Microsoft Dynamics 365 vs. Slate for Admissions

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
Slate for Admissions
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Slate is a platform for admissions and enrollment management, student success, and alumni/advancement, from Technolutions in New Haven. Designed and developed exclusively for higher education, Slate by Technolutions supports the student and donor lifecycle, and provides a unified interface to CRM, outreach and communications, travel management, online applications, online reading, student success and retention, and alumni and donor engagement.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft Dynamics 365Slate for Admissions
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Dynamics 365Slate for Admissions
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Dynamics 365Slate for Admissions
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Microsoft Dynamics 365Slate for Admissions
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.9
69 Ratings
3% above category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Customer data management / contact management8.768 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow management7.266 Ratings00 Ratings
Territory management8.250 Ratings00 Ratings
Opportunity management8.462 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)7.665 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract management8.451 Ratings00 Ratings
Quote & order management8.447 Ratings00 Ratings
Interaction tracking7.259 Ratings00 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management7.650 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
6.9
54 Ratings
8% below category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Case management7.850 Ratings00 Ratings
Call center management8.144 Ratings00 Ratings
Help desk management4.948 Ratings00 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.8
66 Ratings
3% above category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Lead management8.460 Ratings00 Ratings
Email marketing7.261 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.8
63 Ratings
3% above category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Task management7.458 Ratings00 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management7.643 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting8.452 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.9
64 Ratings
16% above category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Forecasting9.154 Ratings00 Ratings
Pipeline visualization9.160 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable reports8.463 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.8
66 Ratings
3% above category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Custom fields8.365 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom objects7.960 Ratings00 Ratings
Scripting environment8.347 Ratings00 Ratings
API for custom integration6.851 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.9
61 Ratings
5% below category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability8.355 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions7.556 Ratings00 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.0
36 Ratings
10% above category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Social data8.335 Ratings00 Ratings
Social engagement7.636 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.6
55 Ratings
6% above category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Marketing automation7.655 Ratings00 Ratings
Compensation management7.628 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.4
47 Ratings
11% above category average
Slate for Admissions
-
Ratings
Mobile access8.447 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft Dynamics 365Slate for Admissions
Small Businesses
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Submittable
Submittable
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Jenzabar ONE
Jenzabar ONE
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10

No answers on this topic

All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365Slate for Admissions
Likelihood to Recommend
7.8
(88 ratings)
8.1
(8 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(20 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(18 ratings)
7.2
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
7.9
(11 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
7.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.2
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
3.9
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Dynamics 365Slate for Admissions
Likelihood to Recommend
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
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Technolutions
I would recommend Slate, by Technolutions for any higher education institution, big or small. Though there is a higher cost associated with Slate than most other options, it's well worth the price. The level of detail that you're able to gather, maintain, and query on within your student data is far beyond anything I've experienced with other systems. These insights help you pinpoint areas for action and improvement so that you can pivot when necessary, helping you reach your enrollment goals quicker and more efficiently.
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Pros
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.
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Technolutions
  • Managing contacts.
  • Smart communications (drip email campaigns).
  • Real-time data management.
  • End-to-end control of product (or instance of).
  • Allows for easy to implement segmentation via smart rules and queries (data sets).
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Cons
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.
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Technolutions
  • Doesn't automatically advance to the next application in the queue once one application is processed
  • Doesn't allow an easy view of other queues to see what is coming down the pike
  • Doesn't allow users to copy email of applicants
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Likelihood to Renew
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.
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Technolutions
No answers on this topic
Usability
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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Technolutions
It's incredibly usable and easy to figure out. It's modern and does exactly what we need for it to do
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Support Rating
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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Technolutions
While I do wish they had actual representatives that we able to come to you for trainings for implementation and new users, I understand that a big draw is the money that is saved by instead investing in knowledgebase, which is it's online tutorials for different functions of Slate.
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Implementation Rating
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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Technolutions
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
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.
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Technolutions
We had been on Recruitment Plus- it has been sunsetted, so we were forced to move. I also looked at Fire Engine Red. Slate seemed far and away the most robust CRM/Admissions solution.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
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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Technolutions
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
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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Technolutions
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
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
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Technolutions
  • It has changed the culture of our office!
  • It is by far the best resource that we have been able to implement in our business.
  • It has been a huge return investment and allows us to do our jobs more efficiently.
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