Overview

The urgency within the business community to adopt or expand CRM functionality has caused a surge of interest in the hosted solution model. Yet, entrusting the technology end of a CRM strategy to a third party can be a little scary. Through adoption of Internet standards, strong partnerships and the sharing of best practices, the hosted solution industry is working hard to address concerns about security, availability and control.

Due to this shift in corporate thinking, the hosted solution model has become more appealing in the corporate boardroom. Many corporate executives are starting to wonder, "What if someone outside the corporate walls could provide, maintain, and update this technology for us?" Even IT executives, who traditionally have felt that they needed to own all their applications and keep them all in-house, are beginning to rethink their stance. Large- to enterprise-sized corporations that own a multitude of best-of-breed applications with all the related service, support and management headaches are also perusing the hosted solution marketplace.

There are many flavors and choices available in the hosted solution arena. As with an in-house solution, the CRM team needs to understand their company's CRM goals and objectives, before going with a hosted solution.

What is a Hosted Solution?

For the purpose of this book, a hosted solution is, basically, a new model for selling software made possible by the marriage of the Internet and conventional CRM products. A hosted solution provider (HSP) hosts software applications. These applications are stored and managed off-site at...