“Prophet” and “Salesforce”: Customer Relationship Management

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An overview

Most business organizations conduct CRM through the application of attractive and customer-focus websites. Their main objective is to inform and entice customers, at the same time collect information from them by way of informal but effective online surveys.

CRM is about relational marketing which focuses on developing a long-term relationship with customers. If we translate this to profits, it means focusing on long-term profit and not on the profit obtained from a particular sale. Most global or international organizations are targeting this long-term goal because they want to stay in their businesses for a long time. Having an effective CRM is very important in business because it gives the assurance that the firm will stay for good.

Definition

Customer relationship management is a broad term that refers to strategies of firms to enhance customer relationships (StraightMarketing.com, 2010). An important focus of CRM is customer loyalty, or the attainment of a relational bond between business and customer (Lam, Cheung, & Lau, 2013). A successful CRM will lead to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Who is interested?

Business organizations are the most interested in providing CRM because they want to focus on customers’ needs and behavior. By doing this they build and enhance their products and services to pleasing customers.

Importance

CRM is important in the study of customer satisfaction and loyalty, which are business goals in this age of stiff competition and intense globalization. Satisfaction can be a step further to loyalty, but it may not immediately lead that way. It has to be a series of customer-satisfying activities that can result in loyalty. This is the aim of CRM, to monitor customer behavior so that firms can deliver and meet their needs and wants over a course of time. Researchers have opined that once a customer becomes loyal, that loyalty is difficult to question and may stay for a long time. Many established international firms have experienced this, for example, carmakers Toyota and Mercedes Benz. They have stayed in business despite incidents of recalls for Toyota, and merger and acquisition for Mercedes Benz, not to mention their experiences in financial crises and economic downturns. During and after these events, their customers remained loyal to the end.

Types

CRM has been classified into three, which are operational, analytical, and strategic (Matteson, 2013). Other authors may add collaborative, instead of strategic. There may be other types but they may fall on these three general classifications.

Comparison of Prophet CRM and Salesforce CRM (G2 Crowd, 2015)

An overview of “Prophet CRM” and “Salesforce CRM”

Patronized by more than 15,000 customers, Prophet CRM is software that can be accessed through a user’s mobile phone. This is a simple software that can let you do business in just one email setting (TopTenReviews, 2015). Through one’s email, information and strategies are readily available. It has records, opportunities, and other important data (even ordinary data) with brief analyses. Hundreds of users have provided positive reviews and comments. On the other hand, Salesforce CRM is considered a new but fast-growing cloud computing firm. It provides software as a service for businesses, salespeople, administrators, individuals, and almost any kind of career-oriented individuals (G2 Crowd, 2015).

Compare and contrast

Overview of both software (based on data)

Prophet CRM was rated 4.1 out of 5 stars based on 113 reviews of customers. Salesforce CRM was also rated 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 739 reviews of customers.

Under “Meeting requirements,” Salesforce obtained 346 answers and 8.5 positive ratings, while Prophet obtained 108 answers and an 8.3 rating. Under “Usability,” both software obtained an almost equal rating, although Salesforce had more reviews than Prophet. Under “Setup,” Salesforce obtained 247 answers and a rating of 7.7, against Prophet’s 54 answers. Under “Maintenance,” Salesforce obtained 242 answers and a rating of 7.7, against Prophet’s 7.8 ratings, but only 54 answers. Under “Support,” Prophet obtained a higher positive rating of 8.8, but only 105 answers, while Salesforce had a lower rating of 7.8 but 299 answers. Under “Ease of Business,” Prophet had an 8.7 rating, while Salesforce had 8.1, but the latter had 244 answers compared to only 53 for Prophet.

Reviews for Prophet point to its usefulness in communication, while others accredited Salesforce for its usefulness in large enterprises (G2 Crowd, 2015). The term “answers” refers to the customers who provided the responses for the software survey.

Demographics

Prophet CRM was accessed by 63.4% of the small-business customers, against Salesforce’s 27.0%. For Mid-Market, Salesforce was accessed by 41.8% of customers against Prophet’s 27.7%. For the Enterprise demographic, Salesforce was accessed by 31.2% of customers against Prophet’s 8.9%.

Prophet CRM (Based on 113 responses)		Salesforce CRM (Based on 731 responses)
Real Estate	6.2%	Computer software	22.3%
Financial services	5.3%	IT and services	18.3%
Telecommunications	4.4%	Internet	6.8%
Management consulting	4.4%	Marketing and Advertising	6.2%
Insurance	4.4%	Financial services	5.3%
Other	75.0%	Other	41.0%

Table for demographic, Industry size.

The table above explains how the two software were patronized by a particular demographic. The term “responses” (or answers) refers to the number of customers who provided the answers to the online surveys.

Pricing and terms

Prophet charged $55 monthly per user for teams and $65 monthly per user for the enterprise. For Salesforce, group users were charged $25 monthly per user; professional users were charged $65 monthly per user; enterprise users were charged $125 monthly per user, and performance users were charged $300 monthly per user. Salesforce had a wider range of users, i.e. 4 types of users, while Prophet only got two. Salesforce’s lowest price was $25 for group users, while Prophet’s was $55 (G2 Crowd, 2015).

