It is believed that small businesses do not need CRM and it is meant for big business with a few thousand customers. On the contrary, in reality, small business need CRM more than or equally as much as big business do. CRM helps you leverage assistance that human resources may lack, by helping set up tasks, reminders they help you gain the best out of every single potential customer/existing customer. If you want to increase your customer base, automate processes.
The market is flooded with CRM platforms and automation services. Moreover, some modern solutions cover a wider range of tasks — not only sales and marketing but also finance, personnel management, and many other business processes.
It is obvious to leave you confused about choosing the right CRM for your company. Whether it meets all the needs, whether it is scalable enough for your growing business or whether you are paying for exactly what you need.
To help deal with this issue, let’s compare the three most popular systems in the world: Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM helps you manage customers, salespersons’ routine, targets, sales cycles, customer correspondence etc. efficiently. In-depth and flexible configurations help big/mid/small sized business to achieve their unique goals. It can work for you in the form of program based on cloud technology or as a local version on-premises server.
The system consists of several blocks: sales, customer support, marketing, reporting, and analytics. In the sales section, you can automate processes from an offer to processing a finished order, create customer profiles, and synchronize processes with a calendar. In marketing, campaign scenarios are developed, and customer cards are created, which can be classified by subject. There is also a function for sending offers. The dashboard provides graphs for tracking KPIs. The current status of deals can be viewed in the sales funnel. The system offers control of income and expenses, the creation of reports on market segments or clients of the company, as well as options for evaluating the effectiveness of individual marketing activities.
Platform and deployment options:
Dynamics 365 can be used on-premises or on cloud. Sales and Services are only available in full cloud versions, while Finance and Operations can be installed on-premises. It is ideal for businesses that are still unsure whether to move their core systems online.
Features:
- Customer insights
- Editable grids
- Web API enhancements
- Activity sorting control
- Programmatic management of product properties
- Define access permission for modular business apps
- Use form scripts to add icons with tooltip text for view columns
- Client APIs for creating and managing records in Dynamics 365 mobile clients
- Server-to-server authentication
- Process enhancements
- Sitemap designer for apps
- Power BI
- Dynamics 365 app for Outlook
- Cortana integration
Integrations:
All the other tools/applications in the Microsoft universe can be smoothly integrated. Incredible range of app integrations on AppSource (1,000+ at last count) or build a low-code custom solution with PowerApps.
Reporting:
Comes with built-in reporting which allows non-technical users to build reports on demand. The native integrations with the Microsoft 365 suite mean you can get even more out of your data. You could get complex and in-depth reporting via Power Bi, which is a tool used for complex drill down reporting.
AI:
Dynamics 365’s AI features are packaged with the CRM — no additional cost is required.
Cost:
It is quite difficult to determine the price of Dynamics 365 since it is not a standalone CRM system, but ERP applications are available along with it. The below URL can help you with the pricing:
https://dynamics.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/
Implementation:
Microsoft doesn’t usually handle CRM implementations in-house. They will outsource to one of their partners.
Works best for:
The service provides solutions for a variety of business and economic sectors, including finance, trade, manufacturing, healthcare, and education. CRM features are especially relevant for companies that sell equipment and provide maintenance, in this case, Microsoft Dynamics CRM can significantly reduce support costs.
Salesforce CRM
Salesforce is an American cloud technology company founded over 20 years ago. Today it is the world leader in CRM software development. The main advantage of Salesforce CRM lies in its capabilities. The product supports not only the management of sales processes, customer service, marketing and B2C and B2B e-commerce but also an analytical module based on artificial intelligence technologies, modules for developing mobile applications and their integration, as well as tools for organizing the work of retail chains, production and medical.
Platform and deployment options:
Salesforce was built to run in the cloud. Using a browser and/or mobile app is great for your business if you want to store data on a remote server.
Features:
- Account and contact management
- Opportunity management and score
- Lead management
- Sales data
- File sync
- File sharing
- Sales forecasting
- Salesforce mobile app
- Contact manager
- Real-time visibility
- Drag-and-drop interface
- Dashboards
- Visual workflow
- Multi-currency support
- In-line editing
- Lead assignment and routing
- Rules-based lead scoring
- Einstein led scoring
- Web-to-lead capture
- Campaign management
- Duplicate blocking
- Mass email
- Salesforce engage
- Email templates
- Campaign influence
- Einstein activity capture
- Calendar
- Sales console app
- Enterprise territory management
- Opportunity splits
- Salesforce CPQ and billing
- Contracts, orders, quotes, products, and price books
- Chatter, files, topics, and recommendations
- Case management
- Lightning bolt solutions
- Partner communities
- Lead registration
- Roles and permissions
- Process builder
- Lightning platform
- Web services API
- Google apps integration
- File storage per user
- Sandbox
- MuleSoft Anypoint Platform integration
Integrations:
Over 3,400 apps are available on AppExchange and there’s a partner program too.
