CRM Comparison Guide Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Act! compared Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a full featured relationship management system that connects teams to a single data source and automates routine processes. Includes sales, service / support & marketing modules. Fully flexible platform can be personalised to meet most requirements & processes. Connect by web browser, Outlook or mobile device. Suitable for any sized organisation & especially those that want to leverage more benefits from existing Microsoft applications. Can be deployed as a cloud service or installed on-premise. The leading contact management software for 25 years. An entry-level application to manage contacts, activities and sales. Act! Pro: starter solution supports 1-10 users. On-premise installed application Act! Premium: supports 1-100 users. Includes Act! Premium for Web and Act! Premium Mobile and extended team and user security functions compared to the Pro edition. Deployed on-premise or as a cloud service. Act! is an intuitive system well suited to first time users & businesses that want to implement a basic contact management application.
Microsoft CRM & Act! Comparison Key Strengths Connects sales, marketing, servicing teams to a single unified application Seamless integration with Microsoft Outlook Scalable architecture adapts to industries, bespoke processes & user preferences using native functions often without requiring bespoke development. Real-time reporting dashboards across all business areas & job roles Windows Workflow process automation reduces repetitive manual tasks Process oriented forms help users progress sales, cases, leads & other workflows Scalability to integrate with back-office applications Regular Microsoft updates, typically two releases per year Includes free tablet and mobile apps Choice of cloud and on-premise deployment Entry level contact and sales management application Low cost of investment with a one-off licence price starting from 145 Proven reputation as an easy to use contact management application Task scheduler to manage activities & calendar Sales Opportunity Tracking Includes free Act! emarketing Basics service Premium edition offers web access and extended database security controls Navigation & Layout Interface can be personalised in line with job roles & user preferences Create bespoke CRM views and turn off CRM functions as required Save favourite CRM records, resources & views Change all terminology to reflect your terms Real-time dashboards provide click-through analysis Layout options include calculation & rollup fields, sequential number ID & workflow driven processes including branching logic. Create custom layouts and fields as required Collapsible menu includes search box & links to contextual Act! functions Basic dashboards provide an overview of activities & sales opportunities Fields options include drop down lists, image fields, automated calculation fields, memo fields & yes / no tick boxes User Numbers Unlimited Typically up to 100 users Contact Records No upper limit of contacts Approximate guide: up to 40,000 contacts using SQL Server Express (supplied) or up to 100,000 using SQL Server Standard (requires additional purchase)
Microsoft CRM & Act! Comparison Accessing data Installed on a web server for multi-user access or deployed in the cloud as a managed service All end user CRM functions are accessible within Outlook Offline replication & sync available Tablet and mobile applications available Multi-user enabled and network ready Inbuilt offline sync facility Remote live access via VPN Act! Premium includes web access & Act! Premium Mobile from smart phones and tablet devices (requires Act! Premium for Web to be installed) Data Security Uses Microsoft Active Directory for user authentication. Completely definable security profiling for individual users & teams. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online certifications, privacy & cloud security practices are published in the Microsoft Online Trust Security Centre Act! Premium offers extended control over user access permissions to contact records and specific fields Database Structure Inbuilt processes include contacts, accounts, leads, opportunities, cases & campaigns. Dynamics CRM can be personalised to manage any workflow or relationship structure using native CRM controls Act! is a contact-centric database but does enable individual contacts to be linked with company and opportunity records. Outlook Integration Access all CRM end user functions & dashboards in Outlook Automatically tracks Outlook emails in CRM Open links to CRM records from Outlook emails Use native Outlook functions including conditional formatting Free Outlook social connector available Send emails from Act! via Outlook to keep a copy in sent items and add to the Act! contact history Sync contacts & calendars between Act! & Outlook Schedule Act! activities from Outlook File Outlook emails in Act! automatically using Outlook Rules or attach individually or en masse CRM Calendars Native Outlook calendar and Microsoft Exchange integration Service scheduling tools enable key resources to be booked Outlook-style daily, weekly, monthly & working week views. Personal calendars can be synchronised with Outlook.
