10 Questions About The Cloud

When we are bidding for a project we often get asked by prospective customers 

"what should I be considering when purchasing a cloud solution?"

Here are some of areas we typically suggest that they consider...

1. Does the cloud solution offer free, seamless upgrades, three times a year?

2. Is flexibility built into the cloud solution? Is configurability and agility a core part of its DNA? For example, can administrators easily add new fields, change layouts, and create and customise reports, dashboards, security controls, etc.

3. If flexibility is not built in, will the cloud solution still meet your business needs in 2,3,4 years time?

4. Does the cloud solution provide a modern, business friendly interface that is consistent across all areas of the solution?

5. Will users be productive using the cloud solution and feel they are using a modern platform that supports the latest browsers, mobile devices, and communication tools?

6. Is the cloud solution part of a wider platform ecosystem? For example, can other applications be easily integrated with it, e.g. Microsoft Outlook, ERP applications, and third party apps and tools?

7. Is the cloud solution hosted in an data centre that is exclusively dedicated to the vendor of the cloud solution? If not, how reliable is the infrastructure and how influential will the vendor be if things go wrong?

8. How scalable is the cloud solution? Has it been used by millions of users, and has it been tested to billions of daily transactions?

9. Will the cloud solution keep up with new technologies and trends over time? Does the vendor have the size and momentum to implement significant new functionalities?

10. How transparent is the cloud solution when it comes to trust and security? Are real-time reports available on the current status of the solution and the data centre/s?

At Xactium we can answer yes to all the above questions. That's because all our solutions are built and delivered on the market leading Salesforce cloud platform. With Salesforce, flexibility has been built into the DNA of the platform, which means that virtually all aspects of our solutions can be configured to meet the needs of our customers with ease. Furthermore, with the platform being updated 3 times a year, and all upgrades being free, this means that our customers can ensure that they are always using the most modern and productive business tools. Finally, trust, security and scalability is at the heart of the Salesforce platform - just go to trust.salesforce.com to get a real-time view of its current status!