In an ever-changing business world that we live in, the expectations around overall customer experiences are ever increasing. As well as having higher expectations, customers also have many options to choose from when it comes to vendors. Therefore, this means that providing only the best customer service and experience is vital to ensuring that your business succeeds now and in the future.
In our latest blog article, we will take this opportunity to compare two market leading customer service solutions: Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Salesforce Service Cloud.
Platform
When it comes to the platform itself, you will be pleased to know that both Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Salesforce Service Cloud are cloud-based solutions that are all about delivering customer service and engagements. With this in mind, both systems are on hand to allow businesses to manage cases and accounts, automate customer interactions and help to give faster service and support.
In light of the above, Salesforce is primarily a CRM platform that focuses on being able to manage customer relationships. The only problem is that most of its applications are very focused on the CRM elements which doesn’t enable it to be able to extend to ERP and HR functions. You will notice that these apps form part of the Salesforce Customer 360 package which includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud. This gives the biggest indication yet that Service Cloud sits alone and is able to connect to other ERP solutions as Salesforce doesn’t have one.
On the other hand, you will find that Dynamics 365 is much more flexible as it can also include ERP, HR as well as marketing. If you are looking for something more customer specific, it can provide you with Sales, Customer Service, Project Service Automation, Field Service as well as Microsoft Social Engagement and Microsoft Relationship Sales. As well as these, you are also able to make use of Microsoft’s ERP offerings such as Business Central. Better still, you will probably be aware that Microsoft has office applications like Microsoft 365 and OneDrive, collaboration solutions like SharePoint and Teams as well as the future of Microsoft in Power Automate.
From the above, it is clear that Dynamics 365 has better flexibility and scalability than Salesforce in the long term.
User Interface
You will find that both Salesforce Service Cloud and Dynamics 365 Customer Service are both built on a web first interface which enables users to easily access them remotely.
Salesforce you will notice has a basic interface that enables users to find things on the side via the links. As well as this, you will find that its agent workspace provides customer service agents with a fully customisable platform that can be set up in whichever way they prefer. In addition to this, the Service Console is a comprehensive centre which enables agents to be in control of many cases all at once.
When comparing the above to Dynamics 365 Customer Service, you will find that Microsoft has a unified interface that is used across all its products. In plain English, this means that you have a user interface that is consistent no matter which browser or device you are using. As well as this, it also provides engaging dashboards, charts, simple navigation along with personalised menu buttons & much more. Furthermore, it gives you access to knowledge resources and AI Copilot to enable you to improve both efficiency and productivity.
Given that both of the above solutions provide rich user experiences, the sophisticated searchability and consistent experience provided across the whole Microsoft 365 stack and Dynamics 365 applications gives Dynamics 365 Customer Service the edge over Salesforce.
Artificial Intelligence
This could be one of the biggest differentiators that sets Dynamics 365 Customer Service ahead of Salesforce Service Cloud. Despite the fact that both solutions have AI functionality – Dynamics 365 equipped with Copilot may well get to the finishing line first.
In light of the fact that both AI models look to improve productivity through the use of intelligent assistance for agents, Microsoft Copilot works based on open AI exploits which involves more complex and sophisticated Large Language Models to give accurate, relevant and contextual input when compared to Einstein.
Pricing
It goes without saying but making the decision between Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Salesforce Service Cloud is going to largely come down to the cost when it comes to the implementation. It can be the case that pricing of the two is more complicated as both offer multiple licensing levels. In addition to this, there are many different Salesforce and Dynamics 365 modules and add-ons that can come at an additional cost.
You will notice that Microsoft has two offerings when it comes to the licensing for Dynamics 365 Customer Service: Customer Service Professional which is priced at £41.10 per user per month alongside Customer Service Enterprise which comes in at £78.10 per user per month. The professional version is designed for small and medium sized businesses who have limited customer service requirements whereas the enterprise version is designed to provide extras like Digital Messaging, Voice and Chat aimed at larger corporations.
When it comes to Salesforce Service Cloud, there are four options: Essentials, Service Professional, Enterprise and Unlimited. The essentials option is aimed at small businesses for up to 10 users and is priced at £20 per user per month. The service professional option is for those businesses that are any size and comes equipped with CRM functionality and is priced at £60 per user per month. If a customisable CRM is what you need then turn to the enterprise option which is priced at £120 per user per month. For businesses that have extremely complex requirements then you need to look at the unlimited option which is priced at £240 per user per month.
When comparing and contrasting the licensing options for both solutions, it is much easier to understand the Dynamics 365 Customer Service pricing structure as it is much simpler. Despite the fact that the entry level pricing is higher than that of Salesforce Service Cloud, Microsoft Gold Partners like Advantage are able to provide exclusive discounts through the use of extra Dynamics 365 solutions. On the other hand, the pricing for Service Cloud doubles at each level more or less meaning that small businesses could find it difficult to scale up.
Conclusion
Without a shadow of the doubt from the comparison above, it is clear that Dynamics 365 Customer Service is a much more long-term choice to handle your immediate and long-term customer service-related needs as it gives your business the added flexibility, consistent user interface, AI capabilities & consistent licensing structure when compared to Salesforce Service Cloud.
Next Steps?
If you are a business that has read the above article and are interested in implementing Dynamics 365 Customer Service across your business then get the conversation going by reaching out to our Dynamics 365 specialists today to discuss the details of your project.
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