Microsoft CRM & Act! Comparison: Personalising & Integrating CRM Database Customisation The CRM structure can be personalised to meet bespoke processes & relationships, e.g. manage project, training course administration, applications, properties & other entities Enables role based views to be applied to adapt layouts & CRM modules in line with job responsibilities Configure CRM using inbuilt functions to add new processes & relationship structures Individual users can create their own personal CRM views Personalise Act! databases with bespoke layouts that reflect company branding Customise fields including drop-down lists, tick boxes and multiple selection options As a contact oriented database, Act! cannot be easily personalised to manage wider processes in comparison to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Automating Processes Windows Workflows can be linked with virtually any part of CRM. Workflows can be created using native CRM functions to automate routine processes including sending emails, routing tasks, queuing support cases & scoring leads to remove manual data entry. Basic Smart Tasks enable activity scheduling and field updates to be applied using date & time based triggers. With the exception of smart tasks Act! offers limited process automation. Most processes require manual steps to initiate or complete. Accounting Integration Can be configured to integrate with most accounting systems. Requires third party solution Integration with other databases Inbuilt integration with SharePoint, SQL Reporting & other Microsoft technologies Virtually any data source can be read live into Microsoft CRM to display, query & report on data using standard CRM functions. Dynamically exchanges data with most other systems through programming Act! offers only limited integration capability. Additional development would be required to integrate the application with external data sources. Website Integration Can be integrated with virtually any database including websites for lead registration, transactional databases and client facing portals. Add-on software available captures new leads and enquires (requires separate purchase).
Microsoft CRM & Act! Comparison: CRM for Sales & Marketing Teams Sales Functions Fully customisable sales module Evaluate performance using live sales dashboards Measures progress against targets and sales goals for teams & individuals Inbuilt quotation generator and product catalogue Enables automated lead qualification Automated processes triggered by sales actions Mobile apps for sales teams Inbuilt opportunity module can be customised with bespoke sales stages, custom sales fields & layouts Graphical sales & pipeline dashboards Supports multi-product sales & user fields Basic quote template - can be integrated with Seamless Opportunities add-on application for multi-currency quoting & advanced template designs Telemarketing Functions Call campaign functionality including call queuing, dialogs for call scripting, call allocation and escalation rules. Schedule call activities against a group of contacts. Act! doesn t support call scripting or automated call allocation. Managing Marketing Campaigns Dedicated marketing module with campaign management tracking Supports multiple campaign activity stages Tracks leads & opportunities with marketing campaigns Marketing reports & dashboards for ROI measurement Custom activity types can be configured to track campaign responses which can be linked to reports Mail-merge capabilities through Word Act! does not include a marketing module & has very limited marketing report capability in comparison to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Email Marketing Integrates with various email marketing solutions. Preact recommend dotmailer for UK support. All email actions including message opens & clicks are tracked in CRM for campaigns, contacts & lead records Full email campaign reporting and dashboards displayed in CRM Email subscription preferences are written back to Dynamics CRM Campaign actions can be applied to create automated CRM workflows & create new marketing lists Act! emarketing is available as a subscription service from Swiftpage enabling HTML email campaigns to be scheduled from Act! Email actions are reported back to individual Act! contacts through an additional screen Tracks email open & click data Online portal for campaign level reporting Includes free Basic tier of Act! emarketing
Microsoft CRM & Act! Comparison: Service Management & Social Functions Customer Service Support Tracks complete contact histories Includes dedicated service centre to log customer support cases Service centre dashboards measure critical performance indicators Includes service automation including SLA monitoring and case escalation Enables case queuing and routing based on query rules Includes knowledge base and self service functions Provides a complete view of the contact communications history, scheduled activities and sales opportunities. Act! doesn t include a case management tools and cannot effectively be adapted to create reports and dashboards that summarise outstanding cases & service metrics. Social Media Tools Includes social functions to follow records & users to be followed Activity wall lists recent posts on followed records & event updates Enables micro-blogging on individual CRM records to share updates with other users Integrates with Microsoft Lync & Skype to start new communications from CRM Integrates with Microsoft Social Listening Web tab provides direct links to matching contacts on social networking sites including LinkedIn & Facebook. Social Updates tab lists the most recent 25 posts made by followed contacts on Linkedin & Facebook Searching/ Grouping contacts Perform basic searches to locate & retrieve records Record set navigation allows users to scroll through records or jump to an item from a list within any record view Full list management & query building capabilities Frequently accessed CRM records can be pinned to a recently viewed list Role based views can restrict contact views based on query rules Right click on any field to run a quick look-up search and refine the search with additional criteria Perform queries using multiple criteria, edit and preview results before running the query Finds matching entries using search terms in attached documents Store contacts in groups and apply membership rules for automated group Telephony Integration Integrates with Microsoft Lync. Optional CTI integration can be applied for inbound & outbound telephony automation, including pop-up functionality for inbound calls, forwarding of calls to other users and fast auto-dialling. Limited inbuilt integration with some UK TAPI compliant systems using third party add-on applications (requires separate purchase).
