Top 5 Reasons Why Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE Is an Ideal Replacement for your CRM System

Since this article caught your eye, likely you’re already considering a replacement for your CRM solution. (If you’re still evaluating the available CRM options, check out this article, 8 Reasons to Choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE Over the Competition.) If you’re a current HubSpot or Oracle CRM user contemplating a move, you’re not alone. Companies across industries are making the change after discovering that while powerful, these solutions are not as user-friendly, supportable, affordable, and extensible as they hoped. In our experience helping dozens of these companies looking for something better, we’ve found that Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE makes an ideal replacement for other CRM solutions. Here are our top five reasons why businesses are making the switch to Microsoft.

Superior User Experience

Switching software can be disruptive as users must learn to perform their tasks in the new application. By choosing Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE as a replacement, companies find they minimize much of that disruption thanks to the Microsoft solution’s familiar user interface. Employees already working in Excel, Word, Outlook, or LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft) will recognize the similarities and feel right at home. Reducing the learning curve speeds user adoption rates and accelerates the solution’s return on investment.

Microsoft places a solid emphasis on the user experience, with intuitive navigation that minimizes the number of clicks, automated workflows that simplify complex tasks, and notifications and reminders that prompt users with next steps. That being said, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE is a powerful, comprehensive CRM application with extensive functionality. We always recommend companies invest in user training to further speed adoption rates and create confident, productive users.

Personalized Partner Support

What’s been your experience with HubSpot or Oracle customer service? We’ve heard adjectives like impersonal, time consuming, and frustrating.

Contrast that experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE where you’ll work closely with an authorized partner (like Velosio), who understands your business, your goals, and how your system is configured. Our clients that have chosen Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE as a replacement for other CRM systems tell us that this is one of the most tangible benefits of the switch. A partner familiar with your implementation can help you more quickly with less back and forth. In addition, a partner will take the time to explain to your users why the issue happened and how to resolve it — and avoid it on their own going forward. Finally, a partner understands how to optimize the processes you currently have in place to make your system even better and your people more productive.

Predictable Ongoing Costs

There are few things as aggravating as thinking you know what you’ll pay for product licensing only to have the costs jump up unpredictably after only a year or two. Perhaps this is the main reason your company is considering a replacement for your CRM system. Or perhaps the vendor led you to believe that certain functionality was included in your fees only to discover you’d have to pay for a more expensive plan to get that functionality. If so, you’ll appreciate Microsoft’s transparent approach to licensing and product functionality. Microsoft’s predictable, stable pricing shields you from erratic cost fluctuations and helps you budget ongoing expenses more accurately.

Due to its comparative lack of features and non-customizable platform, users may find that they need more functionality than HubSpot natively offers. Additional features can be added through third-party integrations, but HubSpot does not currently provide broad support for other software bolt-ons without paying extra for API.

In contrast, Microsoft is transparent about fees and functionality for Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE. You’ll know upfront what you’ll pay and what functionality you’ll get for that price.

Agility, Scalability and Customizability

If the past two-and-a-half years have taught businesses anything, it’s that agility is a superpower. It may be that your company was forced to furlough employees, or perhaps you had to increase staff to meet the swelling demand for your products and services. Maybe your business model changed because of the pandemic, changes that required you to capture additional data in your CRM, adjust workflows, or integrate with a third-party application. Unfortunately for HubSpot or Oracle CRM users, achieving this agility can be costly and convoluted enough to cause some to look for a replacement.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE is much friendlier to customers that need to true-up (increase) or true-down (decrease) their user license count. As we mention above, licensing is transparent and flexible, and the core solution includes functionality that other solutions charge extra for. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE is a fully customizable CRM solution that allows you to tailor the core solution to ensure it continues to meet the needs of a dynamic operation. Finally, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE uses universal web standards such as HTML, .Net, and Java — familiar tools to most developers. Things aren’t so simple with HubSpot, which uses a proprietary programming language that can make customizations for expensive and time consuming.

The Microsoft Power Platform

Based on our conversations with companies looking to use Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE as an ideal replacement for Salesforce, the Power Platform is a big motivating factor behind the switch.

It’s hard to overestimate the value of the Microsoft Power Platform. It’s a complete end-to-end ecosystem of business productivity tools that combine to provide unequaled impact. Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE easily integrates with the Microsoft Office 365 suite, Dynamics 365 Finance, Teams, Power BI, SharePoint, LinkedIn, and more. Other popular integrations out of the hundreds available include Google Calendar, Dropbox, and Slack.

Take the Next Step

For many companies, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE is an ideal replacement for HubSpot or Oracle. We understand that making the decision to switch is an important one that requires research and careful consideration. If you are looking for a deeper comparison of other solutions to Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE to help in your decision making, check out this article, CRM Software Solutions Throwdown —Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE Versus HubSpot and Oracle Features and Price. If you’d like to speak with one of our CRM transition specialists, please reach out, we’re here to help.