Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8:

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT HEADS TO THE CLOUD.

1. What types of companies are most likely to adopt cloud-based CRM software services? Why? What companies might not be well-suited for this type of software?

The traditional enterprise software vendors like Oracle are using their well established position to grad a share of the cloud-based application market; new comers like Right Now, Compiere, and Sugar CRM have found success using some different tactics. Because most companies that are interested in cloud computing are small or midsize and lack the know-how or financial resources to successfully build and maintain CRM applications in-house. However, the large companies have made the switch to cloud. Company officials were hoping to eliminate maintenance and administrative costs, but not at the expense of a storage system that meets their requirements, were never out of service, and worked perfectly.

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using cloud- based enterprise applications?

The cloud-based advantages as it attempted to merge information from different sources, and many smaller companies have taken advantage of a new type of cloud computing. For example, cloud-based applications can merge customer data 25 disparate sources and applications into a single system.

Disadvantage is that company officials were hoping to eliminate maintenance and administrative costs, but not at the expense of a storage system that met their requirements, was never out of service, and worked perfectly and they will cost a lot of money from enterprise.

3. What people, organization, and technology issues should be addressed in deciding whether to use a conventional CRM system versus a cloud- based version?

Nikon found that not only Right Now had the capability to implement that system, but also it had an array of other useful services. When Nikon discovered that it could combine outbound e-mail, contact management, and customer records into a single system in Right Now’s cloud, it made the move, expecting to receive a solid return on the investment. However, more customers found the information they needed on the Web, call response times dropped by 50 percent, and incoming e-mail dropped by 70 percent. While Nikon still hosts its SAP system internally due to its complexity, Nikon switched its entire CRM system to Right Now. Companies that manage their CRM apps with a cloud infrastructure have no guarantees that their data will be available at all times, or even that the provider will still exist in the future.