Hosted or On-Site CRM?
In addition to deciding why you need a Customer Relationship Managment (CRM) system it is also important to consider whether your CRM application should be hosted remotely or be part of your existing IT infrastructure (On-Site/on-premise). Seelogic can provide solutions for all the available options - see Sage SalesLogix Cloud, SageCRM.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM online.
First some definitions:
Hosted CRM solutions are “rented” by the user on a monthly basis. The software sits on a remotely accessible server, accessible by a user-specific password. CRM licencing can be purchased in the normal way and hosted on remotely located servers.
Cloud based CRM solutions are similar to hosted solutions but a "turn-key" standard system can be rented on a per user per month basis and be quickly configured and ready to go. The application and IT infrastructure is all part of the package.
On-site (or on-premise) solutions sit on a server within a client’s managed IT infrastructure. As the name suggests this is normally on-site.
Your initial needs analysis will help you choose the best-fit CRM product for you, but other factors will help determine whether the hosted or on-site option is right for you.
Factors to consider
Cost
Hosted CRM products start out less expensive than an on-site system, because the software fees and professional services costs are spread out over a period of time. Companies who require lower levels of “sign-off” often prefer this.
In the long-run, however, hosted systems are considerably more expensive, as monthly costs may increase if changes are made to the system. There are a few CRM products which allow a hosted solution to be transferred to an on-site version. These may be worth considering before you commit to one or the other.
Security of data between hosted and on-site
If data security is critical then on-site is your best option. Many large companies, however, use hosted systems in full confidence.
Integration between CRM and other business systems
If you want to flow data between your CRM and finance systems, there are often standard links between on-site CRM and in-house finance products, especially if they both come from the same software author. It is possible to link a hosted CRM system to an on-site finance product, but the additional cost of doing this can be expensive over an extended period.