Lets get started in helping you find the right customer relationship software for your business needs. This blog is made to help you compare the two largest CRM system capabilities available today which are Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Salesforce.
As far as market share and customer base, Salesforce is the most popular CRM software system in the world, Tesla uses Salesforce. However, all major gyms like 24 Hour Fitness or Lifestyle fitness are on Dynamics CRM. Microsoft Dynamics stands close to Salesforce as a competitor and though it has some ways to catch up, it stands as a credible choice for many organizations.
There are many different CRM solutions that can perform functions like tracking sales, maintaining customer information, customer service, and analyzing data, but the two solutions are often the top choice for organizations because of brand recognition, support and broad functionality.
Overview of Salesforce CRM Features
Salesforce CRM contains many different modules. Customer can choose which of the modules to implement for their business depending on what they are trying to achieve. The modules all cover the main parts of a CRM system such as data management, marketing and sales and can also have additional modules added to include field service etc.
The main areas of Salesforce CRM are:
Sales Cloud
Marketing Cloud
Service Cloud
Sales Cloud Module Features
Contact Management
Opportunity Management
Lead Management
Reports and Dashboards
Salesforce Mobile
Email Integration
Sales Forecasting
Workflow and Approvals
Files Sync and Share
Data Management
Marketing Cloud Module Features
B2C Journey Management
B2B Marketing Automation
Email Marketing
Data Management Platform
Data Sharing Platform
Social Media Marketing
Digital Advertising
Mobile Messaging
Service Cloud Module Features
Lightning Service Console
Case Management
Workflow and Approvals
Omni-Channel Routing
Telephony Integration
Social Customer Service
Automation with Macros
Account and Contact Management
Custom Reports and Dashboard
Asset and Order Management
Overview of Dynamics 365 CRM Features
Dynamics 365 CRM features five main modules for customer engagement activities. A great benefit is that all of Microsoft’s products, including Office, Dynamics and Outlook are sharing data models that is the same which means that they can use data across all of the Microsoft solutions. You can purchase licenses for a single module or multiple depending on your need.
The apps that make up Dynamics 365’s CRM Customer Engagement service are:
Dynamics 365 for Sales
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service
Dynamics 365 for Field Service
Dynamics 365 for Marketing
Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation
Overview of Dynamics 365 CRM Features
Dynamics 365 for Sales Features
Dynamics 365 for Sales enables sales people to build strong relationships with their customers, take actions based on insights, and close sales faster. Use Dynamics 365 for Sales to keep track of your accounts and contacts, nurture your sales from lead to order, create sales collateral, create marketing lists and campaigns, and even follow service cases associated with specific accounts or opportunities.
Lead and opportunity management
Marketing list, sales campaigns
Products, price lists
Quotes, orders, invoices
Competitors, sales goals, territory management
Product taxonomy, relationships, hierarchies
Gamification
Mobile offline sync
Cases
Embedded intelligence
Customization
Export to Excel, advanced analytics with Power BI license
Real-time sales reports and dashboards
Linked in Sales Navigator (Requires Microsoft Relationship Sales)
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service Features
Build great customer relationships by focusing on optimum customer satisfaction with the Customer Service apps. Customer Service provides many features and tools that organizations can use to manage the services they provide to customers.
Case Management
Knowledge base management
Social Customer Care
Mobile functionality
Portal
Feedback and Surveys
Unified Service Desk
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service embedded intelligence
Lead creation
PowerApps P2
Dynamics 365 for Field Service
The Dynamics 365 for Field Service business application helps organizations deliver onsite service to customer locations. The application combines workflow automation, scheduling algorithms, and mobility to set mobile workers up for success when they're onsite with customers fixing issues.
Work Orders
Schedule and dispatch tools
Communication tools
Asset Management
Preventative Maintenance
Inventory, purchasing and return capabilpities
Billing
Time Tracking
Analytics for reporting
Dynamics 365 for Marketing Features
Dynamics 365 for Marketing is a marketing-automation application that helps turn prospects into business relationships.
Email marketing
Customer journey
Behavior Tracking
Lead Scoring
Marketing Pages
Event Management
Voice of the Customer
Dynamics 365 Connector for LinkedIn Lead Gen
Dynamics 365 Portals
Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation Features
The Project Service app helps organizations efficiently track, manage, and deliver project-based services, from the initial sale all the way to invoicing.
