Competitive Analysis

The major systems that we have identified to be considered Salesforce alternatives are Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle, and Sugar CRM. These three systems are all well -known for using cloud CRM solutions.

Microsoft CRM is a global CRM system that delivers localized capabilities in 40 regions and 41 languages, and it has rich features yet easy to use. It could be easily accessed without getting IT involved. The SFA software can run within an Outlook client and gives the look and feel of a Microsoft Office environment. Office users can integrate with the CRM database. Microsoft CRM offers choice in software delivery in the cloud, on premise or with a hybrid combination and customization and platform software integration tools, which increase product flexibility and extensibility. Microsoft CRM is hosting neutral, allowing customers to select among a plethora of hosting providers or bring the software in -house. A combination of deep features and the lowest subscription pricing among CRM vendors, makes Microsoft CRM the best value proposition in the industry. (CRM Landmark)

Oracle is the first cloud CRM vendor that has experienced marketing and lead management software, which includes digital tracking, lead scoring, nurture campaigns and distribution of sales ready leads. Oracle CRM on Demand provides the best Business Intelligence in the cloud. Beyond dashboards which all vendor deliver, the Answers on Demand analysis tool enables easy creation of custom reports. CRM data can be analyzed among multiple dimensions, manipulated and modeled in real time for learning and insight. In terms of hosting, Oracle CRM offers customers a choice, which means customers, can select the multi-tenant hosting option or can choose to upgrade to a single-tenant hosting option. And they provide an attractive total cost of ownership. Its subscription fee is one of the lowest in the cloud CRM industry. (CRM Landmark)

The SugarCRM development framework, customization tools and open source code offer the most flexible and extensible software customization in the CRM market. It can be customized at various levels, such as the data model as well as objects, columns, fields and user interface. It is one of the few SaaS CRM vendors to offer cloud portability. Customers have the choice to select the public or private cloud that best meets their reliability, performance and service level agreement needs. The SugarCRM development community, SugarForge, is the most mature open source community in the business software applications industry. Sugar CRM offers a compelling CRM software acquisition cost and one of the lowest total cost of ownership CRM applications in the marketplace. (CRM Landmark)

Cost comparison

As we can see in the table above, they all have different pricing policies for their CRM system. Salesforce is currently available in four different editions, which range in price from $25 per user per month to $300 per user per month. It is very detailed, and gives different user specific features and functionality. However, there is a high service fee. The most popular edition, Enterprise has a fee of $125 per user per month, which is much higher than any the other competitors.

From a cost perspective, Sugar CRM is a stronger competitor. They also provide three editions for customers and their features are similar with SalesForce. However, the price of their software is about half when compared with Salesforce prices Especially the Ultimate only charges $150, just like the price of Enterprise in Salesforce.

As for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, their pricing is simple. They charge $65 for CRM online per user per month. It means they don’t have any price discrimination and is equal to all the customers. Another substitute is Oracle CRM, but they don’t have straightforward price and its based on customers’ demand.

Value comparison

Sugar CRM is an affordable and easy to use customer relationship management platform, especially designed to help your business communicate with prospects, share sales information, close deals and keep customers happy. Sugar is easy to customize and adapt to your changing needs and ideal for small and medium-sized companies.

Oracle's Complete CRM solutions offer the broadest and deepest capabilities that help organizations drive sales, marketing, loyalty, and service effectiveness. However, their function items show all the basic services that each competitor could have.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help reduce costs and increase profitability by organizing and automating business processes that nurture customer satisfaction and loyalty in the sales, marketing, and customer service fields. CRM solutions can deliver ROI through marketing automation. Particularly, they offer the mobile CRM apps and platforms that enable you to manage your customer relationships on your mobile devices, along with tools that integrate data and reporting from social media directly into your CRM application.

SalesForce is similar with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and its functions cover almost all services that other substitutes provide. Also it works well for small and medium-sized companies, large enterprises and government organizations, which allowed them to achieve market leader dominance in this industry. We can easily find the leader Salesforce in this picture.

Risk Comparison

As we have discussed in our Risk Assessment for SalesForce, we presented that there were two primary risks of buying, leasing or subscribing to the SalesForce system. The first concern was the privacy issues; which included IVK’s own confidential paper as well as the staff information. This could take place if IVK were under attack by a hacker or someone within IVK releasing sensitive data. In this case, their privacy rights might be violated. Also, the data of customers, and suppliers could also have been compromised by hackers, which could result in distrust between customers and suppliers.

Another problem is security, which is a hot topic due to the fact that SalesForce has already experienced an outage a few different times and their users cannot do anything during this outage. This situation is very detrimental to the customers. Additionally, a software upgrade will most likely cause data to be lost or system breakdowns. Although they have Data Safety detection, it still poses a risk.

For more comparisons and customer reviews for SalesForce.com, Sugar CRM, Oracle CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and other CRM systems visit: https://www.g2crowd.com/compare/sugarcrm-vs-salesforce-crm-vs-oracle-crm-on-demand-vs-microsoft-dynamics-crm?id=196


Sources:

CRM Landmark. (n.d.). Crm software overviews for cloud customer relationship management software . Retrieved from http://www.crmlandmark.com/software-compare.html

Compare Sugar, Salesforce, Oracle CRM On Demand, Dynamics CRM. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2014, from  
https://www.g2crowd.com/compare/sugarcrm-vs-salesforce-crm-vs-oracle-crm-on-demand-vs-microsoft-dynamics-crm?id=196