There are three options available for small business that want a customer relationship management (CRM) solution from Microsoft: Business Contact Manager for Outlook, Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
Business Contact Manager for Outlook
Business Contact Manager (BCM) is a free add-on for Outlook that enables users to manage leads, contacts, and accounts, and track activities from within Outlook. While it doesn’t offer the power of a dedicated CRM solution like Microsoft
Dynamics, BCM offers three primary benefits: it’s free; it’s easy-to-use; and, it works within Outlook where many small businesses owners spend much of their business day anyway.
BCM has a few limitations, however. It is not a good choice for business with multiple employees that need access to the database, although a SQL Server Express database can be setup up to enable multiple user access. It is also not well suited to companies with traveling sales people because it does not allow remote access to the database, although Contacts can be accessed through Outlook Web Access. Finally, it is not a particularly good choice for businesses that will outgrow the capabilities of BCM. If you think that you will be upgrading from BCM to CRM in the near future, you may wish to consider skipping BCM altogether as it can be difficult to import all of your data from the BCM database to the Dynamics CRM database. The data export function of BCM allows you to export data in .bcm files or in .csv files, but you can only export data associated with one record type at a time using .csv files, which do not include your communication history files. Meanwhile, the .bcm file type, which includes all your data, is not compatible with the Data Importation Wizard of Dynamics CRM.
Business Contact Manager is compatible with Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs. Business Contact Manager
Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a cloud-based CRM solution from xRM, a Microsoft partner that specializes in CRM and private cloud solutions. Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers the full power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 in an easily-consumable monthly subscription.
Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an excellent choice for small businesses for several reasons. First, the minimum user requirement is one Professional license, offering an extremely affordable entry point for small businesses with fewer than five users. Subsequent users can be added at the Basic ($30 per month) or Professional ($65 per month) license levels. Second, there is no long-term commitment, and therefore, no early cancellation fees. Third, Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM subscribers get access to all the sales, service, and marketing automation features that Dynamics CRM 2013 offers. Your business will never outgrow Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and if you decide later to move to CRM Online (or another CRM platform entirely), your data is easily exportable.
The minimum cost of Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM is $65 (1 user * $65) per month, plus a one-time setup fee of $50 per user. Learn more about Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM pricing.
Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM subscribers also get free access to the Success Portal, an online video training library dedicated to Dynamics CRM.
Sign up for a Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM subscription.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is the best option for most companies that need five or more Professional users. It also delivers the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 through a convenient cloud model, providing many of the same benefits of Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The primary difference between CRM Online and Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM is that CRM Online is provided by Microsoft from its global network of datacenters, while Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM is provided by xRM from its datacenters.
The minimum cost of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is $330 (5 users * $65) per month. Microsoft requires subscribers to sign a one-year contract (early cancellation fees apply) and there is no set up fee.
CRM Online subscribers who name xRM as their partner-of-record (POR) can also request free access to the Success Portal.
Start your free trial of Dynamics CRM Online and discover how Microsoft is revolutionizing CRM.