Plan projects, and create estimates and work schedules
Estimate and track project cost and revenue
Forecast resource requirements for projects in the pipeline
Track project progress and cost consumption
Manage quoting, pricing, and billing for projects
Assign and manage resources
Use reports and interactive dashboards to monitor key performance indicators for successful projects
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM vs Salesforce Pricing
Lets take a look at the difference in pricing between the two CRM systems.
Microsoft
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service
If you are wanting to use just the core customer service functionality, the Dynamics 365 for Customer Service Professional will run you $50.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Case Management
Knowledge base management
Social Customer Care
Mobile functionality
Portal (add-on only)
Customization (Limited)
Lead creation
PowerApps (add-on only)
Note - This plan would be adequate if you are only selecting a system to perform primarily lead and opportunity management activities.
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service Enterprise - $95.00 Per User/Month
If you are requiring additional features besides lead and opportunity management, the Dynamics 365 for Customer Service Enterprise will run you $95.00 per user per month, and includes the following additional features in bold:
Case Management
Knowledge base management
Social Customer Care
Mobile functionality
Portal
Feedback and Surveys
Unified Service Desk
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service embedded intelligence
Lead creation
PowerApps P2
Note! - The best choice if you might be considering to use Sales as well as a Customer Service functionality, would be to go with the Customer Engagement Plan, that way for $115.00 per user per month, you are getting many modules with this price including, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation and Sales.
Below is the list of features based on price between the different plans.
Dynamics 365 for Sales
If you are wanting to use just the core Sales Force Automation functionality, the Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional Plan will run you $65.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Lead and opportunity management
Marketing list, sales campaigns
Products, price lists
Quotes, orders, invoices
Cases
Customization
Export to Excel, advanced analytics with Power BI license
Note - This plan would be adequate if you are only selecting a system to perform primarily lead and opportunity management activities.
Dynamics 365 for Sales Enterprise
If you are requiring additional features besides lead and opportunity management, the Dynamics 365 for Sales Enterprise Plan will run you $95.00 per user per month, and includes the following additional features in bold:
Lead and opportunity management
Marketing list, sales campaigns
Products, price lists
Quotes, orders, invoices
Competitors, sales goals, territory management
Product taxonomy, relationships, hierarchies
Gamification
Mobile offline sync
Cases
Embedded intelligence
Customization
Export to Excel, advanced analytics with Power BI license
Real-time sales reports and dashboards
Note - The best choice if you might be considering to use Sales as well as a Customer Service functionality, would be to go with the Customer Engagement Plan, that way for $115.00 per user per month, you are getting many modules with this price including, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation and Sales.
Dynamics 365 for Marketing with Customer Engagement plan
Dynamics 365 for Marketing is included in the Customer Engagement Plan which is $115.00 per user per month.
Note- If you are only interested in using the Marketing module, the costs are $1,500 per month and that includes 10,000 contacts.
Dynamics 365 for Field Service
If you are wanting to use just the core Field Service functionality, the Dynamics 365 for Field Service Plan will run you $95.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Work Orders
Schedule and dispatch tools
Communication tools
Asset Management
Preventative Maintenance
Inventory, purchasing and return capabilpities
Billing
Time Tracking
Analytics for reporting
Note - The best choice if you might be considering to use Sales as well as a Customer Service functionality, would be to go with the Customer Engagement Plan, that way for $115.00 per user per month, you are getting many modules with this price including, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation and Sales.
Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation
Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation - $95.00 Per User/Month
The Project Service app helps organizations efficiently track, manage, and deliver project-based services, from the initial sale all the way to invoicing.
If you are wanting to use just the core Project Service functionality, the Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation Plan will run you $95.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Plan projects, and create estimates and work schedules
Estimate and track project cost and revenue
Forecast resource requirements for projects in the pipeline
Track project progress and cost consumption
Manage quoting, pricing, and billing for projects
Assign and manage resources
Use reports and interactive dashboards to monitor key performance indicators for successful projects
Note - The best choice if you might be considering to use Sales as well as a Customer Service functionality, would be to go with the Customer Engagement Plan, that way for $115.00 per user per month, you are getting many modules with this price including, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation and Sales.
