1. What types of companies are most likely to adopt cloud-based CRM software services? Why? What companies might not be well-suited for this type of software?
The most likely companies to adopt cloud computing based ERP and CRM software services will be start-ups, companies that want to reduce internal IT costs, companies who want to reduce their capital costs and companies struggling for large amounts of data.
This is because it enables them to achieve excellent operation and close relationship with customers. It is released from infrastructure maintenance and the corresponding fixed and operating costs. It provides them with ubiquitous operation and allows them to easily subscribe or cancel their subscription without losing a lot of initial software license and hardware investment.
Companies that may not be suitable for this type of software are companies from small to medium sized companies. These companies have senior financial professionals. They worry about security issues and lack of information and understanding related to cloud technology. This is the main reason for organizations to stay away from cloud ERP. Large enterprises in fast developing industries are also not suitable for ERP and CRM based software based on cloud. This is due to the need for flexibility. First of all, the enterprise needs not only the deep technological change, but also the fundamental changes in the mode of business operation. The installation of new software requires employees to change their working methods. Employees must learn how to carry out a series of new work activities. This requires new organizations to learn and provide them with training. It will not recommend that companies that cannot accept these changes and provide training for their employees will not use this kind of software.
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using cloud-based enterprise applications?
Advantage：
(1) cost efficiency is the biggest advantage of cloud computing, by eliminating the investment of independent software or on the server. By using the function of the cloud, the enterprise can save the license fee and eliminate the indirect costs such as data storage, software update and management cost.
(2) the process of backup and restore the backup and restore the data is simplified because they are now residing on the cloud rather than on the physical device. All kinds of cloud providers provide reliable and flexible backup / recovery solutions. In some cases, the cloud itself is used only as a backup repository for data in a local computer.
(3) the increased storage capacity can accommodate and store more data than the personal computer and provide almost unlimited storage capacity in some way. It eliminates the fear of exhaustion of storage space, and it also makes it unnecessary for the enterprise to upgrade its computer hardware to further reduce the overall IT cost.
Shortcomings:
(1) security and privacy in CloudSecurity are the most concerned issues in cloud computing. By taking advantage of a remote cloud based infrastructure, the company will essentially divulge private data and information, which may be sensitive and confidential. It is then managed by cloud service providers to protect and retain them, so the reliability of the provider is critical.
(2) increasing vulnerabilities is related to the security and privacy mentioned above. Please note that cloud based solutions are exposed to public Internet, so malicious users and hackers are more vulnerable to attack. Nothing on the Internet is completely safe, and even the biggest players suffer serious attacks and security vulnerabilities. Because of the interdependence of the system, if there is one of the compromised data storage machines, personal information may be leaked to the world.
(3) limited control and flexibility. Because applications and services run in the remote third party virtual environment, companies and users have limited control over the function and execution of hardware and software. Moreover, because of the use of remote software, it usually lacks the function of the application that runs locally.
3. What management, organization, and technology issues should be addressed in deciding whether to use a conventional CRM system versus a cloud-based version?
Administration：
(1)Risk assessment: it is difficult to assess risk when a company does not have the infrastructure that supports ERP and CRM systems.
(2)Reliability: companies that use cloud based CRM and ERP solutions may rely on their providers, because they do not store data, and may not be able to export other systems easily when needed.
Organization:
Human resource optimization: although traditional ERP and CRM solutions need technicians, cloud based solutions can optimize human resources to focus on operation and improve efficiency.
Technology:
(1)Security: using the network as an infrastructure, cloud computing based ERP and CRM solutions have difficulties in providing security to companies with reasonable data.
(2)Availability: due to network fault tolerance models, ERP and CRM solutions based on cloud computing suffer from the availability of business operation failures.
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