Salesforce vs. the Competition

Amidst an ever-growing sea of CRMs currently on the market, Salesforce continues to be the most popular and powerful. However, several CRM providers are constantly making improvements in their offerings in order to try and “catch up” with Salesforce.

Who are the major players competing against Salesforce and how do they stack up? Here are a few examples.

 

SugarCRM

SugarCRM has been around for a long time. This solution still remains in the top 20 the most popular CRMs. SugarCRM is certainly less expensive than Salesforce, but as the old saying goes… ”you get what you pay for.”

The main advantage Salesforce has over SugarCRM is its cloud-based capabilities. This means there is no need to provide costly infrastructure when installing the CRM solution. Also, Salesforce is a one-tenant hosted platform. Whenever new releases become available, all users are automatically updated at the same time, allowing everyone instant access to new functionality and features.

In contrast, SugarCRM is built on multi-tenant architecture where every user has their own URL to login to the system. Updates in SugarCRM do not happen often, but when they do, they are not automated. A specialist is required to copy data over and upgrade the system. If something goes wrong during the system update, the entire company is paralyzed. 

 

Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics has been competing with Salesforce for quite some time. Both systems offer pretty much identical functionalities: sales, case and account management, sales forecast, analytics, app market, etc. However, Salesforce wins out when it comes to simplicity of use.

A “clicks not code” approach by Salesforce results in fewer user efforts to make necessary changes. An outside developer is only needed for deep customization or integration with third party systems. With Microsoft Dynamics, a developer is required to make basic changes and updates.

Community (i.e., Success Community, AppExchange, YouTube channels, podcasts and independent blogs) is what really makes Salesforce a better system for doing more with less time and effort. The AppExchange is jam-packed with 3,220 apps (free or paid) and 618 Lightning Components already available to tailor your Salesforce for industry specific needs. With the  AppExchange, you can boost your workflow and make the overall management process easier. Of course, Microsoft Dynamics also has a growing community and app store, but they are both on a smaller level than Salesforce.

 

IBM Watson

IBM Watson was designed to make smart decisions and reliable predictions. Watson is a language processing technology that allows a user to ask the technology – Watson – any question. The Watson Virtual Agent changes the way businesses interact with customers. It is able to manage cases in a personalized manner.

Unlike Watson, Salesforce Einstein is not a separate product. Its capabilities are available across all Salesforce platforms and Clouds. Einstein captures data from all sources (email, social, Salesforce, Calendar, etc.), analyzes it, and provides businesses with recommendations for next steps. Einstein analyzes every single interaction within Salesforce to predict customer behaviour. For marketers, the ability to analyze all this data is transforming marketing strategy and making it easy to quickly adjust to fast-changing business needs.

 

So while Salesforce may not be the cheapest option when it comes to a CRM solution, remember, again, that you get what you pay for. Better to pay once and get everything included than to pay for a less robust solution that will require more costly upgrades and customizations in the future.

What are your thoughts regarding Salesforce and its competitors? What CRM did you choose and why? Share with us!