Salesforce VS Dynamics CRM
Office Experience
The Microsoft Dynamics makes use of Microsoft Outlook natively. What this means is that you can intuitively use the CRM because it has been integrated within the Outlook thus allowing for easy adoption from one system to another. Salesforce however, has not been natively integrated with Microsoft Outlook. If you need to work with both, then you can find an add-on quite easily which can be used for synchronization.
While this may be causing redundancy in some areas, having a CRM that does not require Microsoft Outlook allows you the flexibility of using other software products that perform a similar function. Your activities are therefore unconstrained in that regard.
Price Point
Pricing for both Salesforce and Dynamics are done per user per month. Dynamics provide a full range of services, which includes marketing, sales, and services among other things. You will also be able to access the CRM offline when you need it without having to pay more.
With Salesforce however, you will be required to pay an additional fee monthly for offline access. Despite this though, the CRM still provides some benefits. You will have a choice of Salesforce products, which are priced based on functionality. Some editions of the CRM are more expensive but they provide a very wide range of features and benefits. The good thing though, is that you do not have to pay for such editions if you do not need them.
You can pay for editions with less features and functionality for a much lower price per use monthly. This means that your organization does not have to be saddled with a product whose features you are paying for, yet you do not need.
Deployment Options
When it comes to deployment options, Salesforce VS Dynamics CRM isn’t much of a contest as Dynamics has more deployment options. You can access the CRM online by either Microsoft or its partners. You can also deploy the product on your premises or by leasing it online. In the event that you are tired of your current deployment option, dynamics allows you to shift across the deployment models depending on your needs.
Salesforce on the other hand, is limited to only the cloud deployment model. That however, should not scare you. The cloud-based product has a larger market share for that reason. Running your organization via cloud is one of the best ways to do things. You can forward any messages that you need via the internet. You can also stay on top of business operations remotely as long as you have internet connection. Your business does not need to be dependent on a lot of hardware equipment in your office to keep on going, which is always a good thing because such infrastructure costs a lot to buy and maintain. The cloud is therefore versatile, even though it is just one way of deploying CRM.
Additional Platform Support
Microsoft Dynamics has easy access to most of the Microsoft products that aid CRM functionality. These not only include Microsoft Outlook but also Microsoft SharePoint, Skype, and Yammer among others, which does not integrate automatically with Salesforce. This means that you are going to exert some effort in accessing the services of these products when you use Salesforce as compared to when you make use of Microsoft Dynamics.
Salesforce on the other hand uses the Force.com platform, which is a very good product that allows for high quality business analytics. In addition, Salesforce has been designed in such a way that it integrates quite easily with social media platforms, which are an essential aspect of CRM. You can therefore manage interactions with clients in this way, even though Microsoft products may be a bit harder to handle.
In the battle of Salesforce vs. Dynamics when it comes to background platform support, there is no doubt that the latter has it easy when it comes to integration with the numerous Microsoft products. The problem with Dynamics however, is that you will be forced to develop a very heavy dependency on Microsoft to provide you with a complete solution to your client management problems. If the business products have a common bug, then your whole system will go down along with them, which can be very detrimental to your business. With Salesforce however, you have more control when it comes to the additional platform support, which allows you to look for other options if some of the Microsoft products are not for you.
Profile Creation
Dynamics makes your work much easier if you want to create many user profiles. It incorporates the ability to create these user profiles at the same time. With Salesforce though, you will be required to create individual user profiles until you have the number that you want. Therefore, in terms of convenience Dynamics will win that easily.
The problem however is that the creation of multiple user profiles when done by the wrong person, can be quite a headache to trace and close down. With Salesforce, there is a greater control available to authorized users and administrators when it comes to creation of main user profiles. This therefore ensures that there are less chances of tampering with individual accounts for the users in the organization.
Interface Customizations
Dynamics CRM has a drop down menu that allows for interface customizations. Salesforce has similar services, although there is a limit on who can make any reverse changes. This may seem inconvenient. However, it ensures that only authorized users and administrators can make sweeping changes to the interface, which again, prevents tampering.
Bottom Line
Despite the higher price point for Salesforce, as well as the limited deployment options, the product still comes ahead. There is no denying the versatility of the cloud based product as well as the security features. In this battle of Salesforce VS Dynamics CRM, Salesforce wins.