There are many reasons why organizations adopt cloud-based solutions, whether it be a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, a piece of contact center software, an enterprise resource management (ERP) service or any other application. At least, that’s what trade journals and tech bloggers have been saying for years. In reality, however, for most companies, it boils down to one benefit: cost savings. This is particularly true with CRM.

Research conducted by Maximizer Software of more than 500 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) found that the biggest selling point of cloud-based CRM solutions is the lack of need to splash out upfront capital or pay for the additional infrastructure and IT staff necessary to implement in-house CRM. Secondary reasons for cloud-based CRM implementations also relate to cost: Companies perceive that the rate of return on their investment is faster with a cloud-based CRM solution, and that upgrades and updates can be accomplished with less cost and fuss.  Of all those companies surveyed, a significant majority –  58 percent – revealed that cost was the key benefit of cloud-based CRM at a time when businesses of all sizes have standing orders to cut costs.

"The economic advantages of hosting data in the cloud are only one aspect of its appeal,” said Mark Annett of Camsoft Solutions, a business partner of Maximizer Software, in a statement. "With cloud-based CRM, such as MaxCloud CRM, SMEs are also able to scale their system according to the number of users, increasing the number of licenses to mirror their business needs. This aspect is particularly useful for SMEs needing to respond to sudden growth without worrying about knock-on infrastructure or maintenance effects," adds Annett. The research shows that the unique opportunity this scalability presents is recognized by the SMEs surveyed, and it comes second in the list of the most popular advantages of cloud-based CRM, with 46 percent citing it as a key benefit.”

This isn’t to say that businesses don’t have concerns with cloud-based solutions, including cloud-based CRM. About 70 percent of respondents expressed concerns about service outages or interruptions. Clearly, however, the cost savings are outweighing these fears. One of the many benefits of a cloud-based solution – the ability to use it remotely, from home or from remote satellite offices – didn’t show up high on the list of reasons for implementing cloud CRM. Many of those companies surveyed believe (erroneously) that this can be accomplished just as easily with in-house solutions.