Microsoft BI (MSBI) vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft BI is a business intelligence product used for data analysis and generating reports on server-based data. It features unlimited data analysis capacity with its reporting engine, SQL Server Reporting Services alongside ETL, master data management, and data cleansing.
$9.99
per user/per month
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a CRM providing sales, marketing, and service functionality. It is offered as SaaS and on-premise. Dynamics 365 is part of the larger Dynamics suite of business intelligence and ERP products.
$44
per month
Pricing
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Dynamics 365
Editions & Modules
Power BI Pro
$9.99
per user/per month
Power BI Premium
4,995
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Dynamics 365
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Dynamics 365
Considered Both Products
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
To be honest, I have never used anything similar to PowerBI. I have seen reports that come from Whatagraph, but I have never used it myself, so that is the only application that I can sort of compare it too. Just looking at the visuals from both, PowerBI reports are better …
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Chose Microsoft Dynamics 365
We had other applications from Microsoft like ERP applications and we already used Outlook for a mail client. Today, given the choice and having a big amount of money to invest, they would probably choose Salesforce for CRM, having a better mobile app and better reporting for …
Chose Microsoft Dynamics 365
Our business switched from a year long Salesforce deployment to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online in order to bring the program/project's data and database management in-house, eliminating the need for a Salesforce implementation consultant and resulting in significant cost …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Dynamics 365
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.6
49 Ratings
5% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Pixel Perfect reports9.042 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.049 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates8.947 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.7
49 Ratings
7% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Drill-down analysis8.944 Ratings00 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.049 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages8.939 Ratings00 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration8.949 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
48 Ratings
6% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Publish to Web8.944 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.944 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Versioning8.940 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.943 Ratings00 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.924 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
48 Ratings
10% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.947 Ratings00 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.944 Ratings00 Ratings
Predictive Analytics8.942 Ratings00 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
49 Ratings
3% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Multi-User Support (named login)8.946 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model8.943 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.946 Ratings00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)8.928 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.5
39 Ratings
6% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Responsive Design for Web Access8.036 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Application8.027 Ratings00 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile9.936 Ratings00 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.8
21 Ratings
10% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
REST API8.919 Ratings00 Ratings
Javascript API8.919 Ratings00 Ratings
iFrames8.918 Ratings00 Ratings
Java API8.917 Ratings00 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)8.918 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)8.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.9
69 Ratings
3% above category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings8.768 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings7.266 Ratings
Territory management00 Ratings8.250 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings8.362 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings7.665 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings8.451 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings8.447 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings7.259 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings7.650 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
6.9
54 Ratings
8% below category average
Case management00 Ratings7.850 Ratings
Call center management00 Ratings8.144 Ratings
Help desk management00 Ratings4.948 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.8
66 Ratings
3% above category average
Lead management00 Ratings8.460 Ratings
Email marketing00 Ratings7.261 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.8
63 Ratings
3% above category average
Task management00 Ratings7.458 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings7.643 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings8.452 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.9
64 Ratings
16% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings9.154 Ratings
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings9.160 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings8.463 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.8
66 Ratings
3% above category average
Custom fields00 Ratings8.365 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings7.960 Ratings
Scripting environment00 Ratings8.347 Ratings
API for custom integration00 Ratings6.851 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.9
61 Ratings
5% below category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.355 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings7.556 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.0
36 Ratings
10% above category average
Social data00 Ratings8.335 Ratings
Social engagement00 Ratings7.636 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.6
55 Ratings
6% above category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings7.655 Ratings
Compensation management00 Ratings7.628 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.4
47 Ratings
11% above category average
Mobile access00 Ratings8.447 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Dynamics 365
Small Businesses
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
TIBCO Jaspersoft Community Edition
TIBCO Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Dynamics 365
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(73 ratings)
7.8
(88 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(25 ratings)
8.0
(20 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(14 ratings)
8.0
(18 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(15 ratings)
7.9
(11 ratings)
In-Person Training
6.9
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.5
(2 ratings)
7.5
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.6
(7 ratings)
9.2
(4 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
3.9
(3 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Microsoft Dynamics 365
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Microsoft BI is well suited for Stream analytics, easy data integration, report creation and UI/UX designs (limited but what all available are great ones) Microsoft BI may be less appropriate for handling huge number of datasets and difficult queries. It may also be difficult for a company with heavy data.
