Concentrix Decides to Offer Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM

British customer relationship management specialist and IT vendor Concentrix is now providing Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics CRM 4.0 as a hosted offering. 

 

Concentrix has been implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM as an on-premise product within businesses for years, and the company describes itself as "a strong advocate" of on-premise CRM, but company officials say over recent months they've seen increasing demand for hosted systems. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 tends to be popular among small and medium-sized enterprises more for its front-office functions of Sales, Marketing and Customer Service.

"The hosted model bests suits the requirements of some organizations. We're getting more and more inquiries about hosted, or software-as a-service CRM," says John Odell, Senior CRM Consultant at Concentrix, describing the firm as "product agnostic."

The key difference between Concentrix hosted and on-premise Microsoft CRM, he explains, is that with the hosted version, Concentrix holds the software and data on their servers in a data center. Concentrix personnel run and maintain the software and servers. Users, of course, simply access the CRM over the Internet. 

 

"Just like an on-premise CRM system, companies can use their own data, fully integrate the software with Microsoft Outlook, and Concentrix can configure Microsoft CRM to meet the requirements of individual businesses," company officials say.

 

Earlier this year TMC 's Anshu Shrivastava reported that Concentrix made an equity investment in Occidental Business Services to obtain "the ability to service North American, European and Latin American markets with Spanish and also other language requirements."

Odell says the Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a hosted product option is more popular with "organizations that need lower setup costs, less risk and quicker implementation times. We're catering for businesses that want to concentrate on their key activities, without having to spend money on IT hardware or employ highly skilled IT staff."

 

Despite the increased interest in hosted CRM, Concentrix officials say their bread and butter is still best-of-breed on-premise CRM installations, such as Sage CRM, SalesLogix, and FrontRange's GoldMine as well as Microsoft.

 
Asked if Concentrix expects to see a shift from on-premise to hosted solutions, Odell says "probably the other way around. Hosted is a great way to get started with CRM and install a CRM culture. However, there are some limitations with hosted CRM, and they are by no means suited to everyone. It's likely that businesses that start off with hosted will soon see tangible benefits and, with proven ROI, will move away from a monthly-fee model to on-premise."

Concentrix is based in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire with a satellite office in central London.