Created By: Datix CRM Consulting

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A Neutral Comparative Analysis

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Determining the best CRM for your business

When considering CRM options for your organization it’s inevitable that you beg the question, “What is the

best CRM for my business?” As both a Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics certified partner, Datix, has rare,

unique insight in to two of most notable CRM systems on the market today. With all things considered, we

will be conducting a four part series in which we will pit these two powerful CRM’s against one another to

determine which CRM is a better fit for your business.

In evaluating and examining the two systems, we will be looking at 4 core matchups between Salesforce

and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. We will look at reporting capabilities, mobility, common desired integrations,

and a comprehensive overview that takes in to account things like price and availability. We will also be

providing insight as to what things are best to consider navigating during this selection process.

Both of these system’s provide valuable features for organizations seeking to further empower their sales,

marketing, and customer service departments. However, when asked to choose between the two, we

almost always respond by saying, “the right tool for the right job”. This is fundamental to the evaluation

process. Each business that is considering these systems must determine for themselves which is truly the

right tool for their business. This comprehensive piece can assist in that process.

Comparing Salesforce and MS Dynamics In our series we will be comparing these tools in 3 separate categories, followed by a comprehensive

overview:

1. Reporting

2. Mobility

3. Microsoft Products Integration

4. Comprehensive Overview

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After comparing and contrasting both CRM’s in these 3 categories, we will conduct a final breakdown of

other important buying criteria to consider, such as organizational interest in cloud solutions, license costs,

ideal environments, and more.

Prior to digging into all the details, it is important to mention these two applications are ever-evolving in a

“best CRM” arms race that is occurring between both Microsoft and Salesforce. As you might expect,

neither Salesforce nor Dynamics offers an overall best CRM solution. However, depending on your business

and preferences, there is a good chance one is a fit for your business cases than the other. The goal of this

guild is to exploit key functionality warranted by the majority of business users and to determine how those

uses of the system stack up in modern enterprise management.

Part I: Reporting

The user interface for reporting functions for both

Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce are very friendly to

the end user. MS Dynamics CRM offers the familiar

Microsoft software product look and feel that many may

already be comfortable with. Dynamics also features

some beautiful drill down functionality that is easy to

use for beginners, and provides very aesthetically

pleasing reports. An instance may include how users

can depict graphical displays to filter through data in

grids.

Salesforce Sales Cloud provides users with an award-winning streamlined user experience that has become

a new standard in how software products are designed today. As we move forward, we’ll find simplicity in

user reporting capabilities extends beyond user friendliness and is the foundation for the CRM’s overall

consummation.

Separating Dynamics and Salesforce reporting functions at a usability level actually proves very difficult.

Both offer great performance in this area. Interface simply comes down to personal preference. If this is a

deciding factor for your organization, it is highly recommended key decision-makers inside the organization

demo both CRM reporting functions for usability.

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The biggest reporting difference

Where Salesforce and Dynamics CRM really

separate in this category is in their flexibility and

ability to design custom reports. It is, however,

currently much easier for a technical user to design,

build and modify custom reports in Salesforce than

it is for the equivalent user to perform the same

tasks in MS Dynamics. Salesforce simply provides

access to more powerful and flexible reporting for

large, data-driven businesses.

Salesforce offers a very user-friendly way for the

technical user to build and create specialized reports without requiring them to modify code or have an

expert level understanding of the software. MS Dynamics on the other hand is much more rigid in its ability

to allow technical users to generate these same types of reports. In fact, it’s not necessarily an option.

A common instance of this is in the form of grouping and summing. If you choose to view a report that

demonstrates total sales per quarter, but underneath that you’d like to show all the deals each rep has in

place, Salesforce can provide users a means of grouping and viewing a list of this data. This type of usability

is not currently available in Dynamics; which can only provide this data in the form of dashboards (not in a

list or group). If this kind of data or report would be vital to your business operations, Dynamics would be

difficult to work with.

