Two of my favorite hot-button topics surfaced on Nathan Eddy's list of five trends to watch in 2009. Cloud computing has become a huge buzzword (or buzz phrase, really, over the past few years). It's breaking into the big time in a major way, getting a lot of coverage in the mainstream press. However, a simple hosted CRM application -- even one that has been running for years -- is still a form of cloud computing. If you're using a hosted CRM service, consider yourself ahead of the trend!
Another of Eddy's hot trends is open source software. Until recently, open source was the province of dedicated, savvy technicians committed to community development and common standards. As low-cost netbooks ship with flavors of Linux preinstalled, more business customers are becoming exposed to the benefits of community-maintained projects.
However, if you mash these trends up, you run into some potential problems that can cause havoc for prospective hosted CRM clients. Free software isn't always the right software for your business. For instance, the wildly popular OpenOffice still has a long way to go before it can unseat Microsoft Office in the enterprise. Thinking about cloud computing, a clever reseller may successfully rebrand open source CRM tools into their own hosted CRM service -- and still remain unable to integrate it fully into a client's workspace.
Low-cost hosting providers often bundle open source applications in their reseller platforms, making it easy to offer "free CRM" with web hosting packages. As with any hosted data provider, you should ask critical questions about the products and services being offered. Is the hosted CRM software homebrew, or a repackage of existing open source tools? Who supports the server or the software if either crashes. Will modifications made to the software be supported if the community development project updates the core package?
Finally, if the price point for your hosted CRM system seems too good to be true, it probably is. Remember that saving cash in exchange for uptime and productivity doesn't always make the best business sense.
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One of the key decisions facing companies considering CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is whether to opt for an on-premise or a hosted solution. As many of these companies will not be familiar with the technical intricacies of CRM, this essential decision is often made without adequate understanding of the possible consequences.
On-premise CRM: Traditionally, a medium-sized, single office business would deploy on-premise CRM to enable each department to access a customer database and allow key functions, such as sales, marketing and customer service to be coordinated. However, on-premise solutions can take months to implement and they require the technical support of potentially costly internal IT professionals.
Hosted CRM: A solution that is hosted by a provider becomes active almost instantly and is fully supported by the provider. Hosted CRM solutions do not require the user to have any special equipment or expertise, thus eliminating network maintenance difficulties and expensive hardware and software. Not surprisingly, hosted solutions are becoming the preferred CRM technology among all sizes of business.
CRM is intended to simplify things for the user, but the old-fashioned, on-premise solution too often made things more complex and more costly. SalesPush is a hosted solution because we wanted to facilitate a seamless, effortless integration of the software into existing working practices.
http://www.salespush.com
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