Head in the Clouds: The Benefits of Cloud-Based CRM Solutions

Gone are the days of importing and exporting data — the updates are dynamic. True, you can achieve this with an on-premise solution. But what happens when your website is dependent for some of its functions on the availability of your CRM solution, which is in your office on little more than a domestic Internet connection? It’s just better to have it all in the cloud — then the connection hassles belong to someone else.

Easier implementation and updates
If you’ve been through the implementation of an on-premise CRM solution, you realize the inconvenience of having a new application loaded onto your computer, the associated compatibility challenges when you find out your anti-virus doesn’t agree with it and so on. Because the software is in the cloud as well as the database, all you should need for a cloud-based solution is your Web browser. And when the vendor comes up with an update, it's applied once so everyone in your organization immediately gets the benefit.

Scalability
Lastly, the technology resources in the cloud are virtually limitless. So if you plan to run a campaign that will result in people flocking to your website to register and make donations, you don’t have to worry if it’s in the cloud because capacity in the cloud is elastic.

Cloud-based CRM solutions are beginning to take over, and they provide many benefits for organizations of any size. Now is the time to ask yourself if a cloud-based CRM solution is right for you.

Robin Fisk is a senior charity technology specialist at Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit software provider Advanced Solutions International (ASI).