In our most recent blogs we put Acumatica head-to-head against Dynamics SL and Dynamics CRM to demonstrate how each software matches up as an ERP and a CRM for today’s cloud-based business. Acumatica prevailed for its scalability, cost-effectiveness, and convenience as both and ERP and a CRM for cloud and hybrid environments. In this edition of Acumatica Vs., we’re comparing it against a giant in the business software industry: Salesforce’s CRM offering Sales Cloud.
Cloud CRM Era
Cloud CRM solutions are here to stay. Migrating your business’ IT infrastructure to the cloud is quickly becoming the standard for many reasons including speed of communication, accessibility, and security. Both Sales Cloud and Acumatica are cloud-based CRM’s; Acumatica however, is natively developed for the cloud, and can be additionally implemented on hybrid environments and on-premise servers as well. Both CRMs are cloud-ready applications and share many common features. For instance, both CRMs offer opportunity management and lead management applications to help your sales team stay on the same page, as well as Workflows for more agile task completion and faster sales cycles. They also both have email integration and document management features as well as useful dashboards to visualize performance. Sales Cloud has a social integration feature as well as the ability to integrate with Gmail, while Acumatica CRM delivers marketing automation features, service case management and contract management with its CRM Platform.
Acumatica has the additional benefit of having a native ERP software integrated with the CRM that helps you synchronize your sales and accounting with the rest of your enterprise’s resources. Sales Cloud, on the other hand, can integrate with separate ERPs, but requires a connector license that comes with additional fees.
On paper, these two cloud CRM software programs seem pretty evenly-matched. So where does one or the other take the upper hand?
Factor #1: Mobility
In today’s smart-phone dominated world, it’s more than likely that most of your Sales team will be armed with mobile devices that they will use as work tools. Any competitive and efficient CRM will be mobile-ready, but how do Acumatica CRM and Sales Cloud actually perform on mobility? Salesforce’s mobile application has a reputation for being a source of complaints from end-users. Also, mobile-access is limited and not all features will be available on the app.
On top of that, Salesforce is often described as having a steep learning curve combined with post-implementation bugs. For many organizations, this means a lot of time and money must be invested in troubleshooting and user training before the system can reach its full potential.
For Acumatica, mobility is a very big deal. Its mobile application is both modern and intuitive and gives users access to the full-range of features for the CRM. Acumatica CRM’s mobile app receives frequent updates and constant maintenance to ensure smooth performance and usability.
Salesforce’s unreliable and outdated mobile application means Acumatica CRM takes the lead on the mobility factor.
Factor #2: Licensing
Sales Cloud, like many other cloud CRM applications, is priced per user. Since Sales Cloud stands alone as a CRM, this means to integrate it with your ERP or make it communicate with other non-native applications, licensing fees for additional connectors will be required. Salesforce also offers add-ons for its CRM, all at additional costs.
Acumatica CRM, on the other hand, has a unique pricing model that separates it from any other CRM software. The cost is based on your consumption and resource needs. Specifically, the number of transactions you run per hour and which applications you use. There are no hidden costs with Acumatica CRM and you only pay for what you need. Acumatica grows parallel with your organization. This positions Acumatica as a cost-effective CRM solution that will not require any additional licensing fees to integrate with its native ERP.
The Verdict
View an infographic comparing Acumatica CRM Vs. Sales Cloud side-by-side here.
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