CRM vs Navision

TommyValentine

People, I need some advice here (yeah, again, but advice from experts is priceless...)

We're exploring the market for Navision in the humanitarian sector (and companies that have lots of members, like Greenpeace).

There's an add-on for these companies (called Charivision) and we're planning on using this.

I know there's Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Now the question: what can Navision offer more than CRM does (thinking in the fields of organising the administration of your members and volunteers)?

DenSter

NAV is an ERP package.
CRM is a CRM system.

They are totally different applications. If all you need to do is keep a list of members I would not even think about NAV.

TommyValentine

DenSter wrote:

If all you need to do is keep a list of members I would not even think about NAV

It's not that simple actually... They need to manage their members and volunteers (relationships, contracts, etc.), manage fundraising and plan projects.

So there's a clear company process.

Miklos_Hollender

If you don't have a clear understanding of the difference between ERP and CRM, try to look at it the following way. The basic idea of ERP (as far as Navision goes) is having transactions in a table and summing them up - the sum of a customer's entries will tell it's balance and so on. Navision is especially optimized for this sort of work.

Of MSCRM, well, the interesting things is that the classical definition of analytical/collaborative/SFA CRM is a bit outdated I think and AFAIK the direction it's going is a bit more like putting what you usually do with MS Office - sending mails, creating stuff with Word and Excel etc. - into a relational context.

So I think the way to think about it is what would you use WITHOUT it. If you would use an accounting software or shared Excel tables then it's more like Navision. If you'd use shared folders in Outlook then it's more like CRM.

But in both cases be prepared for a good amount of development, usually.

DenSter

That's actually a very clear and concise way of explaining the difference, thanks

TommyValentine

Yeah indeed! Thanks!

TommyValentine

Philosophical question here... (well not quite but what's in a name?)

Say they use both (shared worksheets and shared Outlook folders) and Navision had the functionality of doing CRM, what would be the advantage of getting Navision anyway?

You might wonder where I'm going with this: we're aiming for a new market and it's important we want to show those organisations what the benefits of having it all in Navision will be.

I mean, they could have a simple accounting program, CRM and a whole bunch of other things and still be happy. If it's all integrated in Navision, they would have to work with one program? Will their administration be better organized?

But they still need to open Word to make a document, so not EVERYTHING is integrated. Why then not stick with the way they do things now?

Just a train of thoughts here, feel free to add to it 8)

DenSter

The nice thing about an ERP system is that you have everything you need in one application. For instance, you do your sales order shipping and invoicing, and when you post them it automatically updates all financial information, without having to type in the same numbers.