Contact CRM: To Host or Not to Host, That Is the Question

You know that your company can benefit from a contact CRM solution, but have you determined whether or not you should maintain the solution in an on-premise deployment or contract with a hosting provider? This is likely a decision your company has had to make in all key deployments as of late, given the speed of adoption of cloud-based solutions over the past few years. The good news is that companies such as Microsoft Dynamics and Oncontact offer contact CRM solutions that can be implemented in-house or on the cloud. The challenge is determining the best solution for your unique environment.

Contact CRM Needs Full-Features

Whether you decide to go with an on-premise or hosted contact CRM solution, you need to demand full features in your selection. Your sales, marketing and customer service departments need to fully benefit from an integrated contact CRM solution that is easy-to-use, driven by productivity, and is customizable. Easy coordination into every department in your organization ensures you get the most value out of your contact CRM solution. If you implement the solution in-house, your users will be able to access the solution through your server. Go with a hosted solution, and the contact CRM can be leveraged through a Web browser. Either way, you’ll enjoy access to real-time information updated on an automatic basis.

Truly Hosted: Contact CRM from Salesforce.com

When it comes to hosted contact CRM, Salesforce.com laid the foundation for this market. While it is not the first company to offer contact CRM, it is definitely the first company to take it to the cloud. The company has paved the way for innovation and efficiency in the cloud, creating a standard that others continue to try to adhere to in order to effectively compete. With its experience in the hosted contact CRM space, Salesforce.com can design a solution that will fit your needs and you can pay as you go.

On-Premise Power in Contact CRM

For years, Microsoft has envied Salesforce.com’s leadership in the CRM space and has long supported its own contact CRM product line. You can opt for in-house solutions or cloud-based support depending upon your expectations. If you decide that the cloud fits, compare the Microsoft Dynamics CRM spec to spec with Salesforce.com to be sure you are making the right choice. If you know that an on-premise solution is the better fit, Microsoft, Oncontact, Oracle and other industry players offer a robust contact CRM solution.

How to Decide on Contact CRM

To know whether or not you should take your contact CRM to the cloud, first look around the organization to see what other platforms have been moved outside of your firewall. If you are already making use of the cloud, the move will be easier to transition. If not, you likely need to put a team together to facilitate the change and then implement the proper change management process to ensure the success of the migration. There are a number of benefits contact CRM can deliver and once you decide on the best platform, you can measure the change in performance.

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