xRM and the Power of Choice
When you bring the concept of an xRM Strategy into play we believe it is very important to consider the different models available. You have the traditional on premise model, the hosted model, or as they say "in the cloud," or a hybrid of the two. Microsoft refers to these three models as "The Power of Choice."
Some applications are more suited to work in the cloud while others have added benefit when used on premise. The xRM framework and the .NET platform allow you to work in both environments seamlessly. Regardless of what model you choose for a given application, the feature set and functionality stay the same. This includes the core Microsoft apps such as Exchange, Sharepoint, CRM, OSC, etc.
This gives you the power to choose which applications you would like to maintain on premise and which services you would like to let remain in the cloud. This is a critical concept as software implementations can be very costly and risky. In the hosted model, you can mitigate risk and pain. After the application has been tested for your business and has proven to be effective, you can migrate over to an on premise solution or hybrid solution whichever best suits your needs.