| | | | | |
| Our economic environment is now facing a make or | | | | William Band |
| break situation. The use of CRM is more important to | | | | |
| get help in making more money for the company. Use | | | | · “CRM professionals worry about the true TCO |
| of CRM was proven effective; there will be no | | | | (total cost of ownership) for SaaS, feel challenged by |
| question on that. However, the big question was raised, | | | | integration and customization issues, have qualms |
| Which will be the most effective? Hosted or non | | | | about data security and find SaaS pricing models and |
| –premise CRM? | | | | contracts confusing,” |
| | | | | · “Additional risks for SaaS solutions include loss |
| This question still remains a question. There are a lot of | | | | of control, weaker integration, limited virtualization and |
| things that need to be considered. According to Laef | | | | more restricted customization capabilities compared to |
| Olson, RightNow Technologies Inc chief information | | | | on-premise solutions.” |
| Officer, “I don’t believe that the primary decision | | | | · “Look at your contract before you leap; some |
| is hosted vs. non-premise. The primary decision is what | | | | contracts make it hard to leave or even to turn them |
| CRM package drives the best business value.” | | | | off.” |
| | | | | |
| Precisely, knowing what particular CRM packages for | | | | SugarCRM’s Harrick |
| your business is the most important thing to be | | | | |
| addressed. The question should be, How will CRM can | | | | - “For companies who have deep customization |
| work for you? How would you like the work to be | | | | and integration requirements, on-demand CRM may |
| done? | | | | not always be the best approach. We have seen |
| | | | | larger companies choose Sugar On-Site, instead of |
| For you to get answer for these questions, please be | | | | Sugar OnDemand, because they have more control |
| aware that CRM functions have three categories: we | | | | over application customization, performance and data |
| have operational, analytical and collaborative. “Each | | | | security,” |
| of them is biased towards particular deployment | | | | |
| model” according to Yacine Filali, a business analyst | | | | |
| from Winbond Electronics Corporation America. | | | | Advantages of On-Premise CRM |
| | | | | |
| “Operational CRM’s are often integrated with | | | | William Band |
| the company’s public Web site, Wherever it may | | | | |
| be but are usually hosted. Analytical CRM’s are | | | | - “On-premise solutions offer stronger integration |
| often integrated with business – intelligence engines | | | | benefits than SaaS, resulting in enhanced integration |
| and are very often in-house, along with the ERP | | | | with other IT and operational systems, especially when |
| (enterprise resource planning) infrastructure. | | | | real-time integration is important,” |
| Open-source and some commercial solutions will very | | | | |
| often try to integrate the analytical piece with the | | | | SugarCRM’s Harrick |
| operational piece, with mostly bad results. Meanwhile, | | | | |
| “The collaborative CRM will sometimes include | | | | - “On-premise or on-site CRM can deliver more |
| channel management, but most often is hosted | | | | control around customization and integration than |
| in-house. “Corporate paranoia is a big factor in | | | | on-demand CRM. If a company wants to make |
| deciding where analytical and collaborative CRMs are | | | | substantial changes to the data model of the |
| hosted, even if physical security of the servers at | | | | application, they will want to go on-site, most likely |
| most hosting companies is far greater than that of | | | | because the application is open and modifiable,” |
| most businesses' in-house servers.” Filali further | | | | |
| explained. | | | | Laef Olson |
| | | | | |
| | | | | - “For those IT shops that haven’t reached a |
| Knowing more about CRM | | | | level of maturity around service-delivery management, |
| | | | | on-premise CRM offers the security of knowing that |
| In getting a CRM, you’ve got two choices: it’s | | | | the infrastructure is under direct company control and |
| either you buy it or you rent it. If you want total | | | | changes and risk management can be handled |
| ownership, then on-premise CRM is what you need. | | | | locally,” |
| Buy it, make use of it according to your preference | | | | |
| and be in charge of you’re company. The | | | | Chris Caputo (director of information systems at |
| downside is, there’s confusion in ownership. In the | | | | Juggernaut Software) |
| licensing agreement, there are things that you cannot | | | | |
| do even if you’ve paid for it. It’s not like just | | | | - “An outright purchase may result in significant |
