Like other companies, boutique investment bank Cowen and Company decided to scrap their proprietary in-house CRM software in favor of an SaaS solution. So far, it's glad it took the plunge.

You can chalk it up as another win for salesforce.com, especially when it comes to PR. Securities Industry News notes that the company cut its maintenance and operating costs by 25 percent. You are likely already familiar with the benefits of a SaaS solution: The clearer picture of customer interactions, the ability to market much more efficiently, the speed with which reports can be generated and so on. Salesforce.com certainly hopes that more financial services companies sign on.

Transitioning to new software is not without cost, however. Training employees to use the new service--not just the marketing folks--such as the IT team and consultants will take time. Some senior salespeople at first resisted the move. Security can also be an issue; to some, the idea of hosting essential data on someone else's server does not sit well. That view is fast fading. 

For more:
- here's the article [1]

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Are more banks ready to turn to SaaS? [3]