Salesforce
Salesforce Essentials - Sales Cloud
If you are wanting to use just the core Sales functionality, the Salesforce Essentials will run you $25.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Lead management
Web-to-lead capture
Email templates
Contact management
Opportunity management
Task management
Mobile app access
Configurable reports and dashboard
Case management
Lightning App Builder
Unlimited online training
Lightning Professional - Sales Cloud
If you are wanting to use a complete CRM system for any size team, the Lightning Essentials will run you $75.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Lead management
Web-to-lead capture
Email templates
Contact management
Opportunity management
Task management
Mobile app access
Configurable reports and dashboard
Case management
Lightning App Builder
Unlimited online training
Rules-based lead scoring
Duplicate blocking
Mass email
Campaign management
Person accounts
Collaborative forecasting
Forecasting mobile app
Basic CPQ features
Lead registration
Developer sandbox
Lightning for Gmail or Outlook
Google Apps integration
Lightning Enterprise - Sales Cloud
If you are wanting to use a fully customizable sales CRM for your company, the Lightning Enterprise will run you $150.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Lead management
Web-to-lead capture
Email templates
Contact management
Opportunity management
Task management
Mobile app access
Configurable reports and dashboard
Case management
Lightning App Builder
Unlimited online training
Rules-based lead scoring
Duplicate blocking
Mass email
Campaign management
Person accounts
Collaborative forecasting
Forecasting mobile app
Basic CPQ features
Lead registration
Developer sandbox
Lightning for Gmail or Outlook
Google Apps integration
Calendar
Custom forecasting fields
Opportunity splits
Enterprise territory management
Advanced reporting features
Workflow and approval automation
Lightning Unlimited - Sales Cloud
If you are wanting to use full CRM functionality with 24/7 toll free support, developer support and more, the Lightning Unlimited will run you $300.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Lead management
Web-to-lead capture
Email templates
Contact management
Opportunity management
Task management
Mobile app access
Configurable reports and dashboard
Case management
Lightning App Builder
Unlimited online training
Rules-based lead scoring
Duplicate blocking
Mass email
Campaign management
Person accounts
Collaborative forecasting
Forecasting mobile app
Basic CPQ features
Lead registration
Developer sandbox
Lightning for Gmail or Outlook
Google Apps integration
Calendar
Custom forecasting fields
Opportunity splits
Enterprise territory management
Advanced reporting features
Workflow and approval automation
Developer Pro Sandbox
Access to Premier Success resources
24/7 toll-free support
Developer support
Configuration services
Access to accelerators
Lightning Professional - Service Cloud
If you are wanting to use a complete Service CRM system for any size team, the Lightning Professional will run you $75.00 per user per month and includes the following features:
Case auto-assignment
Web and email case capture
Case escalation rules and queues
Omni-channel routing
Knowledge (read-only)
Case milestone tracker
Order management
Lead-contact account management
Service contracts and entitlements
Social Customer Service starter pack
Asset management
Customizable reports and dashboards
Opportunity tracking
Task management
Salesforce mobile app
Email integration with Outlook
Google Apps integration
Developer sandbox
Custom profiles and page layouts
Lightning App Builder
Unlimited custom applications
AppExchange app integration
Email templates
Standard Success plan
Lightning Enterprise- Service Cloud
If you are wanting to use a fully customizable Service CRM for your company, the Lightning Enterprise will run you $150.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Case auto-assignment
Web and email case capture
Case escalation rules and queues
Omni-channel routing
Knowledge (read-only)
Case milestone tracker
Order management
Lead-contact account management
Service contracts and entitlements
Social Customer Service starter pack
Asset management
Customizable reports and dashboards
Opportunity tracking
Task management
Salesforce mobile app
Email integration with Outlook
Google Apps integration
Developer sandbox
Custom profiles and page layouts
Lightning App Builder
Unlimited custom applications
AppExchange app integration
Email templates
Standard Success plan
Advanced case management
Community starter
Work order management
Advanced reporting features
Offline access
Integration via web service API
Salesforce Identity
Lightning Unlimited- Service Cloud
If you are wanting to use full Service functionality with 24/7 toll free support, developer support and more, the Lightning Unlimited will run you $300.00 per user per month, and includes the following features:
Case auto-assignment
Web and email case capture
Case escalation rules and queues
Omni-channel routing
Knowledge (read-only)
Case milestone tracker
Order management
Lead-contact account management
Service contracts and entitlements
Social Customer Service starter pack
Asset management
Customizable reports and dashboards
Opportunity tracking
Task management
Salesforce mobile app
Email integration with Outlook
Google Apps integration
Developer sandbox
Custom profiles and page layouts
Lightning App Builder
Unlimited custom applications
AppExchange app integration
Email templates
Standard Success plan
Advanced case management
Community starter
Work order management
Advanced reporting features
Offline access
Integration via web service API
Salesforce Identity
Knowledge (read-write)
Snap-Ins for Live Agent chat
Developer Pro Sandbox
Unlimited online training
24/7 toll-free support
Developer support
Configuration services
Access to accelerators
Microsoft Dynamics vs Salesforce: pros and cons
Though their core functionality is similar, as we can see from both their additional features and licensing models, both products score extra points in particular areas. Let’s take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of each solution:
Dynamics 365 Pros
Dynamics 365 is competitively priced and flexible in its licensing model, making it more cost-effective and accessible for smaller businesses.