| another facility that you can sell or lend for whatever | | | | savings over a 3- to 5-year term. |
| reason you may want to do so. It’s like ownership | | | | |
| without having the right of having your own decision to | | | | |
| something that belongs to you. | | | | |
| | | | | |
| On the other hand, with Hosted CRM you can pay to | | | | |
| use it but can never be yours. You can use it as long | | | | Disadvantages of On-Premise |
| as you’re paying for the right to use it. On the | | | | |
| brighter side, you don’t have to be bothered of | | | | William Band |
| thinking of the maintenance as well as upgrading the | | | | |
| service. You may not need a lot of IT staff and buy | | | | - “On-premise deployments typically require greater |
| hardware or software to support the program. | | | | up-front costs, especially when comparing license fees |
| | | | | with subscription fees. On-premise deployments |
| | | | | typically also require hardware maintenance, upgrades |
| Let’s hear what they have to say about: | | | | and support costs on top of license fees, while most |
| | | | | SaaS deployments bundle these into the subscription |
| Advantages of Hosted CRM | | | | fees,” |
| | | | | - “On-premise solutions have risks, primarily |
| William Band | | | | implementation risks, due to deployment complexities, |
| · According to William Band, Vice president and | | | | training needs and support issues,” |
| principal analyst of CRM applications at Forrester | | | | Francis |
| Research Inc, that in comparing on-premise to SaaS, | | | | |
| “You must be aware that SaaS solutions offer | | | | - “Complexity around customization and integration, |
| faster time to value; frequent, automatic updates; | | | | complicated upgrades, difficult user interfaces for end |
| independence from IT; and good usability.” | | | | users and slow time to value — all resulting in a |
| | | | | high-risk investment — are major drawbacks,” |
| RightNow’s Laef Olson | | | | |
| · Stated that in “Putting the differences of | | | | Getting Started |
| hosted-CRM packages aside, some of a basic, hosted | | | | |
| solution include specialized operational-management | | | | “I would very strongly recommend that you run a |
| capability, inherent disaster recovery, ease of | | | | pilot program to test how things work before |
| implementation, fully managed and environment | | | | committing,” according to Flyn Penoyer, telesales |
| changes, specialized security management and lower | | | | guru at Penoyer Communications. “It is crucial that |
| operating cost.” | | | | you document thoroughly the user process for handling |
| Bruce Francis | | | | the systems and compare how that process is |
| · According to Bruce Francis, vice president of | | | | executed on the various programs you decide to |
| corporate strategy at Inc. Hosted applications had a | | | | consider. Have the vendor do a demo using your task |
| rapid rise and fall in the past decade, they still | | | | action script for the user's handling of the product so |
| implemented all the flaws of traditional client-server | | | | that you can see exactly what is necessary for each |
| apps: such as (a) expensive and time consuming to | | | | task and the complexity of execution.” |
| implement; (b) costly and difficult to maintain; (c) | | | | |
| impossible to upgrade without breaking valuable | | | | Let it be known that hosted and on-premise can be |
| customizations. This all has changed with software as | | | | both beneficial depending on you’re needs. Let it be |
| a service. | | | | not a question which is more effective and beneficial |
| Mini Peiris | | | | because both can be effective and reliable. It’s a |
| · For small and midsized companies with limited IT | | | | matter of making the right choice for your needs. |
| staff and resources, hosted CRM is often the only | | | | Before jumping into which one you should get, proper |
| choice. “All you need is an Internet connection and a | | | | identification of you’re need stands as the most |
| Web browser, which translates to tremendous cost | | | | crucial factor before you make a decision. |
| savings on both hardware and IT personnel to maintain | | | | |
| the systems,” “In addition, on-demand solutions | | | | To know more, visit Pegasys is a Global provider of |
| offer a level of uptime, security and scalability that | | | | professional IT Services. We offer the best services |
| midmarket companies would otherwise not have the | | | | at a cost effective pricing resulting in quick Return On |
| resources to deploy themselves.” | | | | Investment(ROI). Our Services include CRM Services, |
| | | | | Sales Effectiveness Solutions, E-Commerce Solutions, |
| | | | | Smart Assistant Services, Custom Software |
| Disadvantages of Hosted CRM | | | | Development and much more. |
| | | | | |