Did you know that 95% of new Dynamics implementations are using cloud services?
There’s a reason for that...
Organisations are seeing huge benefits by moving to a cloud solution from an On-Premise implementation. The cloud Provides security and infrastructure advantages such as unparalleled performance and 99.9% service uptime.
Hosted by Dynamics 365 means you don’t need to worry about a server that needs to be maintained and upgraded and removes concerns about security. Microsoft’s firewalls and protective protocols are in place and are amongst the most powerful in the world, taking the liability (and cost) away from your organisation immediately.
The cloud leverages huge data centers across the globe and has a sophisticated redundancy solution in place. That means when parts of the system are being upgraded or face networking issues, your implementation will relocate to another part of the system, providing uninterrupted service. A physical hardware box on premise is less likely to provide such robust advantages.
If your current on-premise hardware fails, do you have a backup plan? Additionally, if you lost on-site connectivity, remote users can’t access your CRM. What do you do?
Another point to consider is accessibility. With the cloud, anyone can connect from any device from around the world with many levels of redundancy and backup plans already in place. Microsoft do the heavy lifting so you don’t have to.
If you want to be on the cutting edge of CRM technology, moving to the cloud is simply the best option. You’ll get the newest features and you won’t need to plan a timetable using your IT staff and logistics managers. Your business teams have advantages months before your competitors. Who wouldn’t want that?
Dynamics 365 is the only application on the market that fully integrates with Office 365. Application integrations include Sharepoint, Skype, Word, Excel, One Note and more. Having the entire Microsoft Stack in one central place, all hosted on their own infrastructure provides your organisation with a system that is more than the sum of its parts.
Maintaining infrastructures such as web and database servers, test environments and all the management overhead is expensive with an on-premise CRM solution. In the cloud, your organisation no longer faces these costs.
Another consideration is potential downtime. For example, if your sales team can’t operate to their optimal capability due to upgrade downtime, degraded service, and power outages, then the move to a cloud solution is a very attractive proposition.
Then there is the cost. Dynamics 365 Cloud offers a subscription model - This means your organisation does not need to invest huge amounts of initial capital just to get the system online.
We believe that you could see a net gain within two and a half years from upgrading to the cloud. We suggest reviewing your current solution and all the costs that are attached.
We’ve provided this helpful comparison chart below, immediately showing you key differences between Azure infrastructure and an On-Premise Dynamics solution.
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Differences
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Dynamics 365 Cloud
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On-Premise
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|
Administration
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Minimal internal administration required: Technical infrastructure managed by Microsoft
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Requires in-house or partner maintenance
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|
Licencing per year
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£158 per full user (full plan)
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£675 Per user
|
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Server hardware
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N/A
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Use existing hardware or will need to purchase additional servers (Expensive)
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Automated, early upgrades
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Yes
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No
|
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99.9% uptime
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Yes
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No
|
|
Robustness
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Dependent on hardware – expensive to purchase server backups
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Data center resilience achieved through redundancy
|
|
Free Deployable Portal
|
Yes
|
No
|
|
Updates
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Major releases rolled out first
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Major and minor releases held back by months
|
|
Maintenance costs
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No
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Requires expensive Hardware & Software upgrades.
|
|
Cost model
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Monthly subscription
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Large initial investment
|
|
Software Assurances
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Included
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Est. 16% percent of total license value
|
|
Typical upgrade costs
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N/A
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£3150 upwards
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Exclusive features
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#
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In Dynamics 365 online only – as of July 2017
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|
1
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App designer and Site map designer
|
|
2
|
Connected Field Service (IOT)
|
|
3
|
Data export service
|
|
4
|
Customer Insights
|
|
5
|
Azure Cognitive Services
|
|
6
|
Document suggestions
|
|
7
|
Exchange booking integration
|
|
8
|
Gamification
|
|
9
|
Learning path
|
|
10
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Mobile – with Relationship insights
- Intune device management
- Mobile offline
- Task based exp.
|
|
11
|
Office 365 Groups
|
|
12
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Portals – Partner Portal
- Customer Portal
- Self-Service Portals
|
|
14
|
Project Service Automation
|
|
15
|
Relationship Insights
|
|
16
|
Relevance Search
|
|
17
|
Resource scheduling optimization
|
|
18
|
Azure Machine Learning
- Product recommendation
- Knowledge base suggestion
|
|
19
|
Organization Insights dashboard
|
|
20
|
One note integration
|
|
21
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3rd party S2S inbound authentication
|
| |
In preview – Under development
|
|
1
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Bulk data loader service
|
|
2
|
Cortana Integration for Sales
- Sales Digest
- Account overview
- Deal overview
- Meeting prep
|
|
3
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Customer backup and restore – Azure storage
|
|
4
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Linked In connector for Lead Gen
|
|
5
|
Relationship Analytics
|
If you're interested in moving over to a cloud-based solution, you can get in touch with our corporate relationship manager at alex.baylis@serversys.com. We pride ourselves on understanding your business requirements and finding a CRM solution that supports your organisation.
