The Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Migration: Think Success Before TCO, Says Partner

Some Salesforce.com stories are like orphan stories.

"A lot of people shake their heads and say ‘It was so easy for us to get Salesforce," describes Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. Vice President of Alliances, Business Solutions Group, Mike Rogers. "'The VP of sales put it on his credit card and bought 100 users, and next think you know we have 1,000 seats over a three or four-year period.'"

But, Rogers continues, "nobody owned it as a strategy. IT was never involved because it was subscription and it was cloud based, so they never integrated it to their ERP and IT never supported it. There are [many of] these types of stories." Rogers notes that Hitachi is often called upon to implement Dynamics CRM Online to replace a three-year-old (or older) Salesforce installation with low user adoption.

Hitachi Solutions has implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM for 14 years and, Rogers estimates, has been involved with Salesforce migrations for the last eight or nine years. In a recent article they documented some of the practicalities of planning such a Salesforce to Dynamics CRM move.

A good many Dynamics CRM converts are simply looking for a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), says Rogers, but the value proposition goes far deeper.

The case for Dynamics CRM Online vs Salesforce

Yes, there's more to be gained from a Salesforce-to-Dynamics CRM Online migration than lower TCO, but cost remains a powerful driver.

"Microsoft, especially in the last few fiscal years, has been incenting customers... to switch off of Salesforce, so there have been some nice incentives on top of ...