CRM or customer relationship management software is very helpful for automating the processes that are somehow related to the marketing division. Because of high return on investment (ROI) and impressive benefits, this particular type of software module is hugely popular among owners of businesses. Traditionally, CRM software was only available as an installable module. Those traditional modules were intended for using on local hardware. Most of the traditional CRM software was proprietary software. At present, CRM software is available in two formats. The first format is traditional and requires to be installed on local premises computer. The second version is offered in the form of SaaS or software as a service. This second type of CRM software is cloud or internet based. The cloud based CRM has several benefits and advantages over the offline or traditional CRM software.
The cloud based CRM
Cloud based CRM software is often installed on gigantic online servers. The online server is maintained and set by a cloud hosting company. The online server offers diversified services (such as accounting, CRM, etc.). Those services can be accessed by interested parties over the internet. A subscription fee is often charged by the respective hosting company to grant access to the cloud based services. The cloud based CRM software is installed only on the online server.
Cloud based CRM requires less infrastructural cost
For accessing cloud services a desktop, a laptops, or a tablet computers of simple configurations is enough. No high end hardware and proprietary CRM software is required for subscribing to the cloud based CRM services. Thus, the users of cloud crm can cut down on IT infrastructural cost to a significantly low level.
For businesses that have capital constraints, they can hugely benefit from the cloud based CRM. The cloud version of CRM is accessed by different businesses upon payment of a periodical subscription charge. In fact, the subscription charge is the only significant fee to be incurred by users of cloud services.
On the contrary the proprietary CRM software requires hardware of high configuration. Moreover, the CRM software itself has a high cost of purchasing price or licensing fee. Thus, the on the premises CRM software is as affordable as the cloud based ones.
Maintenance cost is almost zero
The maintenance cost remains close to zero if cloud based CRM is used by businesses. As every critical processing is done on the online servers, subscribing businesses can go with desktops of less or moderate processing power. As only simplistic hardware and software is used by the subscribers, no high cost regular maintenance is required resulting in low maintenance cost. The opposite is true for the on premises CRM software. Therefore, the overall capital or investment involvement for subscribing cloud based CRM services is considerably low. That is why the popularity of cloud based CRM services is increasing continuously.
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