Introduction
Customers are a vital part of any business entity because they are the life of an organization. Many companies take their relationships with their clients very seriously hence this begs the attention of customer relationship management. The process customer relationship management is primarily the practices, strategies and most importantly technologies used by companies to interact with their clients (Rouse). It entails the analysis and management of the rate of customer interaction with the business. Key areas of interest are within the points of contact with the customer like direct mail, telephone, live chat, websites, social media and even trough marketing materials (Rouse). The primary of objective of using customer relationship management strategies is to improve the client's relationship with the business and most importantly to establish customer retention, which will result in business growth. Many leading IT companies have taken to providing solutions to firms that require CRM tools ("The 9 CRM Features That All Businesses Need"). There are many IT companies, and it is definite that the competition is quite stiff since each is trying to outdo the others through the provision of products that suits the client’s needs. In this paper, the main objective will be to understand the objective functionalities of 3 CRMs, which are Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle Sales Cloud, and Sage CRM, to analyze and compare their relation to the basic requirements of a customer relationship management software.
Companies should ensure that they understand the ever-changing client needs and respond to them as quickly as possible ("Management Tools - Customer Relationship Management"). They should also collect as much information as possible so as to establish various business strategies regarding the customers. Information gathered from CRM software entities usually generates solutions in particular through the demand supply chain and the development of new products.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
The Microsoft Dynamics CRM is server-client software compiled by the Microsoft Corporation. The first version of this software was launched in 2003, and it has gradually grown over time to the latest that was released in 2016 ("Best CRM Software | 2017 Reviews of The Most Popular Systems"). This CRM majorly focuses on marketing, sales and help desk operations. Its functionality objective is that it maintains customer relationships, tracks engagements and provides actionable solutions. The software is also integrated with the following apps that substantiate its features: operations, sales, customer service, field service, project service automation and Microsoft power apps with flows. These features are meant to achieve its objective functionality fully. These features are limited according to the plan the customer prefers to use; there is Plan 1, Plan 2, team members enterprise edition and individual apps.
This software is available either on an on-premise basis at a rate of about $1,100 per person and $5,000 per server software; it is also available in the cloud at $65 per month per user ("Pricing | Microsoft Dynamics 365"). As at 2012, this software attracted a sales trail of $$1.1 billion, which is about 6.3 percent of the sales (Blattberg). The reason why this CRM has drawn a significant portion of companies is that it is integrated with the rest of Microsoft’s products like Microsoft Outlook ("What Is CRM - What Does CRM Stand For? | Microsoft Dynamics"). This is an important functionality objective since it makes it simpler for business enterprises to track information simultaneously. For instance, an organization can easily track emails for customers using both Outlook and Dynamic CRM. Also, Microsoft introduced mobile support for the CRM, which can be hosted on Windows devices, IOS and Android devices (Blattberg); this also increases the use of the CRM by clients. The CRM is also simple to understand. Therefore, it can easily be adopted by new users and hence assuring business enterprises of its sustainability. Aside from all these positive aspects of the functionality of Microsoft Dynamic CM, many clients have a problem with customization of the systems - especially the desktop version which may have a challenge in some instances. All in all this CRM is widely used and it is needless to say that it is simply going to grow to suit the client needs and the continuous development of technology.
Oracle Sales Cloud CRM
Oracle Sales Cloud is the CRM created by Oracle Company. Some of its functionality objectives entail automation of sales force, sales performance management entity, relationship management entity of partners, customer data management, and unified sales and service among others. The previously used On Demand platform was not well received in the market hence the introduction of sales cloud entity. Also, they have integrated the use of the CRM on Android and iOS devices. This makes the product attractive to a wider audience
As at 2012, the Oracle sales cloud had a sales trail of about $2 billion, which is about 11.1 percent of the CRM market (Blattberg). This CRM is also quite expensive, as its price ranges from $100 and $200 per user. However, the cost varies depending on the option selected. The user classes include standard, enterprise, and premium; the price and user class differ due to the functionalities provided by the software.
It works with the Microsoft Outlook interface, which is user-friendly and familiar to many people. It also has filtering capabilities that enable synchronization with relevant data. It also has both multi-tenancy and single tenancy entities. Despite all these good functionalities, many users complain that it is not easily adaptable since it is not always clear how the system operates and also that it is quite expensive compared to some other alternatives like Microsoft Dynamic CRM.
Sage CRM
Sage CRM is software developed by Sage Group Company. Its primary objective is to serve small to medium sized enterprises. Sage CRM is mainly an extension of Sage business management solution entity. In essence, it integrates some sage solutions to improve client understanding, usability, and adaptability. Its functionality objectives include a customer-centric view of data, fully customizable user interface, target marketing entity to motivate the staff and also a property that indicates the accelerated sales velocity ("Sage CRM | Overview"). Other objectives include management of new and existing clients, as well as improved customer service - in particular through help desk operations. Currently, it is supported by Windows OS, Mac OS, and OS agnostic web browsers.
Sage costs about $69 per user per month ("Sage Company Viability and CRM Software Pricing"). The premise software costs about $1,495 per server and about $495 per user on the annual support plan ("Sage Company Viability and CRM Software Pricing"). The most attractive entity of this CRM is that it is highly customizable hence it suits the client needs. It also has a Solo offline synchronization solution, which is highly suitable for travelers and people who are in areas with limited internet conditions ("Sage CRM Strengths and Weaknesses, An Independent Review"). Aside from all these positive aspects of Sage CRM, it has not been highly received in the CRM market compared to other brands since firstly, it does not have social media tools, and this limits its users who may want to take advantage of the social media client connection to their enterprise. Also, Sage CRM has not widely taken advantage of mobile devices, which are highly used currently hence not many people are attracted to its functionalities.
Analysis
Microsoft Dynamic CRM, Oracle Sales Cloud CRM and Sage CRM are all software produced by great companies that aim at providing solutions to customer relationships with businesses. All products have an objective of achieving customer satisfaction and analysis of sales performance. In the end, this will ensure that the enterprise responds to the needs of clients as soon as possible, hence improved sales and customer loyalty.
All three companies have established a good environment to enable clients to use it with ease. For instance, they strive to provide all the client data in one view in order to develop efficiency. Also, they all have analysis tools for the enterprise to monitor its performance. The three products also have methods to track customer data for performance analysis purposes. All three companies have also tried to link the CRM software to other related business solutions to ensure that the client uses the software with ease. In essence, they will keep opening all the other business solutions since they are all linked together.
Microsoft and Oracle have developed mobile platforms for their CRMs, unlike Sage which does not have that advancement. Oracle’s CRM is quite expensive, yet there are other solutions like Microsoft Dynamic that perform the same function. Sage is not that expensive, but it does not have a vast market due to some limitations that it exhibits. Oracle is also not very user-friendly compared to both Sage and Microsoft. All in all, from the data provided in this article, it is evident that Microsoft Dynamic is more likely to be used due to its functionality objectives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Microsoft Dynamic, Oracle, and Sage are all vendors that appeal to different CRM markets. They offer different functionality objectives as explained in this article. Also, as it has been established, the main purpose is to ensure customer satisfaction, which translates to improved sales and profitability for a business enterprise. From the comparison analysis, Microsoft Dynamic seems to be the best choice among the three. All in all, the three products are splendid depending on the CRM market and the enterprise size.
Works Cited
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