Executive Summary

• This is the Brightwork Research & Analysis software rating series.
• We rate both the software and estimate the risk of implementing each application.

MUFI Rating & Risk for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

MUFI: Maintainability, Usability, Functionality, Implement ability

Vendor: Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Select For Vendor Profile)

Introduction

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is another one of the prominent attempts by Microsoft to grow into the enterprise software space. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has a higher than average buyer satisfaction level. An objective analysis of the applications makes it difficult to see why.

Application Detail

Back in the Siebel days when CRM implementations were crashing and burning with regularity, there were two common key observations that CRM consultants took from these projects. First, salespeople don’t like using CRM systems, and second, because of this first fact, CRM systems must be super user-friendly even to have a hope of being adopted. Unfortunately, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the lowest rated CRM system that we cover regarding usability. Microsoft Dynamics CRM also lags other CRM applications regarding basic CRM functionality. As Microsoft Dynamics CRM is not a competitive solution, companies that merely have a preference for Microsoft products most often will be the target market for the application. One advantage of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is it has, naturally, integrations with Outlook and SharePoint.

But even in what supposed to be the main strength of Microsoft Dynamics CRM turns out to be bug ridden. In fact, overall the software has a preponderance of bugs interfere with getting tasks accomplished. It is exceptionally well demonstrated at this point that salespeople have a low tolerance for systems that take up a lot of their time to use – and this has a serious impact on both implement-ability, as well as that quality of information that can be expected from the application.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM has lived off of its integration to other Microsoft products and the fact its account managers can pitch the product to most Microsoft accounts. However, as usual, Microsoft has a lagging product and is only capable of very incremental improvements as Microsoft is a marketing company that leverages pre-existing investments made by companies in their software to sell more software rather than an innovator. In one of the most rapidly growing categories of enterprise software, where the footprint is constantly expanding, Microsoft Dynamics CRM easily appears to be a convenience or short-signed investment. Of course, this also means dealing with the Microsoft “monster” while accessing an application with limited upside. Buyers would be wise to steer clear of Microsoft Dynamics CRM

MUFI Scores

All scores out of a possible 10.

Vendor and Application Risk

The number one risk on Microsoft Dynamics CRM projects is the problematic information provided by Microsoft itself on what its software can do. This means that as is normally the case with such overpromising, a component of the project implementation must be allocated to unwinding these promises – a highly inefficient endeavor. Microsoft CRM is often chosen when IT essentially has much of the decision-making authority in a buyer, and the business tends to be shut out of the process. This makes for a very high likelihood of a problematic implementation and buyers that made such a “convenient” decision will pay the price with the most difficult to implement CRM system of any that we cover.

Likelihood of Implementation Success

This accounts for both the application and vendor-specific risk. In our formula, the total implementation risk is application + vendor + buyer risk. The buyer specific risk could increase or decrease this overall likelihood and adjust the values that you see below.

Risk Definition

See this link for more on our categorizations of risk. We also offer a Buyer Specific Risk Estimation as a service for those that want a comprehensive analysis.

Risk Management Approach

Managing the risk of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation is about lowering expectations. A common approach is for the IT department to begin blaming the business users early and often for what are entirely application failures. We don’t recommend following this strategy as it might be good for IT, but it does nothing for the implementation success level. There are always significant user adoption issues with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which means preparing for this, which means it is necessary to provide the highest allocation of consulting effort in the CRM space. This is a factor we have adjusted for in our TCO Calculator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Finished With Your Analysis?

To go back to the Software Selection Package page for the CRM software category. Or go to this link to see other analytical products for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.