Looking for the perfect CRM for your business? Well, it’s pretty much like looking for a super colleague for your team. What I mean is this is not your regular software. CRM is complex but incredibly impactful in your company, and a bad choice of CRM or CRM reseller could lead to failure. Yes, it’s that crucial.
In the CRM industry, there are two strong competitors: the well-renowned Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce, the powerful. If you are feeling completely lost between the two of them, it’s normal. Both are terrific options for your business. Both boast a great deal of powerful tools, and both are trustworthy and reliable CRM for your business. But you gotta choose, right? So here is our analysis of Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce to help you decide which is best for your business.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: concrete definition
What is Dynamics 365?
Dynamics 365 is the Microsoft family of business applications. It includes a set of intelligent business applications that help organizations run their entire businesses and deliver results through predictive, AI-driven results. It’s the next generation of intelligent business applications in the Cloud, and it can adapt to fit any business.
Dynamics 365 includes more than a dozen apps and add-ons, including ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and so much more. Dynamics 365 lets you eliminate data silos by seamlessly integrating all of your business needs under one umbrella and experience levels of productivity you’ve never had before.
It is a highly adaptable and powerful platform that allows you to make informed decisions and enable business transformation effectively.
What is Salesforce?
Salesforce is a cloud computing service as a software (SaaS) company that specializes in CRM (customer relationship management). It is particularly known for helping marketing, sales, commerce, service and IT teams collaborate as one team, from anywhere.
Salesforce is used to engage customers through great customer service by connecting with them on a variety of levels, to manage support and complaints, to make data-driven sales decisions through real-time analytics, to quickly launch and scale eCommerce, and to encourage teams to work digitally from anywhere.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: the main difference
What differentiates Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce the most is definitely the way they store data. Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM while Dynamics 365 can store data both on-premise or in the cloud. If you don’t mind putting your data in the cloud, Salesforce is probably your best bet.
If you are worried about your data or if you work with high-security standards, Dynamics offers a licensing for on-premise storage or the high-quality Azure cloud. While this is pretty major in any CRM decision, the comparison doesn’t stop there.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: which one is easier to use?
Well, we are not all developers. But truly, the ability to easily master the tool will be part of the success or the failure of the implementation. So, let’s be frank, finding user-friendly software is essential. So, will it be Dynamics 365 or Salesforce? This depends on whether you are looking for design or extra help.
Some might say that the Salesforce platform is easy to use. It’s true, the design is great and it’s pretty easy to understand. But when it comes to synchronizing a bunch of other applications with the Salesforce platform makes it more efficient and easier to manage daily… not so much. Unfortunately, Salesforce is more limited in terms of including other applications and requires mostly third party applications that aren’t free.
In fact, it provides a very small amount of integrated solutions to make it easier to flow, to connect everything together, and make your life easy. And even though you can integrate third-party applications, they will definitely have limitations in terms of data sharing, synchronizing procedures, and overall system cohesion. You will need an IT pro simply to create extra workarounds that could slow the process.
This is where Dynamics 365 really stands out from Salesforce. Microsoft might have a tiny bit more complex interface to deal with, but it’s so powerful that it’s worth getting accustomed to. Dynamics 365 made a point of making life easier for everybody by adding a wide range of their tools to it, from customer service to business analysis. This is why it’s completely integrated with Office 365. So, for example, you will find that your Outlook can communicate pretty easily with the CRM and help you close sales directly via email.
Because the applications have been carefully added directly in the CRM, they flow seamlessly, communicating with each other without any breach in data sharing or workflow. That way, everything is perfectly synchronized, and you can work more efficiently and save time. It’s an incredibly powerful way to help you achieve your goals.
Features and integration of a CRM solution: Microsoft Dynamics 365 vs. Salesforce
A company has several departments: accounting, sales, production, customer service, and many others. This blog is about comparing the two CRM solutions from Microsoft Dynamics 365 VS Salesforce. However, I advise you to think about the evolution of your business and your solution in the future.
The advantage of Microsoft Dynamics is to offer two components (the evolution of your business and your solution in the future) for the functions. You can integrate it with an accounting solution like Quickbooks by Intuit or use its integrated accounting solution Microsoft Dynamics 365 Financials.
