In the eleventh hour of CRM Wars, SAP CRM wins as favorite CRM system for businesses

FOSTER CITY, Calif. - March 10, 2014 - PRLog -- Matrix Cloud Technologies, a tech company that allows businesses to create native mobile apps to streamline their current CRM systems, ran a contest on social media sites last week. It was named CRM Wars with the goal of discovering which CRM businesses and employees most enjoyed using and why.

There are many polls and pie graphs online that depict the "most popular" CRM systems. The staff at Matrix Cloud Tech wanted to get a behind the scenes look at what real companies actually thought about the CRMs they have used in the past. Since Matrix Cloud's mobile apps support all CRM systems, it was interesting to see which was the favorite.

The choices in the CRM Wars included Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, SAP CRM, InfusionSoft, NetSuite, Oracle CRM, and Salesboom Cloud. Votes were collected via Twitter and a LinkedIn discussion on the group CRM Experts, which is still going strong with lots of great opinions and perpsectives.

As Tom Gibson, Executive Sales Management Professional, pointed out, “Each company has unique requirements that make a certain CRM a better option for them over others. The list of options provided in this question include products that are web based and products that are server based where you’d need to install software.”

Throughout the week, Microsoft Dynamics was the clear winner. From the beginning of the week, Microsoft grabbed our Tweets about CRM Wars and told their followers to vote for them. They kept Retweeting throughout the week to remind their followers to vote for them. They were very active and involved in the competition, which says something about their own customer relationship management. When faced with competition, Microsoft motivated their dedicated followers, gained by excellent CRM skills, to show their support. Their approach to the competition proves that an effective CRM program also needs an effective and caring sales team.

In the last few hours of voting on Friday, March 7th, SAP CRM swept in with a brilliant marketing plan. There were four ways to vote – on Twitter, on Facebook comments, on LinkedIn discussion, or in a poll. Most votes came from LinkedIn and Twitter. SAP CRMrealized they had the audience that would take a minute out of their day to easily vote in the poll. They sold a convenient way for their followers to vote, giving them a huge boost in votes at the last minute. SAP CRM’s method shows the convenience for the customer is important in a CRM system and possibly one of the most effect ways to mobilize a customer base to buy a product or service.

Many people spoke on the merits of Salesforce, causing them to come in third place in the CRM Wars. It seems like Salesforce supporters are so comfortable with their CRM and how effective it is that they didn’t feel the need to show support because the power of the CRM spoke for itself. In the overall discussion on LinkedIn, Salesforce was considered the obvious leader of CRM while conversation focused on what was great about the other CRM systems.

On LinkedIn, every contributor made it very clear that whatever CRM is considered the most popular is not necessarily the best one for your company. Rich Nazzaro explained, “Many companies go with the latest and greatest because they think the tool will solve the issues. When looking at your CRM you need to determine what the goals and objectives are of your company."

Some of those who voted in the CRM Wars were upset that Sugar CRM and Workbookswere not included in the list of options. Jaime Atienza Jr., Social Media Analyst at CRM Online, commented, “[Sugar CRM] has been positioned as a ‘Visionary’ in the Gartner 2013 Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation.”

Trever Townsend, a commentor on the blog, noted, "...if you need a new CRM and don't want to spend a fortune, have a look at Workbooks. It is fantastic and the support is second to none."

Another commenter, Peter, added, "When evaluating packages, be sure to look at the smaller vendors. They (often) have much more to offer in value for money. Workbooks certainly should be part of you shortlist."

Matrix Cloud Technologies plans to run the CRM Wars again in the future including smaller CRM systems, such as Sugar CRM and Workbooks. For a more in depth analysis of CRM Wars, visit http://matrixcloudtech.com/and-the-winner-of-crm-wars-is/