story.

The weather is finally warming up and the flowers are in bloom. With spring officially here, it’s the perfect time for some spring cleaning. Sure, a little cleanup is great around the house, but could your business use some sprucing up too?

It may be time to clean house so to speak when it comes to advertising efforts that aren’t creating ROI. Perhaps, you’ve been putting off refreshing your social media channels? Do you simply need to catch up on articles that you’ve bookmarked? Sometimes, blocking off a little extra time for catching up on administrative and marketing efforts can breathe new life into your business.

In honor of the season, here are seven strategies for de-cluttering and revamping your business to help your business bloom this season:

It seems like everyday there is a new social media network or photo-sharing app that you need to get on board with for your brand. Keeping up with the latest social media trends, not to mention adding your company’s profile to the highest ranked social media networks can be very overwhelming; especially if you’re a small business or start-up that does not have a dedicated marketing department. Like most small businesses, you probably have one person handling the many social media tasks that need to be completed to create a successful social campaign. That’s perfectly fine as a start.

They say print is dead. As more and more print publications close the book on their inked pages, the Internet continues to gain more power as the number one source of information at your fingertips. Magazines have gone digital and so has the archaic, five-pound phonebook—or what most consumers recognize as the “Yellow Pages.” Now, all the information you seek is just a click away on the Internet. There are numerous business directories online where your small business should be listed. If you begin listing your business on these online directories, the amount of traffic to your website will definitely increase.

So you have an incredible business idea, you get the courage to implement your idea and thus start-up your first small business — but how do you market your product or service without breaking the budget? It’s not always an easy task to figure affordable ways to advertise your new business, but with the broad spectrum of the Internet, you now can market your small business with little to no cost.