Microsoft Dynamics CRM - A first look

I recently spent some time learning more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM and I must admit the product looks very interesting! For those of you that are more familiar with Salesforce.Com, I will try and draw out some of the similarities and some of the differences. I haven’t had a chance to do a nonprofit implementation with Dynamics CRM, so this is very much just a first look based on information I have read and some online demos.

The first major difference between the two platforms is how they can be run. Salesforce is locked in to the On-Demand model. Microsoft offers the ability to run Dynamics CRM either as an Internal Application or as an On-Demand offering through their CRM Live service. At first glance, it appears as though Dynamics CRM would be more feature rich when run as an internal server based application. It derives its value from making the assumption that end users are most familiar with MS Office Suite of Products. It has very tight integration with MS Outlook and MS Excel. Below is a screenshot of how CRM Dynamics looks in a familiar MS Outlook Environment:

CRM Dynamics can also be accessed via a web browser. Below is a screenshot of a Contact screen through a web browser. (Note: When I tried to use CRM Live the system insisted that I could only access the site using Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 or higher.)

I highlighted some of the familiar objects I saw on the online demo. It appears as though Householding may be a native feature, however, I was unable to get to it on CRM Live. Relationships and Campaigns are readily accessible. Based on some cursory analysis of the online demos and CRM Live, I saw the following familiar features and objects:

I am, of course, leaving out a ton of the objects and features which are available in Dynamics CRM, however, the above chart can give you a sense of how similar the exposed data model is to what we are familiar with in Salesforce. While there may be high overlap in objects and features, the interface and approach is substantially different. It is difficult to say whether it is better or worse as that is going to be a very subjective preference. The one thing I did appreciate is that CRM Live was blazing fast when I was working on it. It almost felt as though I was working with a desktop application. It will be interesting to see if they can maintain that performance level as they grow a large customer base.

The most exciting element of CRM Dynamics might be the integration with other Microsoft Products. Imagine being able to book an appointment with a contact and having it instantly show up on your calendar with no synchronization. The same goes for emails and tasks. One feature that I saw on CRM Live really got me excited. It was the export to Excel feature. See below for a screenshot:

You can do dynamic exports of Dynamics CRM data and then edit it in Excel. Some of the same features are available in Salesforce through the Excel Connector, however, everything feels so seamless with Dynamics CRM.

Another attractive feature of Dynamics CRM is the licensing. I don’t have nonprofit pricing for CRM Live, however, you can get the Dynamics Workgroup Server on Tech Soup Stock for a little over $125. That supports about 5 users and you can purchase additional CAL’s at about $30/each. This is a one-time non-recurring fee. See Tech Soup Stock for more details on licensing and eligibility. This pricing model may make it attractive to larger organizations that can not bear substantive recurring costs.

Dynamics CRM is also not meant to be an isolated solution. It can integrate with a suite of Microsoft Dynamics products to handle functions such as ERP, Operations, Accounting, and more. Also, like all other Microsoft technologies, it can be extended using the .NET programming platform.

So, what’s the downside?

The Server edition of the solution requires a lot of investment in Internal IT and Internal Infrastructure. Just to run it in your internal environment you must have Windows Server 2003 (or 2008), SQL Server 2005, and Exchange Server 2003. They are also recommending Dual Pentium Xeon P4 processors with 2GB of RAM and 400MB of Hard Disk space on your server to run it. It would only be advisable to run this much server technology in your internal environment if you have dedicated IT professionals to manage it all. CRM Live on the other hand might be a nice on-demand offering for smaller organizations who don’t have the IT resources to run the server edition. We will only be able to make a fair comparison of CRM Live once we understand the nonprofit pricing structure and have a chance to do one or two implementations so we can understand the variances from the Salesforce.Com solution. Another factor to consider is also the ecosystem for nonprofits. The Salesforce .Com Foundation has made a heavy investment into the nonprofit sector and built out a vibrant ecosystem of developers, customers, applications, and add-ons. It may take Microsoft several years to develop a comparable ecosystem.

Getting More Information:

Everything I have provided here really is just the tip of the iceberg. I would encourage you to do your own research into Dynamics CRM. Below are some resources you can use to get started.

Microsoft Dynamics Home Page

Dynamics CRM Product Page

Dynamics CRM Video Demos

CRM Live - Sign Up For a Free Trial