Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Salesforce.com? Making the decision on which CRM solution to implement can be challenging. Here is a list of some more key differentiators to help you get past the slick story Salesforce.com tells. Dynamics CRM provides the best value and ROI and continues to dominate the CRM arena with over 2.25 million users worldwide. Here’s how:
Power of Choice
Salesforce.com only offers an online deployment for their solution while Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows you to choose how you want to deploy. By choosing on premise, Microsoft hosted or partner hosted deployments, Dynamics CRM gives you the opportunity to choose which deployment best fits your business model. Plus if your needs change, you can change deployments to meet your changing business needs.
Service Level Agreement
Dynamics CRM Online and partner hosted deployments of Dynamics CRM guarantee uptime through a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Usually, this means a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Salesforce.com makes no guarantees to the reliability of their services.
Integration with Microsoft Products
Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows for full integration with other Microsoft Products. There is a native plug in available for integration with Microsoft Outlook as well as robust integrations with SharePoint, Excel, and Lync. This means better connectivity and collaboration within your organization that Salesforce.com can’t provide.
Pricing
Salesforce.com pricing starts at $65 per user while Dynamics CRM Online or partner hosted with Njevity is $44 per user. However, to meet the functionality you would see in Dynamics CRM, you would need to upgrade your Salesforce.com subscription to the Enterprise Edition which is $125 per user. With the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and fastest ROI, Dynamics CRM is the clear choice based on price point alone, not including the better functionality and value.
Data Storage
Dynamics CRM Online users receive 5GB of data storage per user. Salesforce.com offers 1GB of data storage with additional charges for more storage capacity. Salesforce.com customers routinely criticize Salesforce.com for the slide of hand sales approach as the cost continues to increase at every corner even after heavy discounts upfront. Also, with Dynamics CRM online or partner hosted, you own the database. With Salesforce.com if you decide to make the move to Dynamics CRM, they provide you with an endless amount of spreadsheets hoping that the hassle of deciphering will deter you from switching.
Mass Email
Dynamics CRM and Salesforce.com both support mass emailing. However, Salesforce.com limits the number of mass emails you can send per day while Dynamics CRM has no limit.
Sales Automation
Both Salesforce.com and Dynamics CRM provide excellent sales automation. Salesforce.com has this out of the box while Dynamics CRM needs to be configured with simple workflows. However, Dynamics CRM also provides you with the ability to set up workflows for marketing and service. This means that Dynamics CRM is a complete customer management solution opposed to just focusing on sales.
