Top 10 Reasons You Should Upgrade from D365 On-Prem to Online

Is your IT staff consumed with troubleshooting your company’s on-premises environment? Are you tired of paying for server upgrades and defending your network against hackers trying to get your data? Although change can be intimidating, it’s important to stay up with the times, and moving your CRM environment from on-premises to online has many significant benefits.

Microsoft has come up with some creative software licensing to ease the transition and there are now robust tools available for moving the data without a huge migration budget. Here are the top 10 reasons why Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement online is the right next move.

Infrastructure Handled by Microsoft

With on-prem environments, you must have IT support in place. 100% of the hardware and software is being managed, updated, and kept secure by your own IT department. Moving from on-prem to online will completely eliminate the cost and stress of handling your own infrastructure because Microsoft handles it for you. Microsoft maintains the infrastructure while keeping their support line open if you run into issues.

Expert Level of Security

Many companies that have an on-prem system express concern to move to the cloud because of the lack of security. Today, Microsoft’s security is unmatched. The full-time team of experts is constantly looking for ways to improve their security tactics. For example, they look out for possible hacking attempts and create backups of your system daily. These benefits are not available to an on-prem system.

Total Cost is Lower

Having an on-prem CRM system means you will need to maintain your own servers, which also means you will need to hire skilled staff who is experienced enough to manage them. Not only that, but you will have to replace the servers every couple of years once they become outdated. With an online deployment, you pay a flat rate each month, while Microsoft handles all the infrastructure maintenance behind the scenes.

Microsoft’s Disaster Recovery

If a disaster occurs, no matter the root cause, Microsoft has off-site backups of your data and system environments. An on-prem system will require an expensive and intensive plan to implement disaster recovery.

Cloud Focus

The focus of Microsoft is clearly the cloud. Although on-prem software and licenses are still available for deployment, Microsoft’s main focus is online deployments. To top it off, Microsoft releases are available to Dynamics 365 Online systems months before they become available to on-prem systems.

Mobility

The recent updates from Microsoft prove they are in agreement that the future is cloud-based. Microsoft will be prioritizing the cloud more as new technology is developed so it might be time to accept the fact that new applications will not be best hosted on a company’s servers. Keep in mind that for employees, it is a huge plus to be able to access the data they need in real-time from anywhere and on any device.

Easier Upgrades

Applying an upgrade to an on-prem system can be very time consuming and expensive, as the company will be required to install it themselves. The updates to Dynamics 365 Online systems usually require fewer staff hours and have less of an impact on your business – the updates are automatic and managed largely by Microsoft.

Faster Implementation

Overall, choosing Dynamics 365 Online over on-prem is going to give your company a shorter implementation. In this case, you are using the software online, rather than installing the tool on your own company hardware.

Seamless Integration with Microsoft Stack Tools

With Dynamics 365 Online, you can easily integrate nearly all of the Microsoft apps that your company uses, plus some new ones. Imagine a world where your Office 365, Outlook, SharePoint, Exchange, OneNote, OneDrive, Skype, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams, and other tools are all integrated effortlessly.

More Features

Dynamics 365 CE Online has more features and power than its equivalent on-prem version. To see a full list of online-only features, click here. One popular example of an online only feature is the integration with Power BI, Microsoft’s robust reporting tool.

Change is difficult as you move away from what is familiar. Dynamics 365 CE online looks largely like the equivalent on premises version with a lot more behind the scenes and the convenience of having your system wherever you go. Remember, Velosio can help your company with understanding what system is right for you.