Dynamics 365 vs. Salesforce: What’s the Difference?

The CRM market has been a highly competitive one that pits two superior products against one another, Microsoft Dynamics vs. Salesforce.

The Realm of Salesforce

Salesforce is synonymous with CRM as one of the very few standalone CRM applications, and controls over half of the worldwide CRM market. Even though most ERP applications today possess CRM capabilities to an extent, they often lack critical industry specific features. While you can continue using an ERP system’s inbuilt CRM capability, it makes more sense to have a standalone CRM application to streamline sales processes and increase your revenue.

Implementing Salesforce and integrating it with existing ERP systems has been popular for organizations who want the best of both worlds.

Having trouble deciding which ERP system is best for your business? Here is an in depth analysis of how the top 3 solutions compare.

How Dynamics 365 Scores

With Dynamics 365 Microsoft goes one step further in competing head-on with Salesforce (as well as Oracle and SAP). Dynamics 365 comprises a host of new and improved applications that sift through data stored across your organization, and social media sites to provide intelligent insights.

Let’s take a look at six different ways Dynamics 365 wins the battle against Salesforce:

1. Ease of Development

Dynamics 365 employs common, universal web standards such as Java, .NET, and HTML that give the liberty of developing customizations (based on individual needs) without having to rely on a specific programming language. Now don’t worry if you do not possess such developmental capabilities in-house; you can always choose from an extensive network of trusted and experienced partners that can effectively handle your needs.

Salesforce, on the other hand, offers limited customization options, often hindered with substantially lower speeds. Since Salesforce is built on a multi-client cloud environment, resources are shared across different organizations, leading to relatively poor performance. To overcome these limitations, your developers will need to create extra workloads and carry out heavier customizations – which is not only time consuming, but also costly and highly resource dependent.

2. Integration Possibilities

Everything works better when you integrate! And that’s why Dynamics 365 scores high on the integration quotient. Built on Microsoft technologies, it offers seamless integration with a host of other Microsoft applications including Outlook, Office 365, as well as Power BI. You can use any of these applications from within your Dynamics 365 interface, and extend your business-specific tasks across the enterprise. You can also leverage an array of add-in PowerApps that have been developed for specific tasks.

Although Salesforce APIs are highly functional, organizations that use Salesforce most often use Microsoft Office products to carry out day-to-day tasks. The mismatch between data fields and types requires you to use special types of integrators. Although a certain level of integration is possible, it isn’t that straightforward, and in most cases, offers limited functionality.

3. Extendibility Options

Any software that adapts to your evolving needs is extremely sought after. Dynamics 365 gives you the freedom to customize and extend the CRM platform to meet your changing needs. You can customize views, add or delete business entities, fields, and forms – without extensive coding. Grow at your own pace – implement changes faster and get your business up to speed. Choose from a greater variety of hosting options, and achieve higher flexibility at a relatively low price.

Salesforce also leverages all the capabilities of the cloud, allowing you to customize and add features as and when requirements increase. However, if you’re a relatively small organization, a full version of Salesforce (with required features) can become too expensive.

4. Deployment Alternatives

Imagine if you had the option of choosing your deployment option – based on current business needs? Dynamics 365 offers a host of deployment options – on-premises as well as cloud (private, public or hybrid on Azure). Select the model that meets your current needs, and move to a different model as and when your needs change (and evolve). Drive growth with data in the cloud, and always stay ahead of the curve.

Sadly, Salesforce only allows one method of deployment: on-demand, multi-tenant hosting. Not getting to host data on a public cloud might lead to a higher total cost of ownership in the long run and also limits portability. In addition, you might not have complete control and security over your data – a deal breaker for government organizations or others who need to follow compliances who aren’t comfortable storing sensitive information in the cloud.

5. Business Intelligence Capabilities

Turning data into value is what defines successful organizations today. Dynamics 356 is packed with a host of intelligent tools; with Cortana Intelligence, Power BI, and Azure Machine Learning built into the solution, getting insights into your business, customers, and competitors is a breeze. With real-time business intelligence in the form of rich visuals and dynamic charts (anywhere, any time, on the device of your choice), you can get answers to all your business problems immediately.

Although Salesforce offers cutting edge features, it lacks sophisticated BI capabilities. If you’re seeking data warehousing, data mining, or any other predictive analytic capabilities for lead management or prospect tracking purposes, you will need to procure third party solutions which further add to your TCO.

6. Pricing

Cost is always a major factor for a majority of organization. If you don’t want a year-long commitment and want to only pay on a monthly basis, you can choose from Dynamics 365’s enterprise (500+ users) and business (<500 users) editions. You can also opt for different subscription types (user and application) – pick what best suits your needs.

With Salesforce, you have to settle for a year-long contract (with the option to renew it annually). And the limited features that Salesforce offers, the add-ons are also relatively more expensive (and less robust) than what Microsoft offers.

Excel with Dynamics 365

Cloud Vice President Takeshi Numoto says, “With so much attention on artificial intelligence and the promise it holds, it can be hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. When it comes to business process – and your business – Dynamics 365 delivers the intelligence you need to transform, now, backed by decades of research and investment.”

Although Salesforce has been a popular CRM application for more than two decades, it does not match up to the growing needs of businesses, and lacks modern technological capabilities. Dynamics 365 scores high on a bunch of factors – it is easy to develop, has deep integration capabilities, is highly extendible, offers a variety of deployment options, and is built with advanced BI capabilities. So, if you’re looking to excel at business, Dynamics 365 is what you need.

Looking for the best way to transition to Dynamics 365? Synoptek offers a complete suite of services to help make the move as smooth as possible.