Three Misconceptions About Cloud CRM That Will Shock You

Is an apartment the best choice for everyone? Or is a single-family house the best fit?  Many debates have ensued over the differences between these two very different housing options. Similar conversations occur around the differences between public cloud solutions (like Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online & SalesForce.com) and private cloud (dedicated virtual instances in the cloud). A good way to think about the public cloud is like an apartment building - multiple residences all within one real-estate footprint. A private cloud deployment of CRM is similar to a single-family house - one family on one plot of land. Neither option is a one-size-fits-all solution, and there are three common misconceptions that I hear from customers all the time that might surprise even the most experienced CRM user.

Customizations may not carry over.

One of the great benefits of the public cloud is the automatic upgrades. For a customer with a plain-vanilla deployment of CRM, this provides a great advantage. When Microsoft releases Dynamics CRM 2013, and then 2015, and the next version after, the customer will always have immediate access to the latest version. However, for those customers that have done customizations and add-ons for the environment, this auto-upgrade feature can backfire and cause more damage than intended when data is lost, workflows fail, or applications are no longer able to integrate. The more customizations, the larger the problem and associated risk.

Think about it this way: if an apartment is suitable for you, then when the apartment complex paints the entire building one color - you are good to go! However, if you intended on heavily customizing the look of your apartment: painting, changing windows, knocking down walls, etc., well you get the idea: it is not a good fit - you ...