one to watch
NetSuite missed the leaderboard this year, earning a 3.5 for company direction—a significant drop from the 4.1 it received in the category last year. “The company is not calling CRM ‘CRM,’” Holger Mueller, principal analyst at Constellation Research, says. The company also received a 3.4 for its pricing, largely because it has been “moving up” to work with bigger clients, according to McCabe. “It’s becoming too pricy for small businesses,” she says. —M.M.
The Market
For vendors that cater to small businesses, user education plays a pivotal role. Increasingly, companies that offer CRM solutions for small and medium businesses (SMBs) are building customer-centric cultures, in which employees engage with customers and teach users how to make the most of their CRM solutions. “The demand for customer centricity has never been bigger for vendors of all sizes,” Gene Alvarez, Gartner analyst and conference chair, said during a presentation at the Gartner Customer 360 Summit in May. In the B2B market, that demand is particularly high for companies that target small businesses because SMBs have limited resources for outside consultants.
Scalability and price continue to be major factors for small-business CRM suite vendors as well, with customers looking for tools that foster agile development and can grow with a brand, but are also intuitive, user-friendly, and affordable. With tight budgets and high expectations, small businesses want powerful solutions at reasonable prices, and companies that excel in the category offer tools that deliver on both fronts.
The Leaders
InfusionSoft performed well across the board, receiving its highest mark, a 4.3, for overall direction, thanks to its continuing dedication to small businesses. “InfusionSoft offers up great small business guidance and support. The company is totally committed to the true small business market, with no intent to move upstream,” says Laurie McCabe, IT analyst and cofounder of the SMB Group. Despite “sticking to its space,” the company is “gaining lots of momentum,” Ray Wang, founder and principal analyst at Constellation Research, adds.
Last year’s winner, Salesforce.com,received solid marks but earned lower scores for company direction, dropping from a 4.5 to a 4.1 this year. “There is a lot of confusion among customers when it comes to using the Salesforce1 platform,” one analyst says. Still, the company shone, with a 4.3 for depth of functionality, the highest score in the category. “By virtue of its constantly evolving partner ecosystem combined with its Force.com platform, Salesforce.com has developed a recipe that SMBs favor,” Leslie Ament, senior vice president and principal analyst at Hypatia Research Group, says.
“SugarCRM is growing in mindshare,” Wang says. Returning to our leaderboard year after year, the company earned a 3.9 in depth of functionality and a 3.8 for customer satisfaction. “Its new mobile product and user experience puts it on the map again for competitive solutions in the marketplace,” Wang adds.
“A bit less sexy” than its competitors, Zoho is the “best-kept secret in the SMB marketplace,” Ament says. Zoho’s “highly flexible, budget-friendly pricing” earned the company a 4.6 in the cost category, and its “ease of configuration and robust software functionality” make the CRM solution “short-list worthy,” Ament says. “Zoho’s Dropbox integration, free email hosting, and cloud synchronizations also make it very SMB friendly,” Wang adds.
The Winner
No stranger to the leaderboard, Microsoft Dynamics CRMemerged as the winner this year, scoring a 4.0 or higher in every category. “Microsoft’s installed base in the SMB market benefits greatly from its OEM agreements with laptop, PC, and tablet companies,” Ament says. Its “competitive pricing” plays an important role, too, McCabe adds.
The vendor received a 4.2 in depth of functionality, a testament to a growing dedication to its CRM product. “Microsoft’s been investing in CRM,” Wang says. “The arrival of [Dynamics CRM Corporate Vice President] Bob Stutz and [President of Business Solutions] Jujhar Singh has led to new life in products, smart acquisitions like MarketingPilot and Parature, and a push toward building the complete CRM experience,” Wang says.
Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, could have an impact on the company’s CRM solution too. Despite his non-software–centric vision, Nadella has roots deep in Microsoft’s business solutions, and the company’s recently announced strategic partnership with Salesforce.com could mean a growing focus on CRM, analysts say. —Maria Minsker