Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise and On-Demand: What’s the Difference?

As part of Microsoft’s CRM strategy to deliver the “Power of Choice” to customers and partners, we offer Microsoft Dynamics CRM in a variety of subscription or ownership models:

• On-premise: Customers purchase the licenses and run the application on their own servers.
• On-demand: Customers subscribe to the software service on a per user per month basis:
• Partner-hosted: Microsoft partners host the application in their facilities on behalf of customers, and provide customer service and support.
• Microsoft-hosted: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is hosted in Microsoft corporate datacenters, delivered to customers over the Internet.

With all the deployment choices offered, people often ask about the differences between them. Let me start with the similarities:

• All are based on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 code base, making it easy for customers to migrate across on-demand and on-premise deployments.
• The core functionality of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the same regardless of how it is deployed, offering a full-suite of Sales, Marketing and Service functionality - as well as workflow automation and customization capabilities.

Where the deployment options differ is in the level of customization available and authentication mechanisms used. The table below shows a comparison between the on-premise, partner hosted and CRM Online solutions:

* The number of customer entities and workflows depends on the product edition

Since the capabilities are essentially the same across all deployment models, the decision to go on-premise or on-demand should be driven by criteria such as budget, existing IT infrastructure and resources. For more information on the offerings available visit http://www.crmchoice.com.

Cheers,

Stephanie Dart