Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - The good, the bad and the ugly
November 26, 2013

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - The good, the bad and the ugly

Debbie Bovee | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Online

Overall Satisfaction

  • Tracking, filtering, reporting are handled well.
  • Finding and merging duplicates works seamlessly.
  • There should be a way to have multiple office addresses under a single account. When adding new contacts, you should be able to choose from a list of office locations. Having multiple accounts (one for each office location) does not work in my situation. I'm forced to re-enter address info for all contacts that are not in the main office location.
  • Email campaigns should be simpler and more flexible. It's easy to define filters for the Marketing List, but then there are too many steps to coordinate that list with the Campaign and the email template being used. It would also be nice if you could start/stop/resume during the send process, and it would be nice to be able to set a threshold of how many messages are sent per minute/hour, so that each campaign could be optimized based on importance/priority.
  • Storage space fills up very quickly if you use email campaigns or track a lot of emails. Sometimes I only need a record of having sent/received a message, I don't need all the text for routine or campaign messages. It would be helpful if there was an option to "retain all text" or "retain header info only" when creating/tracking email. I could save a ton of storage if I had that feature.
  • Workflows have not yet produced the results that I envisioned, but with more effort, perhaps they will. It could be a very powerful tool.
  • I can't say for sure what the ROI has been on our implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. We have definitely gained some ground in the amount of information we have available on each account. There was a significant learning curve at the start which I think trumped any benefits the system provided, however, over time, that is starting to reverse.
CRM systems are critical to our business, and the amount of time and effort devoted to implementing a new product is the main reason that I think we will stay with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. We are happy with many aspects of the product as-is, and hopeful that continued updates/versions will provide any additional features/functionality that we have on our wish list.
I would recommend Microsoft Dynamics CRM to a colleague with the caveat that they use proper due diligence when testing/evaluating to be sure the system has all the key features they need. We are very pleased with the company and the overall cloud delivery for updates, etc. We have no complaints about up-time or general reliability (however we do get temporary error messages that can be frustrating and hard to diagnose a root cause).