Unfortunately, Salesforce is limited in terms of the features offered in its solution and it mostly requires additional external applications that are not free. If I want to have an application for project management or my finances, unfortunately, I must have a second completely different application with Salesforce. And even if you add external applications to it, they will have limits in terms of data sharing, process synchronization, and overall, system operation. You will need an IT professional just to create additional solutions to your problems and this could, unfortunately, cause the software to slow down.
This is where Dynamics 365 comes in as the ultimate solution. Microsoft may have a slightly more complex interface, but it’s so powerful that it’s worth getting used to.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 was eager to offer a service that would make life easier for everyone by adding a wide range of tools directly into CRM: from customer service to your business analytics. So, for example, you will see that your Outlook can communicate fairly easily with CRM and help you close sales directly through your emails.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 vs. Salesforce, let’s break it down.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: which one is going to have the most impact on your Sales?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Yes! Dynamics 365 Sales enables smarter selling with contextual AI. It improves coaching and sales performance, increases sales profitably with advanced insights, boosts sales productivity with seamless tools, empowers sellers to build relationships, and innovates with sales solutions built to evolve.
It includes the following features:
- Customer data management
- Opportunity and funnel management
- Partner relationship management
- Task management
- Sales performance management
- Contract management
- Quote and order management
- Marketing automation
- Customer service
- Knowledgebase management
- Reporting and analytics
Salesforce
Yes! This is Salesforce’s bread and butter. Salesforce reports that its users experience, on average, a 37% improvement in sales revenue thanks to its platform. Features include:
- Contact Management
- Opportunity Management
- Lead Management
- Reports and Dashboards
- Salesforce Mobile
- Email Integration
- Sales Forecasting
- Workflow and Approvals
- Files Sync and Share
- Data Management
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: which one will allow you to have the best customer service?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 Customer Service ensures effortless and personalized customer service that empowers teams through the use of one complete source of customer data.
Salesforce
Salesforce has integrated the third-party Desk.com
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforces: what are their marketing capabilities?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 Marketing lets you orchestrate customer journeys based on the prospect buying behavior and preferences, create campaign assets quickly, run business-unit-level marketing, and simplify event management. By having everything under one roof you can easily align Sales and Marketing.
Salesforce
Salesforce has integrated with third-party Pardot and Exact Target
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforces: what they offer in terms of customer insights?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is an intuitive and flexible customer data platform (CDP). It allows you to have a holistic view of customers, discover insights, and take action. It’s also adaptable to your needs.
Salesforce
Salesforce guides blog articles about extracting customer insights from digital marketing.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforces: what about their project service?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation helps you deliver outstanding project experiences by empowering you to deliver profitable projects on time and within budget while increasing employee productivity.
Salesforce
No native application.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: which one is going to support the best your field service?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 Field Service lets you deliver exceptional customer experiences by dispatching the right resource at the right time to the right place, making sure you solve service issues right the first time.
Salesforce
No native application.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: what about retail management?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
What was once called Dynamics 365 Retail has been renamed Dynamics 365 Commerce. It offers comprehensive omnichannel commerce across e-commerce, in-store, call center, back-office and emerging channels.
Salesforce
No native application.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: what are their impact on your finance and operations?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management offer the flexibility to adopt the capabilities you need when you need them. Dynamics 365 Finance allows you to monitor performance in real-time and predicts future outcomes. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain brings IoT, mixed reality and AI together to improve visibility across your organization.
Salesforce
No native application.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: which one will allow you to recruit the best talents?
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 Human Resources allows you to create a workplace where your people and your business can thrive. Take better care of your teams, transform employee experiences, increase organizational agility and discover workforce insights.
Salesforce
No native application.
In fact, Salesforce offers a very small number of basic included solutions to make it easy to navigate, to connect all your software together and to make your life easier. We end up with a set of external applications that we have to navigate from one to another.
On the contrary, Dynamics 365 offers a wide range of features. Because the applications have been carefully added directly to the CRM, they work together without problems, communicating with each other without interrupting data sharing or your work pace.