Bottom line: Reporting

If you’re a large organization with a sophisticated sales department that is heavily reliant on data, there’s a

good chance that Salesforce would offer more effective reporting options for your business. However, if

your business does not have a rigid sales process and is not dramatically reliant on data, it’s very possible

that the differences in reporting functionality wouldn’t be an overly important factor in your organization’s

decision. The same goes for new businesses and those who may be implementing a CRM for the first time.

In this case, both CRM could potentially be an equally good fit and your decision may ultimately come

down to other factors.

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Reporting In a nutshell

Determining the best CRM for your business cannot be decided when reviewing only one component of a

system. However, Salesforce and MS Dynamics diverge at reporting functionality. It will left to project

leaders to determine which CRM yields the most relevant fit based on the organization’s profile and how

impactful reporting – among other factors – will be in the overall decision. As we continue forward in our

“Best CRM: Salesforce vs. MS Dynamics CRM” piece, we will help layout the other important features and

distinguishing characteristics you should consider.

Part II: Mobility

When it comes to CRM mobility, there is a clear

leader between the two systems as it relates to

functionality and interface. As we mentioned in Part

I, these two systems are not an apples to apples

comparison. Deciphering which is the best for your

organization is really about using the right tool for

the right job. And in this case, Salesforce is the clear

CRM mobility leader – not only against MS Dynamics

CRM but the entire CRM industry.

Best in its class

You’d be hard pressed to find the kind of functionality, reporting, interface and ease-of-use on a mobile

device in any other system outside of Salesforce. Salesforce has made this their competitive advantage. As

an end user on the customer relations, sales, or management side of business, Salesforce offers a complete

experience. It’s really the only CRM to offer the full client/desktop experience on your phone; including

dashboards and reporting.

If you’re a sales user for example, you can bus between clients all day long creating contacts, managing

activities, drawing reports and review dashboards all while using voice data entry along the way – if you like.

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It provides the desktop experience for the remote or traveling

employee in a way that is easy to navigate and use. Not only

that, but Salesforce enhances its CRM mobility experience by

augmenting it with the power of their app store. The app store

is a robust network of applications and integrations that can be

added to a company’s CRM setup to sync with other systems or

provide added features (like Datix Connect for Salesforce).

What Dynamics CRM brings to the table

MS Dynamics CRM does offer a very

robust and complete offering on a tablet

device; however on cellular phone the

CRM mobility experience is reduced to

very basic functions. Users can simply

input contacts, create new accounts and

access basic functions. It provides the

kind of functionality that really only

becomes “emergency use only“.

It is worth bringing up that this is an area

that Microsoft has invested in very

heavily. It is strongly expected that the latest versions of Dynamics CRM will feature a completely revamped

mobile experience aimed at taking Salesforce off their pedestal.

Is it important?

While Salesforce is the clear winner in the CRM mobility category, that doesn’t really matter very much if

your organization won’t utilize the mobile functions of CRM very often. You may find your organization

only requires straightforward functions from something like Dynamics CRM on a mobile device. If that’s the

case, you should really look at the reporting, pricing, and Outlook/SharePoint integration aspects of the

products as well to determine which might be the better fit for your organization.

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If your organizational culture has a strong propensity for mobility – traveling sales force, remote work and a

flexible, fast-paced environment – there’s a good chance you would benefit from the advantages of strong

CRM mobility. If that’s the case, Salesforce is hands down, best in class. Until Dynamics CRM can prove to

the world they can rival the complete functions and user-friendly experience that Salesforce offers,

Salesforce will remain in a category by itself.

Part III: Microsoft Integration

As we’ve mentioned throughout this series, these two

systems are not an apples to apples comparison.

