3 Major Cloud Hosting Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics users can highly benefit by leveraging the features offered by cloud based solutions, as they are found to reduce costs and maintenance efforts significantly. The correct cloud solution from public, private, and hybrid should be chosen based on the corporate policy and company-specific security concerns of the Microsoft Dynamics users. It can be determined only by identifying the feature-set that they require and matching it with the cloud solution features. This requires expertise from dynamics CRM in identifying the right fit and the right vendor for the cloud services.

Since Microsoft Dynamics provides integrated cloud based programs, businesses are open to considering cloud hosting as an alternative to heavy self-hosted software. The cloud based solutions offer a high functionality-low cost model that can also take care of security concerns of the business. It should be noted that these are not necessarily expensive and high maintenance than self-hosted solutions.

Types of Cloud Based Solutions The uninitiated into cloud technology can get confused over the borderline differences between the 3 types of cloud: public, private, and hybrid. In any case, the business should choose the technology suited to the company’s specific needs, after weighing the advantages and challenges of each cloud architecture.

Public Cloud Most of us are familiar with public cloud solutions, as we already have applications hosted on cloud installed and running on our smartphones and/or web-browsers. In this case, all the user data is stored on an external server, be it app specific data or general company data. This data is accessed by role based mechanisms by the end users – users of customer facing apps or employees using internal workforce apps.

In case of Microsoft Dynamics users (companies), Microsoft itself or an affiliate cloud services provider handles the data on their own servers. Hence, companies are relieved of the hassle of maintaining and securing the stored data. This leads to minimum turnaround time for implementing the cloud hosting and significantly lower upfront hosting subscription costs. Another major advantage is that this cloud architecture is highly scalable, allowing the company to pay only for the size of the cloud it subscribes to in a given time period as it handles increased server load during runtime, as per the number of active users.

Private Cloud This cloud architecture appeals mainly to large companies which have established software protocols, since the data is accessible to only the internal employees and contractors. Needless to say, the in-house IT department of the company handles the installation and management of the private cloud. This solution however, lacks the simplicity (ease of installation) and flexibility (remote access) of the public cloud. This renders the private cloud solutions suitable mainly for internal data retrievals only. The fact that the private cloud is governed by security systems of the business itself acts both as an advantage and disadvantage. This is because it manages to keep the data on-premise, but can still be vulnerable to security threats against which third-party vendors provide better protection. Private cloud is useful mainly in scenarios that require all data to be under one roof.

Hybrid Cloud This solution works using elements of both – public and private cloud. It offers flexibility while the company retains full control of important data. The modular nature of this solution makes it the most ambiguous of all hosting architectures. Hence, most businesses work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Consultants directly to come up with a custom cloud solution and configure it according to company requirements. Drawing from the public cloud setup, this architecture is also scalable such that it helps generate temporary clouds to relieve sudden server traffic increase. This safety net feature has more bearing on the utility of the hybrid solution than its storage capacity.

Microsoft Dynamics users can deploy the same softwares on cloud and on-premise using hybrid cloud approach.

This provides integration, while restricting access to confidential internal data for external cloud solutions. It must be noted that on-premise data does not guarantee higher security. Also, if the third party cloud vendor has a security breach, the internal company data may be affected too.

Choosing the right cloud solution for your business The right fit is subjective and depends on the corporate policy of the company and individual needs. Public cloud though, remains the most preferred solution as it provides the most extensive set of functionality for the lowest upfront costs. It saves considerable time and effort as the maintenance is handled by Microsoft or its affiliates.

Hybrid solutions, on the other hand are also an option, but they require in-depth end user training. In choosing the right solution, businesses should always discuss their requirements with Dynamics CRM Consultants to get an unbiased and tailored solution for their company.

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