IT budgets across all industries are coming under pressure due to the economic uncertainties that we find ourselves in and through this all companies are attempting to find ways in which to improve the return on expenditure. This has seen an increase in utilisation for most partners, and for end clients the delivery of systems is coming under greater inspection.
Cloud computing or Hosting depending on which phrase you prefer allows companies to rent rather than buy and when this is rolled out to IT infrastructure and ERP and CRM platforms this can offer great savings.
The rise in Hosting for Dynamics can be seen as a panacea, it allows a cheaper alternative for end clients, it enables VARs to bring forward upgrades and it allows Microsoft to grab a greater market share.
Traditionally for end users the choice of onpremise has been a choice between buying or building, the larger the company the more likely it has traditionally been that the option will be building their own internal platforms with the purchase of specialist platforms. If the company has completely unique needs then there is a reason why this could be seen as an alternative, an expensive alternative but one that is valid nonetheless.
Yet the with the increase in Microsoft Azure usability and features that can host everything from a mobile phone app to the largest platform the development of hosting can be used by the smallest companies through to the largest companies. The savings are for all.
The advantages of hosting are not just down to cost and it is probable that a decision based purely on the cheapest option is not always the best way to proceed, even in these straightened times. If as an end client you buy or build, then you are in the nervy position that keeping on-premise servers up to date and for that matter just up and running, which over time can become a job in itself. The continual arms race of competing servers and the need to continually upgrade your hardware is not only expensive but also time consuming.
As with everything that comes across the desk of an IT Director, there is not a quick fix however it does offer greater flexibility. There is an inherent belief in IT that moving to a new location is difficult and expensive, yet by utilisation of the cloud this is no longer a problem, the same with mobile applications, the same for home working. This in turn enables increased productivity for the end user.
This flexibility is not just confined to the staff, this is true of the applications as well, imagine as an end client being able to turn on and off the applications that you only use from time to time. This drops down costs, but also enables you to be more efficient in the way that you work.
There are some also benefits that come from the choice of the right Hosting provider, the right hosting company will ensure that they have best of breed, although this will be sold as a benefit to you as the end client and it is, the main reason for this is to stay ahead of the competition, if you are moving to a hosting company, you would not move to a company that was still using products less up to date than you have yourself. This best of breed mentality has the benefit that you as an end client are not burdened with maintenance and subscription bills every year, and as they will be supporting their infrastructure this frees up your own in-house support to work on more revenue earning roles.
Given that this means that there is a desire to choose the right company for hosting for Dynamics, how do you choose a company that is right for you?
Over the last for months, since it has been clear due to the success of hosting for Dynamics CRM that there will be a huge need for hosting for Dynamics NAV and for hosting for Dynamics AX, www.dynamicsworld.co.uk have been working with VARS, ISVs and End Users to investigate the market to discover what makes the best hosting company.
The investigation has discovered that what is important to end clients and the key points that have come up are
- Total Cost of Ownership
- Contractually Guaranteed Service Levels
- Security of the Organisation’s Data
- The questions that have been asked are
- Is there a disaster recovery plan?
- How do you back up? How often?
- How easy is the move?
- For the VARs the key point has revolved around commercials
- Value for money
- What’s best; public or private cloud?
- Can we white label the offering?
Having spent 3 months investigating the market place for Hosting for Dynamics the conclusion of DynamicsWorld, the end users, VARs and ISVs that we have worked with is that the best of breed for Hosting for Dynamics is Commensus. More information can be found on at www.dynamicsworld.co.uk/commensus
The Commensus Cloud Platform, known as C-VIP, is one of the only fully flexible and highly resilient virtual platforms offering true onsite/offsite management with seamless integration to support your current IT infrastructure. By working with the very best vendors and latest technologies, Commensus empower clients to take advantage of the best IT infrastructure money can buy, without any need for investment to deploy or support it.
Commensus work with Hosting for Dynamics AX 2012 partners to deliver private cloud hosting for Dynamics AX ERP 2012. http://www.commensus.com/Private-Cloud/Microsoft-Dynamics-AX-2012-Hosting Utilising our Private Cloud, we can provide the infrastructure hosting for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and at act your hosting provider.
Commensus work with hosting for Dynamics CRM 2011 providing virtual server services to host the latest CRM applications and associated SQL database on a fully geo-replicated environment. http://www.commensus.com/Private-Cloud/Microsoft-Dynamics-CRM-2011 This ensures unrivalled server uptime and availability. The Commensus C-VIP platform has enjoyed 100% resilience and 100% uptime since 2007. Providing the most scalable and efficient server architecture possible to host your CRM servers.