Deciphering which is the best for your organization is

really about using the right tool for the right job. And

in this case, it’s intuitive to assume that Microsoft

heavily invested in CRM would integrate with other

Microsoft products better than a

competitor. However, when deciphering the best CRM

for your organization there are always many factors to

consider. With that said, Dynamics CRM is clearly going to offer more in this category than Salesforce.

Salesforce stays afloat

You’d be hard pressed to find many that would expect Salesforce to provide a better Microsoft integration

experience inside of their CRM than Microsoft would in theirs. However, despite the CRM’s many

constructional differences, Salesforce does an adequate job of integrating with Microsoft Outlook. If your

business currently utilizes Outlook or the Office suite, there is no reason to fret or worry about how they

might integrate with Salesforce. The user experience is not cumbersome and is fairly intuitive. In fact, many

find the process of using the systems in tandem delivers on expectation. Most users are generally pleased

with how Microsoft and Salesforce integrate.

If your organization is considering Salesforce for its superior mobility, or more flexible reporting, it might

not be in your best interest to pump the brakes on Salesforce simply because it does not have the

integration qualities with the MS programs that Dynamics CRM has. However, it is worth mentioning, if your

organization is heavily involved in the utilization of other Microsoft products, like SharePoint, product

integration may need to become a stronger part of your consideration due to the additional features

offered by Dynamics CRM.

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Dynamics CRM takes the cake

When it comes down to Microsoft integration,

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the clear winner.

Anyone who has used the modern Microsoft

suite is familiar with the tiled navigation and

display at the top of the software. Dynamics

CRM becomes just another added tile once

added to the organization; making flipping

between programs seamless. Additionally,

almost every program has features from the

Microsoft software embedded into each

application. So when users operate inside of Dynamics CRM, merging calendars, dates, times, contact info,

etc. is all occurring as if it was inside of a single program (… because it kind of is).

The instance is truly what makes the Dynamics CRM integration with the rest of the Microsoft products so

great. Microsoft created synergy across each of their programs and put Dynamics CRM right in the middle.

It truly does feel as though you’re really using a single Microsoft suite instead of three when navigating

between CRM, SharePoint, and Outlook.

If your organization is heavily invested in current Microsoft products, or is considering office-wide solutions

for many parts of your infrastructure, the integration offered by Microsoft should be given heavy

consideration. However if your business isn’t as concerned with how easily this things fold together, and has

a greater enthusiasm for powerful reporting and mobility, there’s a good chance that this item could fall

lower on your list of organizational considerations.

What should you do?

Pick the right tool for the right job. Consider the items from the past two categories. Which of these

elements are most important? Try ranking them. Microsoft integration certainly is more important to some

than others.

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Reporting Summary

We’ve uncovered the reporting capabilities of both Salesforce and Dynamics CRM systems. It is clear

Salesforce provides the most flexible and powerful reporting systems; whereas Dynamics offers beautiful

dashboards and nice drill down functions, but is simply more rigid than Salesforce. A semi-technical user

will find that they can do far better reporting with a program like Salesforce. That, of course, comes with a

caveat.

If your Sales organization is not overly sophisticated, nor heavily relies on data-driven metrics, this all may

be a moot point; as Dynamics and Salesforce may both be able to offer you exactly what your organization

needs. Furthermore, evolutionary tools, like Microsoft’s Power BI application, can be integrated with CRM to

offer end-to-end performance best suited for your organization.

Mobility Summary

Salesforce was the clear winner in this category, as well. Even with Microsoft announcing the reform of its

Dynamics CRM mobile experience this year, Salesforce is the early adopter. The UI/UX and overall

functionality of Salesforce from a mobile phone is as good (or better) than its desktop application. The

same cannot be said of Dynamics at this time; however Microsoft is quickly closing the gap.

If your sales team is often out of the

office, or on the road, mobility is

something your organization should

consider. Look at your sales people and

evaluate how they work. Would mobile

functionality be a fit for your

organization? How would this type of

direction fit your company culture?

