Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 vs. Salesforce.com

Why Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the better investment

With the introduction of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, the choice between Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM just got a lot easier. If you are a business that utilizes Microsoft Office applications, including Microsoft Outlook, choosing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 over Salesforce.com makes a lot of sense. Here are the key differentiators that make us feel Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is the better investment:

1 – Office Experience

  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a true Microsoft Outlook application, not just a plugin
  • SFDC is repealing Outlook features; for example, users can’t manage opportunities and leads anymore
  • SFDC Outlook plugin can be a point of failure. This is true of any CRM vendor doing integration with Microsoft Office, Microsoft will always be one step ahead on this front.

2 – Dashboards

  • CRM 2011 inherits security and data privileges…SFDC does not
  • CRM 2011 allows charts, lists, iFrames to be displayed…SFDC only reports
  • CRM 2011 data is real time…SFDC has a lag of 30-60 minutes
  • CRM 2011 allows for unlimited data refreshes. SFDC limits refreshes

3 – Inline Analytics

  • CRM 2011 offers Inline Analytics…SFDC does not have a parallel offering
  • SFDC users must leave their task or process…open reports or dashboards…and hope that they don’t get distracted

4 - One-Click Drill Down

  • CRM 2011 offers One-Click drill down…SFDC does not have a parallel offering
  • SFDC users can click on a static image of a chart to pull up the full report. From the full report they can drill down…much less clicks with CRM 2011

5 - User Interface Customizations

  • CRM 2011 offers a new drag and drop capability for end users that is so easy
  • SFDC offers UI personalization…but users can’t revert changes
  • SFDC personalization features are for power users and administrators only

6 - Value Matters

  • CRM 2011 Online – $44/user/mo. – one version.
  • SFDC Professional – $65/user/mo.
  • SFDC Enterprise – $125/user/mo.
  • SFDC Unlimited – $250/user/mo.

7 - Hidden Costs – aka, the SFDC Tax

  • CRM 2011 Online – $44/user/mo. – one version, one price. Includes 5 GB data storage, mobile client, web portal accelerator that you can customize, knowledgebase, and document management options (simple – out of the box, robust – out of the box SharePoint 2010 integration (SharePoint purchased separately)
  • SFDC – Data Storage (5GB) – $1,000/year. Professional / Enterprise provide 20 MB of data and 600 MB of file storage/user.
  • SFDC – Mobile $/user/mo.
  • SFDC – Knowledge Base – $/user/mo.
  • SFDC – Customer Portal – $/user/mo.
  • SFDC – Partner Portal – $/user/mo.
  • SFDC – SLA – Not Available. CRM 2011 has a 99.9% uptime, financially backed SLA.

Need to decrease the number of users? SFDC does not allow the number of user subscriptions purchased to be decreased during the subscription term.

AbleBridge is one of the few Microsoft Partners that was invited to Microsoft’s “Community Technical Preview” program for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 a year before it was released to beta so we’ve been working with and testing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for quite some time now. The product is a game changer in the CRM market. More importantly, Microsoft’s strategic roadmap for CRM (beyond 2011) just proves their long term commitment and vision to be the leader in the CRM marketplace – on-premise and ‘in the cloud’, and it’s clearly the “power of choice” for anyone considering a new CRM system or replacing their existing CRM system.