Reporting:
Also comes with built-in reporting capabilities.
AI:
Einstein AI is said to be better than Microsoft’s. But it’s only available as a paid-for add-on.
Cost:
- Essentials $25/user/month
- Professional $75/user/month
- Enterprise $150/user/month
- Unlimited $300/user/month
Implementation:
Implementing Salesforce is a complex and time-consuming job that can be difficult for those who do not have sufficient knowledge and skills.
If your employees have not had enough experience with CRM, they will have to spend weeks learning how their systems work. This can be quite tricky if they’re new to the field, so it’s a good idea to reach out to Salesforce agents for the best experience.
Works best for:
Salesforce is a better fit for businesses with an exponentially growing customer base because complex sales processes require powerful analytics and reporting. The rich toolkit and customizability of Salesforce is great for most large, fast-growing companies.
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is a CRM platform that was founded in 2005 by two MIT graduates Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. The HubSpot platform is based on the concept of inbound marketing. This is the idea that salespeople no longer thrive on harassing consumers and should instead help them.
Platform and deployment options:
Cloud, SaaS, Web
Features:
- Customize views
- Deal and Task Board
- Hubspot Marketing Synchronization
- Drag and Drop Communicator
- Email Integration
- Phone Integration
- Website Integration
- Enrichment
- Social Media
- Company Database
- Website Visitors
- Email Connections
- Sidekick Integration
- CRM Details
- Templates, Tracking, and Scheduling
Integrations:
Hubspot CRM integrates with several hundred other systems. Open API systems allow you to integrate your own systems (especially relevant for various online services), e-commerce systems, telephony, financial systems, and much more by yourself or with the help of a certified partner. Here are just a few examples of services that integrate with Hubspot: Mailchimp, Slack, Facebook Ads, Drift, Intercom, Shopify, Zapier, Salesforce, and OptinMonster. At the same time, the cost of integrations is quite high.
Reporting:
HubSpot free and starter packages only provide pre-installed sales pipeline and activity reports. Users who require customized reports need to subscribe to the Professional or Enterprise tiers.
AI:
HubSpot AI makes it easy to optimize content at scale, increase conversions and create more relevant customer experiences.
Cost:
Hubspot CRM is free. Extension packs are paid: Sales Pro (sales automation), Marketing Pro (marketing automation), CMS (engine for a website, landing pages and blog), Service Pro (customer service automation). Paid versions start at $50/month per user.
Implementation:
HubSpot has a simple and intuitive interface that is easy to learn and implement into your existing workflow. Another feature, the HubSpot Academy, acts as a phenomenal online learning resource. Here you can learn everything related to HubSpot services and use them to the best advantage. In addition, there are many training courses and certifications written and presented by industry experts.
Works best for:
Hubspot was developed as a marketing and sales solution for SMEs (Small and Medium Businesses) that need some tool more advanced than spreadsheets to manage customer relationships, but they are not ready for complex enterprise-scale CRM systems. The current version of Hubspot is perfect for:
- B2B companies of any profile from event organizers to manufacturers of industrial equipment.
- Online services. A lot of SaaS companies and online services use Hubspot. Thanks to open APIs, the solution is easily integrated into online products.
- IT companies. IT business (especially B2B) is characterized by long sales cycles, as well as a large
number of people involved in marketing and sales activities. - FinTech. Again, thanks to open APIs and user-friendly interfaces, Hubspot CRM is very quickly
implemented and integrated with other systems and services.
So, which is the best CRM software?
If we compare the characteristics of these three world’s leading CRMs, we will understand that they all have different purposes.
HubSpot started as a Marketing Automation Platform, Salesforce is a CRM. However, if you need to connect CRM to other systems, such as an ERP or business communication system, those will require significant additional costs and efforts. In contrast, Microsoft offers many other business applications in addition to CRM. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance Operations and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are the most popular ERP systems. Also, there are Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office 365. They all integrate seamlessly with Dynamics 365 CRM. This allows you to build a single high-tech, universal environment, including financial accounting, planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management, production process management, human resource management, project management, etc.
Of course, all CRMs integrate with popular applications, although Dynamics 365 offers much better out-of-the- box integration with Microsoft applications because it owns these products. Besides, Dynamics 365 is more flexible and cost-effective. Flexibility allows you to modify the CRM system, transforming it into an XRM system. This means that, if necessary, near sales processes can be finalized on this platform: automating the work of the call center or creating an order to the supplier.
Evolving cloud services that are built into Dynamics 365 application workspaces — Power BI reports, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, give us confidence that the CRM system from Microsoft will continue to lead on the market for CRM systems.
