CRM Software solutions are an integral part of the sales, marketing and customer service of most businesses. Today, CRM Software goes far further than these functions to manage all business requirements - termed by the people at Microsoft as xRM – (x) anything Relationship Management. Choosing which solution is right for your company is not easy and often companies compare different CRM offerings including Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Salesforce. The choice however is no longer black and white.

The challenging economy and increasing competition make businesses constantly seek for cost reductions. Be it large enterprises using sophisticated ERP and BI applications or SMEs performing simple word-processing and invoicing operations, the software and the hardware platforms required to host it are a significant spending.

The popularity of cloud computing deserves some discussion of what comprises the services and the value proposition to companies today wanting to become more cost effective. Cloud computing takes the concept of managed services and adds newer web-based applications called Software as a Service (SaaS) and virtualized infrastructure services such as SAN storage and Data Center services.

As per Wikipedia, "SaaS" could be defined as a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally (typically in the Internet cloud) and are accessed by users using a thin client, normally a web browser over the Internet.

In the old way of thinking, companies were used to buying, building, and maintaining their IT infrastructures despite exponential costs. SaaS gives companies an alternative to those headaches.