Read full review
Microsoft
All told, if it hadn't been for the fact that we were testing it with both employees who knew CRM lingo and those who were new, we wouldn't have found such an issue. The program itself can be very useful for people who already manage CRMs, who know how to use them, who know how to run and manage employees on them, namely because of the "one-stop-shop" concept in data visibility. When it came down to it though, if you have high-turnover, then this product will devolve into only being used for it's base components. Down the middle, we found that the people who'd been in marketing for 4-5 years fell into the product easily because of the way it was written. Everyone before that, with novice experience, thought it was written like a textbook for a graduate class - little to no leeway if you don't happen to know one specific term
Read full review
Pros
Microsoft
  • Comparatively easy to use compared to other data analytics solutions, collaborating with other colleagues on data work is simple.
  • Using Visual Studio for database, ETL, reporting, and analytics development save time and money.
  • Transfer of data from one application to another via Excel and comparison of data attributes between applications
  • Dashboard functionality, as well as Python support, are available, allowing you to add additional charts and graphs.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Some useful out-of-the-box features, like mass uploads of Leads from trade shows or when qualifying a Lead, CRM automatically creates the Opportunity, Contact, and Account for you, etc.
  • Really powerful customizations through the user interface to improve user experience. Things like Business Rules, for example, if Field A = 1, then Field B = 2 and Field C = 2, if Field A = 2, then Field B and Field C don't apply, so automatically hide them.
  • Or other functionality that improves user experience, like Business Process Flows. These walk users step by step through our business process, helping them know when certain actions should take place, and at what point other data is now required. We've used this extensively with our Lead to Opportunity to Quote to Order process, helping users understand the business process each step of the way.
  • Customizations built on top of the platform now called model-driven PowerApps. You can have connections to "typical" data, like Accounts, Contacts, or Opportunities, for example, but then connect that data to custom entities, records that only apply to your specific business. This is all done through the user interface and allows you to customize and automate specific line-of-business applications for your specific needs.
  • Behind the scenes, D365 CE is built on SQL. So the data conforms to industry standards and makes it much easier to interact with. Your developers and IT team will thank you.
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • The race to perfect gathering of Non-Traditional datasets is on-going; with Microsoft arguably not the leader of the pack in this category.
  • Licensing options for PowerBI visualizations may be a factor. I.e. if you need to implement B2C PowerBI visualizations, the cost is considerably high especially for startups.
  • Some clients are still resistant putting their data on the cloud, which restricts lots of functionality to Power BI.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 storage & license cost can prohibit some large deployments or even cost-sensitive small projects from using the platform (although I'm certain most deployments would realize a positive ROI if implemented correctly with process automation).
  • The cost and licensing document for Dynamics 365 is 61 pages and will take a rocket scientist to understand it. It's better to just have your Microsoft help estimate the cost if they are willing to help you that.
  • The documentation on how to first fully understand the Out of the Box default solution and settings is lacking or even non-existing. This has the potential to derail Dynamic 365 launches and implementations from the gitgo. Want to use an out of the box entity?.. well it's probably related to 5 other entities that require configuration and full understanding of it to successful implement. And you ask where is the laymen guide or instructions?... User groups and forums. In Summary, Microsoft can up its game in deployment training and supporting documentation.
  • Microsoft needs to incentivize more external platforms to build app connectors for easy integration, such as ZenDesk, Slack, Tableau, etc. Even the current connector apps such as Salesforce, MailChimp, Docusign are useless or don't work at all.
  • Several limitations inhibit successful Dynamics 365 deployments such as: limited number of Rollup field calculations (summarizing fields on child/related records), limited number rows that can exported to Excel via advanced find, Dynamics 365 files, log and database storage size limit is extremely small and will always require purchasing additional storage (for Online deployments).
  • New user buy-in or acceptance or system platform changes can be difficult if a solid change management plan isn't enacted.
  • Don't expect much help from Microsoft on implementation or solutions unless it's a technical flaw with the platform. Microsoft relies on their MVP partner network to consult for implementations at a hefty cost. Hiring a knowledgeable and savvy Dynamics 365 System Administrator can reduce the need for consultant support; of course, this is dependant upon many many variables.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
Microsoft BI is fundamental to our suite of BI applications. That being said, Northcraft Analytics is focused on delighting our customers, so if the underlying factors of our decision change, we would choose to re-write our BI applications on a different stack. Luckily, mathematics are the fundamental IP of our technology... and is portable across all BI platforms for the foreseeable future.
Read full review
Microsoft
CRM has allowed us to keep all of our data in one place that is easy for all users within the company to view. I came into the company after they had been using CRM for about 4 years. They have all said that since we have used this it has helped us control work processes better, it has allowed us to be able to track things so much better, and has been something that has helped unite many processes that used to be all over the place. We are currently using CRM 4.0 and are planning on upgrading in the next 18 months to the 2011 version. Support for 4.0 is almost all but dried up. Understandably so. Some of the customization we have done, and a plugins we use, are now contained within the 2011 version so we are looking forward to that upgrade. We use an email marketing company as well, and they primarily support the 2011 version, but their product connects and is integrated within CRM. This is a great benefit as well so that all of our marketing information can be contained in one location.
