But each company has varying degrees of adherence to Web-services standards and varying methods of supporting those systems.

239

Onyx says they have a poison pill in place, though I haven't seen it yet. It seems like an extreme method, but it could happen.

211

The use of Microsoft's .NET also has Web-services implications within an organization because it provides an effective way to integrate Microsoft applications together.

202

Salesforce.com is selling an on-demand model that gives customers the ability to roll out a CRM deployment quickly and easily and then scale that deployment either up or down to meet their business needs, ... So far, small and midsize businesses have taken the best advantage of that, but we are starting to see larger companies that are seriously evaluating an on-demand model.

175

The hosted model has reinvigorated a market that has failed to grow over the past several years, ... The hosted category has changed the whole perception of customer management with faster implementations, quicker time to value and easy customization.

157

The small to midsize business segment is a very large part of the hosted market, ... Software-as-service lets companies get CRM in place quickly without having to raid the I.T. budget to do it.

114

[Given that smaller business customers represent Microsoft's] sweet spot, ... an instant significant force in that market.

92

A big benefit to software-as-service is that it lets companies get CRM in place quickly without the kind of budget hassles you see with buying applications, ... There's a feeling, especially among small and midsize businesses, that a hosted solution will help realize ROI more quickly.

77