Web-hosted CRM: Does it really give you what you need?

We are often asked to advise businesses on whether a web hosted CRM solution is really suitable to meet their needs. While there may seem to be some initial benefits to implementing a  web based solution, it is important to look further to discover the potential pitfalls of this approach.

Some of the issues that we have found with web based solutions include:

• Access and Availability - A Web-based solution pre-supposes a fast, and reliable Internet connection. What do you do if the your internet or your network connection goes down? Your sales and support people just have to sit around and wait until it's fixed. In the meantime you can't make any sales or provide customer support!

If you are using Commence and your network or internet goes down, there's no problem for the user, they can keep working without interruption, and the Commence Server will automatically take care of updating everyone's information when the network is back up again.

• Security - As with all interactions with the Internet, there are a number of important security issues to consider with web-based CRM solutions. 

• The web hosting provider has to enforce security policies for you; they must regulate both physical access to the server and web based access from around the world. Do you trust the solution provider enough to be satisfied that ALL of your data will be safe with the host company, or with their employees? 

• For web based security, the host company has to implement Internet firewalls to block attempts to access your data from hackers, who routinely attempt to break into servers and steal confidential data. The host also has the responsibility of encrypting the data that is sent between the server and your browser (since the full pages of data are coming back and forth).

• The back up of your data is outside your control.

• If you ever want to change from the web-based solution, (or the host company goes bankrupt) can you be sure your data will be made available from the web provider? How hard will it be to export the data, and do you have control over the format it gets exported to?

• The speed which you can access your data is very important for a successful solution.

• A hosted Web-based CRM will be slower than a LAN-based solution such as Commence because of the difference in speed between a network and the Internet. In addition, programs built on browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer typically run more slowly than local applications.

• Whenever you access data in a record or a report, all of that data has to be transmitted over the internet from the web server to your client. This creates significant network overhead and will cause some delay. On the other hand, the Commence architecture means that only changes are sent across the network, and data is cached on the local disk, providing much faster response.

• Infrastructure - Commence does not need any other software to enable it to function. Simply load the software on a server computer and start working. Additional software or infrastructure, such as a broadband Internet connection, is not required for it to function normally.

• Integration - Trying to integrate a Web-based CRM solution with desktop applications such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook or custom developed software is often difficult, and can require expensive additional software.  Similarly, back-office integration can also be a problem with Web-based systems. Commence integrates with Microsoft Office and Outlook right out of the box. It also has a full API which you can use to integrate it with most other applications.

• Cost - Salesforce.com advertise that their service starts at US$65/month per user. That may sound inexpensive at first, but when you do the calculations is works out to A$1050 per year per user or A$10,500 per year for a 10 user installation. 

Installing Commence for 10 users costs about the same - but as a one time license fee - not every year!

So after 3 years you will have paid almost 3 times as much with the hosted solution! 

• Modifications - How easy is it for someone to make modifications to your data and your database? Can you customise it to suit your requirements? Can you add fields and forms, new tables and define relationships? Can you do this yourself, or do you have to pay the hosting company for the privilege of customising your database? This is definitely one of Commence' greatest strengths. Commence can be customised by an authorised user, in a matter of minutes, through the easy to use interface. Adding/modifying tables, fields, forms and relationships, is just a few mouse clicks away. 

• Rapid Implementation - Creating a database from scratch seems complex and very time-consuming for the prospective CRM buyer, and is another reason hosted solutions are attracting interest. However, implementing a Commence-based CRM application is often much faster than doing the same with a Web-based solution. The Commence RM: Australian Edition is a complete out-of-the-box solution, which will meet the requirements of most sales and service organisations. In addition, the flexibility of Commence allows it to be easily tailored to particular customer requirements. Combine this with Commence' S.T.E.P. implementation method, and you'll have a superb CRM application, that works the way you want it to, in a very short time-frame.

• Mobility - Another reason that companies consider a Web-based CRM solution is the perceived ability to access their "live" CRM from anywhere in the world over the Internet. This is not only possible with Commence, using the FTP, Email and VPN synchronisation technologies, but your employees have full access their local databases on their laptop computers, without having to be connected to the internet.

• Reliability - The hosted service has to:

• Ensure that their service is running 24x7. Even the most dedicated hosted solutions are finding that their websites go  down for an average of 1/2 hour a week. Let's hope no-one is trying to access their sales reports at these times...

• Try to improve server performance with methods such as load balancing, direct backbone connections and optimised page transmission. However, there are limits, and constantly serving data a large number of users will invariably result in periodic bottlenecks and poor performance. 

With a Commence CRM solution, as long as your computer is turned on, you can have Commence running 24x7, with no downtime.

Your CRM system will become critical to the operation of your business. Therefore when evaluating CRM solutions, it is essential that you consider all the factors such as security, reliability, availability and the ability to integrate with your desktop applications. Importantly, you also need to consider the true cost of ownership over several years - you will see that the web-hosted solution is an expensive way to go.

Commence provides a much more cost-effective solution, where you have full control over these factors, as well as the ability to customise the CRM solution to your particular requirements and business processes.