Dynamics 365 has native integration with LinkedIn. Dynamics 365 for Sales and LinkedIn Sales Navigator roll together to create Microsoft Relationship Sales, which uses LinkedIn data to identify leads and help build relationships through personalized engagement.
Dynamics 365 also benefits from seamless integration with other Microsoft products, such as Office 365, Outlook and Microsoft’s mighty business intelligence tool Power BI. Not only can synchronization between platforms drive productivity, but the familiarity of the Microsoft interface can provide a more positive user experience.
Microsoft is committed to offering 99.9% uptime through its Service Level Agreement. An SLA with Salesforce is only available on request and must be negotiated.
Salesforce Pros
With Dynamics 365, getting the right kind of knowledge and training on your side means picking the right Microsoft Partner. Salesforce, on the other hand, manages its customer orientation in-house, and is well-known for its customer-centric attitude. Trailhead, the education network for Salesforce users, is often lauded as one of the company’s most significant assets.
The company’s AppExchange is one of the largest B2B stores in the industry, featuring thousands of third-party integrations to help businesses get more out of the platform.
Both Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud and Pardot services are mature and ready to use. With Dynamics 365, users will likely have to ride out some initial bumps in the road once Dynamics 365 for Marketing is released.
Salesforce features robust e-commerce facilities that are only going to improve now that Salesforce has acquired retailer eCommerce platform Demandware.
Dynamics 365 Cons
Although Dynamics 365 for Sales does feature some marketing automation capabilities, Dynamics 365 does not currently have a purpose-built marketing model. Dynamics 365 for Marketing is expected to be released in early 2018.
Dynamics 365 is still very new, having only been released in late 2016. Although it is growing in popularity, some businesses are still wary of investing in such a green product.
Dynamics 365 can be customized, but organizations may find the customization process challenging to master without development knowledge. It also supports fewer third-party integrations that Salesforce.
Salesforce Cons
Salesforce is a standalone CRM software. If you want Salesforce to share data with any other business software, such as your ERP solution, you will need to install connectors. If you use a lot of other software, the costs for these integrations can mount up.
Due to increasing costs and extended contractual obligations, some smaller and mid-market organizations may find themselves priced out by Salesforce.
Some users report that Salesforce’s field service management module, Field Service Lightning, leaves a lot to be desired, and is not as integral to the overall CRM solution as Dynamics 365’s Field Service app.
What to choose?
With extensive, mostly comparable features, it’s easy to see why Dynamics 365 and Salesforce have become market leaders. The critical differences between them, however, lie primarily in their purchasing models, so identifying which one is right for you will depend on your circumstances, and what’s most important for you to get out of your CRM.
If pricing, flexibility or user experience are vital issues, Dynamics may be the right choice. If you’re more concerned with user education, and having a robust, ready-to-go marketing solution at your disposal, Salesforce could be worth a try.
If you think either of these products could be right for you, get in touch with the vendors to ask for a tailored business proposal. The vendor will also be able to give you a clearer idea of costs, particularly as Salesforce does not publish pricing for many of its products.
Thinking about implementing Dynamics 365? Contact us and we will help you with your software implementation.
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