Productivity, customer satisfaction and business success are the three key benefits to cloud communications, according to a new study.

Research from analyst firm IDC, which surveyed 805 mid-sized businesses and enterprises around their communications strategy, found companies who use both unified and contextual cloud communications saw a 47% improvement in speed to market for products and services, 42% improvement in customer satisfaction and loyalty, and a 34% reduction in costs.

As is often the case with research such as this, respondents were put into four buckets depending on their journey. Communications ‘powerbrokers’ are at the top of the tree and sophisticated users. This means they use text and voice messaging to automate delivery of notifications and are much more likely to say their communications are effective as a result. 96% said their frequency and timeless of comms was effective, with 100% saying it for the quality of their customer-facing interactions.

Communications ‘respecters’ have started moving to the cloud and are planning more, while ‘skeptics’ are unsure of its benefits and, at the bottom rung, communications ‘unaware’ have little knowledge about the process. For those in the ‘unaware’ category, only 15% automate text and voice messaging, while even fewer (12%) say their customer-facing communication is effective.

Is this a result of a younger, digitally native workforce aiming to drive through changes? IDC says possibly, but adds a caveat.

“Digital natives may completely disrupt an industry, but companies need to look at this as an opportunity to conduct business and engage customers in new ways,” said Mark Winther, group VP of telecom custom solutions at IDC. “Our data clearly shows that cloud communications enable businesses to quickly adapt and transform and, as a result, not only survive but actually thrive in their respective industries.”

The study was sponsored by Vonage, a cloud communications software provider. You can find an executive summary of the research here.