Microsoft Dynamics 365 vs. VinSolutions

Provides our company access to manage and customize the folds tailored to our needs. We needed to have certain paragraphs on certain paperwork per customer. MD 365 has those options to customize where needed and remove when not. The system is easy to navigate, and training can be done in a matter of days, even without prior knowledge of the system or similar systems.

Incentivized

It is well suited to customer communication - emails/calls/texts. It helps with all those. You are able to get personal by adding notes to remember in the future, or tasks to complete down the road. It keeps history, so no salesperson can argue who did want and who gets the credit. Essentially, it is the final word - if the employee doesn't record it in Vin - then it didn't happen and anyone can help a customer. Seems to be less appropriate for actual marketing-related activities (as mentioned with their campaign manager).

Incentivized

• Best to use for AP - like in our organization, there are plenty of AP bills, so with Dynamics, we can quickly enter the same into the Excel utility, which means CSV-based upload, and then we can easily upload the same to the software. It's a time saver.
• Best for Bank reconciliation - MS Dynamics makes Bank reconciliation easy. Banks can easily sync with software and easily get reconciled.
• Generating invoices to customers and directly sending them to their inbox is easy with this software.

Incentivized

• Tracks sold logs, desk logs, offers, etc. so there is no confusion over what was offered or by whom.
• Gives a clear, concise list of sold vehicles, who sold them, and front and back end gross for easy reference.
• Trade appraisals are clearly visible, along with who appraised them, so there is no potential for misunderstanding between the sales managers, GSM and GM.

Incentivized

• Small learning curve, obviously. You won't figure this out in a day, a week, or even a month. But given time, you can learn to be an expert. Or you can always get a consultant or hire in somebody. But learning the tool isn't out of the questions by any means.
• Licensing can be confusing at times and isn't cheap, but it is cheaper than Salesforce. Plus no additional fees for data calls to better integrate your D365 CE data with other systems.
• The Classic user interface left a bit to be desired, but now with the much-improved Unified Interface, the web client and the mobile client look the same, much more modern, and have more flexibility and power behind them for customizers as well.

Incentivized

• Because VinSolutions is able to pull customers lists, they also made a campaigns manager that allows you to create marketing emails and send them out. However, after the initial launch they never updated it, it seems. It would be the best thing...if it was 2005.
• This customer lists that I like to export to upload into my own email software, I can't get the actual list myself - I have to contact my Vin rep for them to give me. These lists are not the same, nor have the same filters, as the report lists that Vin does provide dealers. So, I prefer the other.

Incentivized

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.

The usability is easily adopted for users familiar with other Microsoft products. Dynamics 365 has several interfaces that cross over browsers and tablets. These multiple interfaces will be phased out and updated to a single unified interface eventually to provide the same usability across all devices. The backend configurations is slowly improving with the introduction of PowerApps compared to pre-D365 Online versions

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

Technical support, general customer support, implementation support are all top notch. All representatives from the company check in every couple weeks to make sure all is going well; if there is a problem, I generally have a solution given within hours if not soon; and they are friendly, easy to understand, and do a great job. Well done!

Incentivized

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.

Microsoft Dynamics was part of a system overhaul for a local school, and we looked at many products. If we had used it for a company with low turnover, then it might have been more feasible. They needed something a new person could learn quickly, someone who might also be learning marketing terms at the same time - especially if there is nobody to train the individual now expected to know the system. Similar issues occurred with all of these programs (we called it being too big for their britches), and one of the bigger things we liked was that it is more compatible with MS Office products in both technical and visual appeal. If you have a steady employees who use a CRM consistently, low turnover, and those who are very familiar with Office products, Dynamics would be the smartest option for you. Unfortunately, this was just not true for the school environment

Incentivized

I have never used a full-suite CRM with this depth prior to this experience

Incentivized

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.

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.

• For those without a centralized, all in one solution for major HR, Finance and other departments, Microsoft Dynamics 365 has vastly improved employee time utilization and profit.
• Migrating clients from on-premise to the cloud has reaped benefits including better security, no unscheduled downtime and frequent updates to functionality.
• Those transferring from cheaper solutions have lost money in the aim to be better integrated with other Microsoft products and AI they don't really utilize.

Incentivized

• Not sure about our financial investment in VinSolutions, but we have been with them for over 10 years, so our management keeps choosing it over other options (we have reviewed others in the past recommended by our dealer group).
• Positive impact on keeping our customers...ours. This avoids sales consultants recording their customers in some random ledger of their own...and then taking that list with them when they leave - especially to another dealership. This ensures that each person is the dealership's customer, and not the salesperson's customer.
• History is recorded, and we never know what we need until we run into an issue. VinSolutions is our go-to for many past communications and transactions. It provides a 'road to the sale' story that managers can pull up to help them navigate concerns.

Incentivized