Microsoft CRM & Act! Comparison Licence Maintenance On-premise licence prices include software assurance maintenance for 3 years. Cloud CRM includes entitlement to the latest build. No mandatory licence maintenance agreement. Update cover can be added to a support agreement. Upgrading CRM upgrades are freely available to software assurance holders & cloud subscribers. Microsoft commit to 2 scheduled CRM service updates each year. New versions released annually. Upgrade discounts available for existing customers with supported versions of Act! Deployment methods On-Premise Cloud - Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online from Microsoft Preact Partner Hosted Sage only offer an on-premise edition of Act! A hybrid option is available from Preact where we will can host client s Act! Premium databases. Owned by Microsoft Corporation Corporate HQ - Washington US Development Team - Mainly US based Swiftpage Corporate HQ Colorado, USA Development Team UK & USA Age of Software First release in 2003. Used by over 40,000 businesses with over 4m users. First release in 1986 currently approximately 3m users in 25 countries. Summary Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a highly flexible application that adapts to varying sized organisations across multiple industries. Act! is a proven, entry-level contact management system that is a highly popular application for small and medium sized businesses. Microsoft CRM goes beyond the entry level functions of Act! to create greater personalisation and workflow automation that adapts to bespoke processes and user preferences. By including sales management tools and dashboards, Act! is a versatile starter solution that offers an extremely low cost of entry for a one-off price. Regular service updates, integration with other Microsoft technologies, a flexible platform that can be easily customised and a cost effective cloud subscription are key factors behind Microsoft Dynamics rapid growth in the CRM market. In comparison to Microsoft Dynamics, Act! is primarily about managing people & sales and it lacks the functions to track wider processes like projects or contracts or automate business workflows.
About Preact At Preact, our aim is to help our clients achieve outstanding success from their CRM system whilst giving excellent value for money. We only work with class leading cloud and on-premise products, and we pride ourselves on the expertise of our experienced team. Our agile and flexible implementation Sure Step methodologies ensure that even as business requirements and priorities change, your CRM implementation remains on track and on budget. Specialising in CRM for over 20 Years We built our company from the ground up to specialise in CRM solutions. Our customers benefit functionally and financially because CRM is all we do. Microsoft Gold Competency in CRM Preact employ the best personnel and invests in their continuing growth and knowledge. Our Microsoft Gold Competency in CRM marks the fact that we re one of only a few partners who have met Microsoft s stringent criteria to earn this highest competency. Award Winning CRM Experts As proud winners of the Sage Circle of Excellence and other industry awards Preact offer clients the reassurance of working with trusted advisor and a top rated CRM partner. Broad Industry Expertise Our customers span numerous industry sectors. From charities to IT consultancy, from small owner run businesses to Global organisations, we have broad sector experience. Our clients include John Lewis, Toshiba Air Conditioning, East Berkshire College, Mencap & Europe's largest Act! implementation for Oxford Instruments One size does not always fit all! We believe a template approach isn t an effective way to solve today s business challenges. Instead, we use consultative methodology to develop CRM solutions that are based on a deep understanding of you, your business, your challenges, your unique processes and your industry. Contact Preact to find out how we can help you maximise the benefits of your CRM strategy.