My corrections to a rather wonky CRM comparison I found
This morning in my inbox I have an email from InsideCRM offering me their review of the “Top Five Sales Force Automation Players”. Sounds cool to me. I am lucky enough that I don’t sell Dynamics CRM, I just work with it, but it’s always good to have an idea of what else is out there, no? Knowing that Dynamics CRM is a top5 player, this review would quickly offer me knowledge on the other players. Umm, maybe not.
I do not know what metrics InsideCRM is using but they do not have Dynamics CRM in their top5. After ready thru a few pages of 2 point font, I found Dynamics CRM as 13th. Yea, pretty wonky.
In addition to the placement issue, there were many mistakes on their feature comparison. Below is their list of features with my corrections to their errors for Dynamics CRM. Link here to their document comparison, you’ll have to download it. (addressing the credibility of this review….the SDK they referenced was v3.0).
| Microsoft Dynamics CRM | |
| Targeted Company Size | Any (not just enterprise) |
| Number of Users | Any (5 minimum for CRMOnline) |
| Modular Deployment | Yes |
| Pricing | CRMOnline for non-profit starts around $10/user/month |
| Alternative Editions | Yes |
| Dashboards for End Users | Yes |
| Mobile Device Access | Yes |
| Mobile Device Synchronization | Yes |
| Offline Access | Yes |
| Enterprise Application Integration | Totally (seen integration with full range of MS products as well as proprietary stuff too) |
| Customization | Hell yes (xRM anyone?!?!) |
| Software Development Kit | Yes, new one released just recently (April-ish) |
| Sales Tools | |
| Lead Management | Yes |
| Opportunity Management | Yes |
| Sales Forecasting | Yes |
| Sales Analytics | Yes |
| Account Management | Yes |
| Contact Management | Yes |
| Quote Management | Yes |
| Order Management | Yes |
| Contract Management | Yes |
| Pipeline Management | Yes |
| Territory Management | Yes |
| 360-Degree View of Customer | Yes |
| Customizable Reports | Yes |
| Activity Management | Yes |
| Team Selling | Yes (seriously, this was marked as a “no”?) |
| Email Integration | Yes (Outlook and its own email router if needed) |
| Shared Calendar | Yes |
| Desktop Application Integration | Yes (infinite choices for integration) |
| Sales Methodologies | Yes |
| Workflow Automation | Yes |
| Customizable Workflow | Yes |
| Competitor Tracking | Yes |
| PRM (Partner Relationship Management) | Yes (the X in xRM can equal anything, yes partners too) |
| Incentive Management | Yes (see above about the X) |
| Sales Information Tools | |
| Product Catalog | Yes |
| Document or Literature Management | Yes |
| Pricing Management | Yes |
| Marketing Automation Tools | |
| Campaign Management | Yes |
| Email Templates for Salespeople | Yes |