In my last post, I offered a quick view of the recent Danger/Sidekick data loss. It's an event that has hosted CRM users worried for good reason. After all, this kind of data loss can bring Perez Hilton's business to a halt, so what could it do to you if you lost all of your leads and contacts?
For CIOs and other technology leaders, this list of questions can offer peace of mind:
Where are hosted CRM records stored? "The Cloud" isn't good enough. Careful CIOs should know the location of a vendor's primary data center, along with the security provisions in place to protect data from theft, fire, flood, or other disaster.
How often are backups of CRM records made, and where are backups stored? CIOs should listen for "at least daily" and "offsite." A backhoe driving into the data backbone of your primary data center shouldn't cause your CRM applications to become inaccessible.
How quickly can a hosted CRM system be restored from a backup? User error at the data center caused the total erasure of Danger/Microsoft's entire user library. With a solid backup plan in place, users could have been restored within hours.
How can records be exported from a hosted CRM system, if necessary? Record export isn't just a CRM software feature that lets you migrate platforms. It's an essential tool that allows your team convert raw data into actionable spreadsheets or local databases in the event of a dire emergency at the server farm.
Of course, these are all questions you should ask, even if you intend for your CRM software to be hosted within your own facility. Treat data the same, whether your "cloud" is in your own building or out at a mystery data facility. Otherwise, you could end up like a frustrated Sidekick user.
1 comment:
This is very true- any company that chooses to implement hosted CRM should be very considered about the way how the hosted company stores the data and how reliable it is. Ask questions such as how i get backup if i need, how i get a data back if company goes out of business etc.
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