Partner hosted crm - what to look for?

The introduction of CRM 2011 online next month will start many discussion about where to host. Do we choose only for the lowest rate or do we expect more from a hosting provider.

Of course, we not only want to host one product, but in case of Dynamics CRM we also like to add Exchange and SharePoint. This together would give us all features for basic collaboration and a solid CRM solutions.

Furthermore I think the discussing about is my data safe is not relevant anymore most serious parties have SAS 70 certification which guarantees your data can be kept safe. Mostly the security risk is your responsibility and at the end we just goto WikiLeads ;-)

I was asked and also pointed out by colleague to Sherweb.com. This is one of the major player on hosting service including hosted Dynamics CRM , SharePoint & MS Exchange.


I personally would look at the following points for selected my hosted provider:

- what service they offer
- Security SAS 70
- Customer friendly.. e.g. wizard that help you select the best options
- Extra information for help you make decision
- Price vs what you get for it

I like the wizard (see image) that help you choose e.g. shopping cart principle. Also links to common question advantage of hosted vs on-premise (in house).


Interesting additional service are Outlook migration, basic data migration, training and of course service plans. Often forgotten, you want to know who to call if you got stuck(!).

Guess, the tip of the day, not only take the price in consideration, also see what extra services are available.

Happy choosing ;)

Comments

Anonymous said…
My understanding of SAS70 Type II certification is that a company is audited to ensure that it meets standards that it sets for itself. So if there policy is to leave the data centre unlocked at night, then they'll pass their SAS70 Type II audit so long as the data centre is never locked at night. ISO17799 on the other hand actually defines a tougher set of security standards against which a company can be audited.