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Microsoft Product Integration

Microsoft gets better every year at allowing their

software to all blend together. Dynamics CRM is no

exception. Microsoft has created a powerful blend of

suites that permit the CRM to easily integrate with

common business software like SharePoint, Outlook,

Excel, Yammer and more. Although Salesforce is not

overly cumbersome integrating with these products,

Dynamics provides a slick integration that enhances the

quality of all the products.

If your business is heavily invested in Microsoft

products – and uses them well – you may want to consider how all these products can work together with

CRM. It may just be the helpful blend that can greatly benefit your organization. However, you will have to

weigh the benefits against mobility and reporting to make a final decision. This is not the right solution for

every company, but for some this can be game-changing.

Cloud considerations

Ever heard of the cloud? Yes? We thought so. Salesforce has doubled down from the very beginning on

being a cloud-based software offering. Salesforce renders their entire system portable, easy to access and

agile enough for multiple upgrades and compatibilities. The catch? Salesforce is only available in a cloud

format. For some organizations this is still philosophically challenging. If your organization is reluctant about

moving your entire CRM architecture to a cloud platform it may be worth noting Dynamics CRM is available

in a cloud and native application.

While the cloud – and its recent security concerns – can be a drawback for some organizations, trends in

the marketplace suggest that this is the direction developers and businesses are ultimately headed.

However, many organizations are not ready for that transition. In this instance those investors should

strongly consider a native application of something like Dynamics CRM.

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Affordability

While in our comparison it is apparent that Salesforce is more

dominant than Dynamics CRM in the majority of the categories,

it is also more expensive from a licensing perspective. Without

going into exact licensing costs, Salesforce generally costs 30-

40% more than Dynamics CRM. In addition to this higher price,

Salesforce charges for API calls as well. This is an important

consideration if you’re looking at Salesforce.

If you plan to make a large volume of calls to your database, this

would certainly be something that could add to your bottom line

cost with Salesforce. Microsoft Dynamics does not charge for

these database calls.

We might also mention, Salesforce provides an entire app store with their product. Users can download and

purchase custom apps that provide a limitless potential to integration and compatibility.

As we stated before, comparing these costs is far from apples to apples. It is worth noting that in most

cases Dynamics CRM will cost less from license standpoint than Salesforce. However, this should not

become the only determining factor in your decision; as it rarely leads to a successful implementation.

What should you do?

If software selection ranks anywhere on your agenda, know the implementation process of whichever CRM

you choose will be the paramount to its success. If you evaluate your selection by considering all the

elements we’ve discussed in this series, you’re likely to be on the right track.

If your business is a large, data-driven organization with a sophisticated sales team that could use powerful

mobile functionality, Salesforce may be a very good investment. Your organization may greatly benefit from

the added features of Salesforce and would likely achieve a higher ROI with it. However, a small to medium

sized business may not need the same mobile functions. Alternatively, Dynamics CRM may offer some

flexibility benefiting those organization while saving some license money.

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Conclusion

It cannot be overstated enough (and will be mentioned continuously throughout this series) that these two

systems are not an apples to apples comparison. Deciphering which is the best for your organization is

really about using the right tool for the right job. Both CRM systems have their clear advantages and

drawbacks, whilst offering some very different services.

In conclusion, each of these categories and features should be evaluated against your business practices.

Once the software has been chosen, we strongly suggest finding a partner to assist with the

implementation. Fifty percent of CRM projects fail, but is easily avoidable and organizations can deter from

falling into recurring traps over and over again. A partner is imperative in mitigating this risk.

Datix is a certified partner of both Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. We’ve helped dozens of clients

over the past two years implement, customize, integrate, and adopt these powerful systems inside of their

business. We emphasize business process modeling, training, and change management as core parts of our

consulting practice.

If your business is considering one of these two systems, we highly recommend speaking to one of our

CRM experts. All of our experts have experience with both systems, and can help your organization

navigate this import decision.

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