In this way, everything is perfectly synchronized and you can work efficiently and save time. It must be said, this is an extremely powerful way to help you reach your goals.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: how can they support you in your daily task?
This is a big question and a pretty common one I might add in the CRM comparison between Dynamics 365 VS Salesforce. We all look at a CRM to help us do a better job, to support us in our client work, and sometimes our industry entails some very unique ways of doing things or specific needs.
When we are choosing a CRM, we are trying to find the best tool to support and help our team, the best colleague to bring our employees together and work toward our goals. CRM is more than our usual work software because it can point us toward the moon. So the versatility of the tool, its ability to be customized, and its user experience can power you through your day.
In that department, Salesforce has amazing (but limited) applications and a wide range of additional tools to support your day. However, its customization is, as we know, limited. As we said, it’s not one of its strengths to synchronize a bunch of third party applications. Plus, it’s important to know that Salesforce uses Apex language, and while it’s a great language, it doesn’t provide the flexibility you need to customize the CRM AND make it efficient.
On the other side, Dynamics 365 uses universal web language letting you customize in Java, .NET, and HTML. You can dig deep and create perks that really suit your needs without slowing down the software. This way, you can have a CRM that acts like a real teammate and makes your life easier the way you want it.
How about analysis and reporting? Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: who has the best analytics?
Another frequent question when looking at CRM solutions is, “How can I analyze and make reports with this one?” Once again, my clients always ask very good questions, and the answer is that both Dynamics 365 and Salesforce have tools to analyze and create reports, but not for the same purpose. Well, to begin with, the strongest contender in that field, Dynamics 365 offers the most interesting tool in that department: Power BI. A powerful business analytical tool, it creates reports and helps you get a better picture of the situation at any time, about anything in your CRM.
Unfortunately, Salesforce doesn’t offer anything that precise and insightful. What distinguishes Salesforce in that field is the Marketing Cloud that helps you get a sense of your data, follow up with your clients, and ultimately, generate more sales. It’s really well known, and if you’d like to have an analysis that specifically helps you with your marketing, the Marketing Cloud is definitely a big, popular tool.
And after all, what’s the cost of Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce?
While it should be seen as an investment to improve productivity and facilitate managing, its cost can sometimes be a really big factor, especially for SMBs.
Salesforce is always seen as the biggest and most popular CRM, but it’s also the priciest. With a price, on average, of $75 US/month/ user for the Lightning Pro, it has to be a pretty good CRM to make it worth it.
Prices for Salesforce:
- CRM solutions – Sales : $75 to $300 / user / month
- CRM Solutions - Sales + Services: $ 100 to $325 / user / month
- Marketing Solutions (Pardot): $1,000 to $3,000 per 10,000 contacts
Even if you are ready for that kind of investment, Dynamics 365, for a similar product, will offer you a rate as low as $40 US/month/user.
Prices for Microsoft Dynamics 365:
- CRM Solutions - Sales: $40 to $95 / user / month
- CRM solutions from A to Z: $115 / user / month(Included: Customer Service, Marketing, Project Management, Field Service, Social Engagement & Sales)
- ERP + CRM solutions: $210 / user / month
You will not find anywhere CRM and ERP software at only $210 per month per user. Microsoft Dynamics 365 includes more than 9 applications for each department of your company.
Dynamics 365 vs Salesforce: two powerful CRM that are worth looking into
Overall, those two CRMs are terrific, and both Dynamics 365 and Salesforce are worth looking into. Choosing all comes down to what you need and what you expect from a CRM. Customization? Cloud-based? Integrated tools?
For our part, we prefer the Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution for its ability to cover all the departments of your company.
Remember to always make a long analysis of your requirements and industry-standard before even browsing a CRM website. Serving your business well should be the main point.
If you would like to learn more about ERP or CRM software, do not hesitate to make an appointment with our consultant who will listen to your needs and offer you the best software solution for your business.
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January 16, 2018 by Frédéric Charest by Frédéric Charest VP of Marketing
Data-driven Growth Marketer with a Passion for SEO - Driving Results through Analytics and Optimization
