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Contents 
Introduction
Gaining traction
Risking it all
Picking your cards
The key that fits
Case study: WebCentral |
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Bosma may have some good words of wisdom, but actually putting them into practice can be a lot harder than you may think -- especially with so many pre-packaged options out there at both high and others at low cost.
But Hostworks' Gauvin says it should be just like getting your clothes fitted by a tailor -- complex businesses must pay more to have a solution that is the right fit.
This means SLAs must be right, relationships and communication channels effective, and the link between you and your provider hardy enough to give the link the capacity required to carry out key chores, and if it takes a consultant to achieve all this, then you simply must pay one.
Bosma says for smaller businesses, a more pigeon-holed hosted application, where everything is very locked in, can work perfectly. "Some people may use hosted applications for simple chores such as HR. In these cases it can work fine, especially for SMEs with limited IT resources or no capital budget for acquiring software," Bosma says.
But as Gartner's Steenstrup is keen to point out, companies must be sure that any new application being introduced to the business will integrate well with all existing systems. In CRM this could be between your sales point and production line. "You need to be careful how you are going to integrate your fulfilment cycle (such as the processes between point-of-sale and purchase pick-up)," Steenstrup says.
"The other thing you may want to make sure of, when choosing a host, is that they are in a geographically suitable location. This means looking at what level of support you have, especially if 24-hour support is sold as a feature, and if your guaranteed year-round levels of access." Just as our manager at the start of the story was fast to find out, a service provider on the other side of the world may allow its key staff, the ones that can make serious changes, sleep during your work hours.
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