What Sets Microsoft Dynamics NAV CRM Apart from Dynamics CRM: Different Functionality for Different Stages of Business Growth

Companies looking to implement customer relationship management systems are often puzzled as to whether to use the relationship module (RM) that comes with Dynamics NAV, or to implement an additional application in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The dilemma occurs because both applications provide CRM functionality. But in reality, the CRM functionality in Microsoft Dynamics NAV is not the same as that in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, according to Scott Pugmire, Dynamics Product Technical Advisor, Microsoft Corp.

He told a recent session of the NAV User Group that the sales, marketing, and customer service functionality available with Dynamics NAV, he says, is more geared toward the fundamental CRM-type functionality companies need to run and grow.

With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, there are a variety of optional features such as campaign management, contact classification, opportunity management, task management, and many more. These features help the sales, marketing and customer service staff build customer relationships, find new customers, encourage loyalty, and keep them coming back.  The product also has customer service options to help staff respond quickly to customer-service issues.

"Several years ago NAV had a version of CRM internally built in," Pugmire said. "It hasn't been boosted in functionality for quite awhile, but it was robust when it came out so it's still up to par with a lot of standards especially in the area of field service management."

In general, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is specifically designed for customer relationship management with high levels of sales, marketing and customer service functionality. It's highly configurable and has a wide range of tools and features for everything from lead-management to resource scheduling. And as well as being deployed as an on-premise CRM solution, hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM is ...