You might wonder what CRM solution is the best nowadays? Or which CRM solution will best fit your business? In terms of market share, Salesforce is the undisputed leader in the world. However, it does not necessarily mean that this CRM platform is the best solution for your business. In the ongoing CRM battle, Microsoft Dynamics CRM appears to be a credible competitor to Salesforce. The thing is that both Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce products have developed extensive customer relationship management capabilities and offer broad functionalities for small and big businesses. On the rivalry path, it is hard to evaluate the opportunities and differentiate the benefits of each CRM solution. So what solution to choose? We’ve prepared a brief summary of both CRM systems to help you decide.
What Is Microsoft Dynamics?
To some people, Microsoft Dynamics 365 can be somewhat a confusing term since it includes both ERP and CRM systems. Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is one of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 products. Among others, there are also Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (both ERP systems). So now we’re going to dive deeper into Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM.
According to Gartner Magic Quadrant, this CRM system is gaining momentum and has become very attractive to businesses, being placed in the “leaders” box. Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is made up of 5 different apps covering sales, marketing, customer service, and retail.
What is Salesforce?
Originally, Salesforce was founded as a SaaS CRM company, but now is an extensive enterprise platform-as-a-service (PaaS). It was initially created as a cloud-based solution with a single view of customers; therefore, it is an extremely customer-centric and intuitive platform offering comprehensive online training for all working with it.
The core functionality of Salesforce is that its architecture is capable of scaling and upgrading automatically. 150,000+ companies worldwide utilize the Salesforce CRM system for enhancing their sales and marketing efforts.
Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce: Comparison
Even if Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce offer almost similar core functionality, there are some criteria that differentiate them. So let’s compare two market giants in the CRM arena by the following criteria.
Ease of Use
Both systems have a similar web-based user interface where they can manage contacts and accounts, forecast sales, etc. Compared to Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce is an exclusively cloud-based tool where navigation is performed by clicking on links on the side of the web page. In terms of functional design, Microsoft Dynamics has a search bar, making it easier for users to navigate. Furthermore, Microsoft Dynamics offers cloud, on-premise, or hybrid solutions.
Integrations and Add-Ons
In terms of elasticity and customization, Salesforce offers many more opportunities in the AppExchange, where 2, 600 apps are geared to optimize processes and build custom solutions. However, Microsoft Dynamics doesn’t lag behind as it benefits from integration with other Microsoft products, which plays a significant role in positive experiences for users who are used to dealing with Outlook, Office, etc. Furthermore, Microsoft Dynamics can be connected to Microsoft Power BI and PowerApps.
One more distinctive criterion of Microsoft Dynamics is its upgraded capability to build personalized relationships via integration with Linkedin Sales Navigator.
As for integrating the CRM systems with an ERP system, there can be some inconvenient factors that need to be considered and estimated beforehand. For example, if you want to integrate Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM with one of the Microsoft Dynamics ERP systems (for example Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations or Microsoft Dynamics AX), keep in mind that this data integration process is not seamless because there is no clear data model yet. Nevertheless, there are robust cloud-based data integration solutions such as Rapidionline offering very flexible and seamless integrations between Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM.
Artificial Intelligence
AI tools that are available in both CRM systems make them unique and set them apart from other CRM applications. Sales and Service modules of Microsoft Dynamic 365 are integrated with artificial intelligence algorithms to provide natural language and make sales forecasts. Salesforce has Einstein, an AI-powered assistant that delivers smarter insights on customer journeys, suggests improvements, and offers a personalized experience to each customer by anticipating their actions and behaviors.
How to Decide Which Solution Will Be the Best?
Being an industry-leading and scalable platform, both Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM and Salesforce deserve to be the CRM system in your business. Each system has the ability to build custom solutions, having additional features and applications that can be integrated to get the required result. Some might prefer the look and feel and user experience in Microsoft Dynamics while others will be seduced by the in-depth education and proven ready-made solutions offered bySalesforce.
Generally, there is no precise answer to this question. Because both are valid and valuable solutions. To choose, you need to evaluate your current systems, goals, and how much you are ready to invest. Even if your company uses other related Microsoft products, it does not mean that you have to stick to Microsoft for your CRM solution. There are many advanced data integration solutions that provide you with out-of-the-box features that can integrate your ERP with either Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM or Salesforce. With this in mind, you can be free to choose your CRM solution solely based on its capabilities and how they fit your business.