Ever wonder what the biggest promise of the cloud is?

It’s not anywhere, any time access. It is not affordable, quick innovation. All of that is great. But there is something about cloud computing that will prove transformational for business. It is the feedback loop.

The cloud allows companies to track more than ever what customers and employees do. Even more impressive, true cloud computing allows all of that data to be aggregated for best practices, quick access reports and more.

Or as Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research recently told Xactly CEO Christopher Cabrera, “I see a progression that is interesting. Data to information to knowledge to faster decisions.

“I think the smart thing is to think about big data and how we crunch it. How do we use it to get information back to the people out in the field to make them even more productive?”

(Watch the entire interview here)

And that is the thing about cloud computing. Done right, it informs the decisions that results in company growth.

What does that look like?

1) Information in a single place. With true cloud computing, all of your information should move seamlessly from system to system. A single system should be able to access it and report on it with just a few clicks.

2) Instant access to key information in an easily digestible format. Once the system is seamlessly accessible, it should be useful. That means easy to use dashboards, accessible on mobile devices. The information you get should be customizable to meet your specific needs.

The business results are powerful.

For example, recent research has found that sales leaders who arm themselves with data about performance get better results from coaching their reps.

How will real-time access to all of our most important data transform your business? How will access to data that provides best practices across companies make you performance even stronger?

That is the promise of the cloud.