CRM Software maximizes sales and marketing efforts. Visibility is crucial, Management Reports enables better decisions to be made. Sales Ease improves productivity and the ability of your organize to improve customer responsiveness. The IT departments, Technology Rating indicates the difficulty to maintain uptime and system administration knowledge. Overall Rating and Overall Risk provide a high level overview of the Customer Relationship Management product.

MS Dynamics scores high for management reports (8/10) utilizing MS Dynamics Reporting Services and sales ease (8/10) using MS Dynamics Forecasting and MS Dynamics Sales Pipeline. The technology rating for Microsoft Dynamics is average (7/10) because configuration can be challenging because of the Microsoft library dependencies. Overall Microsoft Dynamics scores stars with our recommendation of: Most Microsoft CRM consultants and implementers lack experience to make it successful.

MS Outlook scores high for management reports (2/10) because of a complete lack of internal reports or an ability to connect to Microsoft Reporting Services. Sales ease (9/10) because most people are familiar with Microsoft Outlook and know how to use it. The technology rating for Microsoft Dynamics is average (7/10) because configuration can be challenging because of the Microsoft library dependencies. Overall Microsoft Dynamics scores stars with our recommendation of: Most key sales reporting, forecasting and dashboards are not available in this product.

Oracle scores high for management reports (8/10) utilizing Oracle Reporting Services and Oracle Business Intelligence. Sales ease (5/10) is low because it takes skilled implementers to properly configure and streamline the sales process within Oracle CRM. The technology rating for Oracle CRM is less then average (6/10) because of the complexity and power of Oracle, configuration is best left to the professionals.. Overall Oracle CRM scores stars with our recommendation of: Very long implementation times and sales rep usage hurt this high priced option.

SAP scores high for management reports (9/10) are some of the best reporting capabilities possible, especially with native integration with Crystal Reports and Business Intelligence. Sales ease (6/10) is low because of the steep learning curve and a heavily customizable environment means lower user adoption and increased training costs. The technology rating for SAP is average (7/10) because it can offer a complete turn key solution. Overall SAP scores stars with our recommendation of: Sales adoption and large investment required if you do not already have the SAP accounting infrastructure.

Goldmine scores low for management reports (6/10) and sales ease (6/10). The technology rating for Goldmine is average (5/10) for poor data synchronization. Overall Goldmine scores stars with our recommendation of: Service requirements and outdated data synchronization model continues to hurt this once nice sales force automation software. Goldmine was the go to solution for small businesses, but with better offerings with easier upgrade and growth paths, SalesForce, MS Dynamics and Sage CRM are worth considering.

SalesForce scores high for management reports (8/10) utilizing extensive reporting and but fails on sales ease (5/10) because of limitations in web browser based solutions. The technology rating for SalesForce (Force CRM) is low (6/10) because of Cloud Internet latency and browser performance. Overall SalesForce scores stars with our recommendation of: Heavy scrolling and user time required to perform common functions plus system latency hurts this option. SalesForce fees for data transfer and storage need to also be factored in.

Sugar CRM scores poorly for management reports (5/10) as this is an open source solution and community developed reports are typically good enough but seldom great and serve more as examples and tutors rather then purpose. Sales ease (6/10) suffers from the same weakness, features and functionality are limited and basic aimed at serving the masses rather then being robust and extendible. The technology rating for Sugar CRM is average (7/10) because of lack of depth and integration with 3rd party technologies. Overall Sugar CRM scores stars with our recommendation of: limited depth and robustness of CRM reporting for management make this CRM product a concern. Its cost definitely makes it appealing, Sugar Open Source CRM is an excellent candidate for small sales teams that have a simple sales process, what it does, it does well.

Sage CRM scores high for management reports (8/10) utilizing MS SQL Reporting Services and Sage Reporting Services. Sales ease (6/10) is limited by configuration, new features and lagging social CRM capabilities. The technology rating for Sage CRM is average (7/10) because configuration can be challenging because of the Microsoft library dependencies. Overall Sage CRM scores stars with our recommendation of: Slow innovation, release of new features and user base growth are serious concerns to the long term viability of Sage CRM. Sage CRM is positioned as an ACT! and Goldmine competitor.

ACT! scores high for management reports (7/10) has decent native reports and integration with Microsoft SQL Reporting Services. Sales ease (9/10) makes ACT! one of the most friendly to use, highest user adoption CRM. The technology rating for ACT! is average (6/10) because of technology and data structure limitations that limit robustness and customizability. Overall ACT! scores stars with our recommendation of: Data limitations hurt this most popular CRM; recommended for individuals and small teams.

SalesLogix scores high for management reports (8/10) utilizing SalesLogix Reports, MS SQL Reporting Services and Crytal Reports. Sales ease (9/10) using SalesLogix Forecasting and SalesLogix Sales Pipeline that leads to high user adoption for sales and marketing teams. The technology rating for SalesLogix is average (7/10) because configuration can be challenging because of the Microsoft library dependencies. Overall Microsoft Dynamics scores stars with our recommendation of: New feature growth and cloud CRM adoption rate are a concern for this good value mature CRM software.