Both Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online earned coveted spots in the Leaders Quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation (SFA).
Only 3 solutions made it into the Leader Quadrant in Gartner’s August 2016 analysis of the SFA market based on hundreds of interviews with customers and vendors as well as product demonstrations. The 3 Leaders were Microsoft’s “frenemy” Salesforce.com, and Microsoft’s own Dynamics CRM On-Premise and Dynamics CRM Online.
This achievement is all the more astounding given Microsoft’s late entry into the CRM/SFA space. Salesforce.com was launched 17 years ago (in 1999), while Microsoft Dynamics CRM 1.0 (on-premise only) was launched in 2003. It was not until 2011 that Microsoft Dynamics CRM was available online.
To obtain any position in Gartner’s famous Magic Quadrant, companies must meet dozens of weighted evaluation criteria. It’s not magic, it’s a complex algorithm.
Criteria
Just to qualify for inclusion in the Gartner SFA Quadrant, a vendor needs to demonstrate that it has:
- A solution that automates core selling processes, including but not limited to account, contact, opportunity, and sales activity management.
- A solution that supports opportunity pipeline reporting and sales forecasting.
- Customers in at least three verticals/industries.
- Made multiple releases with significant functional improvements during the past 18 months; a new or acquired offering from an established vendor in this market will also be considered if it can be validated with customers.
- At least five new, named customers (not unique new contracts sold to an existing client) that have actively deployed its SFA functionality during the past 12 months.
- Demonstrated corporate business viability through business performance, new customer adoption and strategic partnerships over multiple years.
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Once a vendor qualifies for inclusion, they are then rated for positions in the four quadrants based on dozens of rigorous evaluation criteria.
Leaders Quadrant
Both Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online are in the Leaders Quadrant. Gartner describes this Quadrant as follows:
“Leaders have the ability to execute against their vision through products, services and demonstrated, solid business results in the form of revenue and earnings. Leaders have significant successful customer deployments in North America, EMEA [Author’s note: EMEA stands for Europe, Middle East and Africa] and the Asia/Pacific region in a wide variety of vertical industries, with multiple proof points above 500 users. Leaders are often the ones against which other providers in the market measure themselves.”
Boiling that down into plain English, Leaders are the leaders of the pack!
Strengths
In Gartner’s summaries of the two Microsoft CRM solutions, it was noted that Dynamics CRM On-Premise allows customers “to maintain control over data security considerations. It also gives them control over when product enhancements are released and applied, which is not an option with many other SaaS SFA offerings.”
Dynamics CRM Online “appears on many buyers' shortlists, because of its attractive price and its relevance to other Microsoft offerings, but Microsoft has also improved its ability to sell to sales leaders. Dynamics CRM Online has a wide range of SFA capabilities that are relevant to sales organizations, both midsize and large.”
SFA Market
As always, in addition to the Magic Quadrant, Gartner provided valuable insights into the SFA market which grew to $6 billion in 2015. We therefore recommend that to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the function fulfilled by Sales Force Automation today and the emerging trends which will continue to add value to SFA solutions, you should read the entire Gartner report: published on August 10th.
Next Steps
If you are interested in evaluating a market leader, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, contact AbleBridge.
Contact us at 877-600-2253 or info@AbleBridge.com
By AbleBridge, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Gold Partner, now a Crowe Horwath company.
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