Microsoft Dynamics AX (discontinued) vs. Velocify by ICE Mortgage Technology

It integrates fully with the other Microsoft software we use daily, and this coordination speeds up our work and gives us the agility to run easily. For example, in a purchase inquiry, the customer, after submitting a request, identifies the teams that should work on the project, and if they need further review by other people, they are added to the process, and everything is managed seamlessly rather than the sales process. Get the result as fast as possible.

Incentivized

Small businesses who do not need complex reporting and analytics would fit well into the Velocify model. There needs to be specific segments that appeal to this type of CRM, and the best feature is within an added layer--dialer. The ability to turn things around and contact your leads immediately was very beneficial to us, and could prove to be a boon for a small to midsize business.

• Microsoft Dynamics AX's scalability to meet our regional office needs provide flexibility to the team's requirements.
• Combined with Citrix Xenapp, the application offers seamless access for users on high latency unreliable network connection to the application.
• Application maintenance and updates are easy which makes it possible for us to manage remotely considering the servers are located in a remote Asia site.

Incentivized

• The prioritized queue allows for management to set contact standards and hold users accountable. It removes all the guess work out of what lead to call next.
• The Dial IQ feature is fantastic for powering through calls and maximizing speed to contact.
• The Shotgun lead distribution puts the lead into the hand of the user that is ready and available to call that lead immediately. No handing off a lead to an originator and hoping they call. This feature allows for the system to notify multiple users simultaneously and first user to press 1 wins the lead. Talk about creating a competitive sales environment!

• MRP can be slow to adapt to changes in actual production or supply chain transactions.
• Setting up number sequences seems a trivial matter, but these numbers ID transactions once they are in the ledger and are key--easy to miss this point in the implementation process.
• Bank rec being easily automated and able to quickly plug into a bank back end to get data is not the best.
• Payment processing can be 'clunky' based on checks, ACH, Wires...as some of these items are not triggered out of the box in AX, bur are easily added --talking ACH and Wires specifically.

Incentivized

• Velocify would be well served to create a more robust email drip campaign platform.
• Velocify could revamp their dashboards and prioritized views our individuals work out of daily. It's rather overwhelming when working with a lot of leads. Adding interactive graphics - calendars, easy to view alerts, etc would be great. (Big Purple Dot does this well)

Incentivized

Microsoft Dynamics continues to evolve by bringing more functionality to the customer. Also there are several independent software providers that offer a wide range of solutions for vertical markets.

Incentivized

I am sure that we as a company are likely to continue using Velocify. I am not involved in the selection process, but I have not heard any negative feedback and switching programs would more than likely be too much work

Overall the product does what we need it to do in order for us to function as a company. While there are some concerns over ongoing costs, the belief is, once we have it fully acclimated to our business the cost should settle into alignment with our original expectations. The new features that are consistently being added do add value to the product as they are usually customer request directed.

Incentivized

Users can gain a very good understanding of the system quickly. The administrator can use terms that are familiar to their company when setting the system up. Most new administrators error to the side of complexity when setting up the system. With Velocify less is more.

Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.

The system is always up!!

Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.

If the system is set up correctly it will be a game changer for your organization.

We use a 3rd-party Microsoft Partner for the system. They are responsive and very knowledgeable. While costs have been mentioned several times in this review they are very aware of costs and have developers who are more economical they use to help offset the level of work required to meet our changes and fix our issues.

Incentivized

While I didn't speak with the Support team often, they seemed very accepting and reliable. My favorite was the company emails that we would receive whenever something wasn't working correctly so that we would know that it's being worked on, providing a bit of relief to the other employees that were having trouble.

Incentivized

It took a lot of work, but Microsoft ultimately did a good job with in-person training, including being onsite in multiple global locations for extended periods.

The in-person training if you will is done via GoToMeeting or some other service. I have been told that the moderator goes way too in-depth and too fast.

Our solution deviated from a number of key out-of-the-box standards that were included in Online training. We just used that for introduction to the general functionality.

Velocify offers online training via videos and written descriptions of implementation procedures.

Some rough spots, but ultimately worked out. The contract didn't appear to be structured to support the level of overlapping facility deployments required to meet timeline commitments. Merging cultures on the program was also challenging. Overall, not an easy implementation by any stretch. Everyone did the best they could.

If you plan to have more than 20 users on Velocify you should outsource implementation to someone that knows how the system can best be implemented for your business/process flows. If you have fewer proposed users try to use one of the canned levels.

I was not part of the decision making process to select Microsoft Dynamics AX, however, I do know that an exhaustive search was done and many options were considered alongside Microsoft Dynamics AX and I feel that the right decision was made in choosing this solution.

Incentivized

Before we went with Velocify, we had Salesforce and Hobson's EMT Connect. Both of these systems were rather expensive and didn't give us exactly what we needed for lead conversion as well as the customization we desired. However, I feel that some of the reasons we went with Velocify were not exactly truthful as we found out during the implementation process or much later that there were things they said that they could do that once we started getting into the weeds with it they weren't able to execute. From a lead conversion and speed to lead standpoint, this is a good product. From a reporting and lifecycle management standpoint, this is a very poor product compared to the other two

The system is fully scaleable both vertically and horizontally across the enterprise.

• With the robust built-in reporting we were able to drop an external reporting platform that costed about $40,000.
• API integrations have saved manual entry and reduced having to hire 2-3 people to manage data.
• Several administrators and developers are required for this which costs about 200-300 thousand in employee costs.

Incentivized

• Faster lead conversion lead us to higher potential for "first school wins" philosophy.
• Negative return on time spent maintaining Velocify. Because manual reporting was needed and much had to be done outside of the system, there was a monetary loss of time because of this.
• Predictability was near impossible for us, and the fact that we had to purchase an email automation system because Velocify did not do anything we needed was a negative ROI for our business.