CRM Onpremise versus Online

Onpremise vs. Online

How do you want to make CRM available to your organization?

Onpremise: Within your IT environment
Online: Online solution offered by Microsoft
Partner-Hosted: Otherwise known as SaaS (Software as a Service), a hosted solution offered by alocal hosting provider

@work is experienced in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Onpremise, Online and Partner-Hosted solutions. We gladly advise our cusomers with regards to the right deployment option for their organization. The advice received from @work is not only based on Microsoft's best practices but, from our own experience in more than 200 implementations.

System Mangement and Availability

When we talk about an Onpremise solution the partner and/or customer are responsible for all updates (roll-ups and hotfixes that Microsoft makes available during the lifecycle of each version of the product). With the Online or Partner-Hosted solutions updates are done automatically by the hosting partner. This option limits the System Management of the Online and Partner-Hosted solutions to Functional Management only. An Onpremise solution is available Online and Offline. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is not available without an Internet connection. Microsoft guarantees that the Online solution has an availability of 99.9%.

Data Storage and Security

The Onpremise solution is often managed by an interal IT department or External System Manager. The Online and Partner-Hosted solutions have a team of engineers managing the system and monitoring security closely. With the Online solution data storage can be an issue for some organizations as the data is "anywhere" in the world. Some organizations are required due to country specific laws to have their data in their own country. This could be a reason to make the choice for an Onpremise or Partner-Hosted solution.

Costs

For an Onpremise solution you pay to become the owner of the licenses (there are various licesing models available). Additionally you enroll in a Software Assurance Plan (SA), giving you the right to upgrade to new versions of the software during the enrollment period. All other software and hardware such as Windows, SQL and so on need to be purchased. The servers themsleves and the managemnt of the servers are of course also costs that must be considered. When using Online and Partner-Hosted solutions organizations pay a fixed price per user per month.

What is the right choice?

The choice for most organizations becaomes a a choice regarding cost based largely on their current situation. Technical differences and the location of data can of course also be defining. If an organization already has an IT department or an External System Manager, the choice for an Onpremise solution is very well worth considering. An organization that wants a solution without using their own resources for System Management but needs to keep their data in their own country should consider a Partner-Hosted solution. Organizations that don't have (or can't make use of) any internal or external IT support, limtied or no hardware and no issues with where the data is stored then the Online solution could be a smart choice.