Read full review
Usability
Microsoft
The Microsoft BI tools have great usability for both developers and end users alike. For developers familiar with Visual Studio, there is little learning curve. For those not, the single Visual Studio IDE means not having to learn separate tools for each component. For end-users, the web interface for SSRS is simple to navigate with intuitive controls. For ad-hoc analysis, Excel can connect directly to SSAS and provide a pivot table like experience which is familiar to many users. For database development, there is beginning to be some confusion, as there are now three tool choices (VS, SSMS, Azure Data Studio) for developers. I would like to see Azure Data Studio become the superset of SSMS and eventually supplant it.
Read full review
Microsoft
My review can help others to choose the correct CRM like Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM. I see lots of great things in Microsoft Dynamics 365 that make your business easy and smooth also MS allows users to customize the software according to their needs. So Thought I should share my experience with others.
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Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
The product has been reliable.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
Microsoft
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) can drag at times. We created two report servers and placed them under an F5 load balancer. This configuration has worked well. We have seen sluggish performance at times due to the Windows Firewall.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Microsoft
While support from Microsoft isn't necessarily always best of breed, you're also not paying the price for premium support that you would on other platforms. The strength of the stack is in the ecosystem that surrounds it. In contrast to other products, there are hundreds, even thousands of bloggers that post daily as well as vibrant user communities that surround the tool. I've had much better luck finding help with SQL Server related issues than I have with any other product, but that help doesn't always come directly from Microsoft.
Read full review
Microsoft
Our partner, Ledgeview Partners has been FANTASTIC to work with. They are always timely in their response and have taken time to understand our business and our specific needs. We've made a lot of advanced customizations and they have been a great help in making those updates.
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In-Person Training
Microsoft
This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Microsoft
I have used on-line training from Microsoft and from Pragmatic Works. I would recommend Pragmatic Works as the best way to get up to speed quickly, and then use the Microsoft on-line training to deep dive into specific features that you need to get depth with.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Microsoft
We are a consulting firm and as such our best resources are always billing on client projects. Our internal implementation has weaknesses, but that's true for any company like ours. My rating is based on the product's ease of implementation.
Read full review
Microsoft
We used a data warehouse to house our data, and our IT team and implementation vendor worked diligently ahead of time to construct idea implementation plans. Out of millions of records- we had less than a dozen errors, which is remarkable. My major insight is simply having a group of completely devoted individuals working towards your goal who fully understand the desired outcome. Focused resources for implementation season are critical to success.
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Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
We have used the built in ConnectWise Manager reports and custom reports. The reports provide static data. PowerBI shows us live data we can drill down into and easily adjust parameters. It's much more useful than a static PDF report.
Read full review
Microsoft
Salesforce has more desirable functions than Microsoft Dynamics 365, at a competitive price. Its user interface is far more superior, it has more customization, easier customization, and out of the box it is more pleasing to the eye and to the end user. If the client doesn't have a deep-rooted connection with Microsoft I wouldn't leap to Dynamics 365.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
On our purchase, I'd been interrogated about our usage. Our needs are met by Microsoft Dynamics 365, which is simple to use. With so much data and information available, we must ensure that it is presented correctly to managers. Due to a lack of use, we don't have to spend as much money on Salesforce.
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Professional Services
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
My company's preferred program right now is Microsoft Dynamics 365. We use it to keep track of customers and important sales metrics in a streamlined manner. Anyone familiar with CRMs will find the tool extremely useful. Considering that we have a good turnover, this product will be used for its basic segments. As a result, there are few chances of error with Microsoft dynamics because it is so easy to use. Many options for recording data on these leads are available. It meets our needs and pays off.
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • As a SaaS provider we see being able to provide self-service BI to our client users as a competitive advantage. In fact the MSSQL enabled BI is a contributing factor to many winning RFPs we have done for prospective client organisations.
  • However MSSQL BI requires extensive knowledge and skills to design and develop data warehouses & data models as a foundation to support business analysts and users to interrogate data effectively and efficiently. Often times we find having strong in-house MSSQL expertise is a bless.
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Microsoft
  • It is hard to say, the reason why we are using Microsoft Dynamics CRM is because it is provided to us for free.
  • It could be worthwhile to investigate whether an alternative CRM (even though paid) can be used to boost the ROI
Read full review
ScreenShots