Under “One-time costs,” Prophet had 26 answers while Salesforce obtained 73 answers, and both had an almost equal rating. Under “Recurring costs,” Prophet had 26 answers against Salesforce’s 73 answers, with Prophet getting the edge in positive rating. For “discount,” Prophet had 18 answers, against Salesforce’s 58 answers, but both had almost the same positive rating. Under “Numbers of users purchased,” Prophet had 37 answers and a 7.8 positive rating, against Salesforce’s 133 answers and 8.1 positive ratings. Under “Length of contract,” Prophet had 37 answers and a 7.2 positive rating, against Salesforce’s 164 answers and 8.2 positive ratings. Salesforce garnered the most positive rating and more answers, or more users who provided responses in the online surveys (G2 Crowd, 2015).

Reviewers’ role and experience

Under “company segment,” Prophet obtained 112 answers and a rating of 7.7, against Salesforce’s 619 answers and 8.2 positive ratings. Under “primary role,” Prophet gained only 113 responses, against Salesforce’s 437 and a positive rating of 8.1. Under “Time used,” Prophet only gained 108 responses, against Salesforce’s 363, with a positive rating of 8.2 (G2 Crowd, 2015). Salesforce had more users who provided a positive rating.

User adoption and ROI

Under “adoption,” Prophet CRM obtained 37 answers and a 7.6 positive rating, against Salesforce’s 138 answers and 8.3 positive ratings. Under ROI, Prophet obtained 26 answers and 7.7 positive ratings, against Salesforce’s 72 answers and 7.8 positive ratings. Again, Salesforce garnered high scores and positive ratings from users/reviewers.

Implementation

There were 5 types of rating under the subject implementation. Under “hosted or on-premise,” Prophet obtained 50 answers with a 7.0 rating, against Salesforce’s 145 answers and 7.7 positive ratings. Under “Go Live Time,” Prophet obtained 38 answers with 6.8 positive ratings, against Salesforce’s 201 answers and 8.0 rating. Under “Implemented By,” Prophet obtained 37 answers and 8.1 positive ratings, against Salesforce’s 202 answers and 8.0 positive rating. Under “Edition,” Prophet obtained 53 answers with a 7.1 positive rating, against Salesforce’s 158 answers and 7.0 positive rating. Under “Year Implemented,” Prophet obtained 38 answers and a 6.9 positive ratings, against Salesforce’s 131 answers, and 7.0 positive rating. Both software obtained equal ratings, but Salesforce had more answers or reviewers.

Salesforce automation

Under “Opportunity & Pipeline Mgmt.,” Prophet obtained 99 answers and a 7.3 positive rating, against Salesforce’s 184 answers and a rating of 7.1. Under “Task / Activity Management,” Prophet had 99 answers and an 8.0 rating, against Salesforce’s 182 answers and 8.2 positive ratings. Under “Territory & Quota Management,” Prophet obtained 101 answers and 7.7 positive ratings, as against Salesforce’s 165 answers and 7.1 positive ratings. Under “Desktop Integration,” Prophet obtained 101 answers and a 6.8 positive rating, against Salesforce’s 163 answers and 7.2 positive ratings. Under “Product & Price List Management,” Prophet obtained 101 answers and a 7.3 rating, against Salesforce’s 154 answers and 7.0 rating. Under “Quote & Order Management,” Prophet obtained 100 answers and a rating of 7.3, against Salesforce’s 149 answers and 7.0 rating.

Under “Customer Contract Management,” Prophet obtained 100 answers and a 6.9 rating, against Salesforce’s 161 answers and 7.3 ratings. Under “Partner Relationship Mgmt. (PRM),” Prophet had 100 answers and a 6.9 rating, against Salesforce’s 144 answers and 7.5 positive ratings. Salesforce had an edge in answers and positive ratings in the different variables.

Marketing automation

Under “Email Marketing,” Prophet obtained 100 answers and a 7.8 positive rating, against Salesforce’s 166 answers and 7.7 ratings. Under “Campaign Management,” Prophet had 100 answers and a 7.9 rating, against Salesforce’s 172 answers and 7.8 ratings. Under “Lead Management,” Prophet obtained 101 answers and a 7.9 rating, against Salesforce’s 175 answers and 7.7 ratings. Under “Marketing ROI Analytics,” Prophet obtained 100 answers and an 8.1 rating, against Salesforce’s 152 answers and 8.0 rating.

Customer support

The prophet received 8.5 ratings for “case management,” while Salesforce had 8.1. However, Salesforce had more answers from customers, 150, while Prophet only had 101. Under “Customer Support Portal,” Prophet had 100 answers while Salesforce had 145. This means that Salesforce CRM had more users for a specific time than Prophet CRM (G2 Crowd, 2015).

Platform

Under “Customization – CRM,” Prophet had 51 answers and a rating of 6.8, against Salesforce’s 64 answers and a rating of 7.0. Under “Workflow Capability – CRM,” Prophet had 51 answers and a rating of 6.9, against Salesforce’s 118 answers and 8.0 rating. Under “User, Role, and Access Mgmt. – CRM,” Prophet obtained 51 answers and 6.7 ratings, against Salesforce’s 64 answers and 6.9 ratings. Under “Internationalization – CRM,” Prophet had no data, but Salesforce obtained 56 answers and a rating of 7.1. Under “Sandbox / Test Environments – CRM,” Prophet had 51 answers and a rating of 6.9, against Salesforce’s 104 answers and a rating of 8.0. Under “Document & Content Mgmt. – CRM,” Prophet had 51 answers and a rating of 6.9, against Salesforce’s 113 answers and a rating of 8.1. Under “Performance & Reliability – CRM,” Prophet had 51 answers and a 7.3 rating, against Salesforce’s 64 answers and a rating of 7.7.

Reporting and analytics

Under “Reporting – CRM,” Prophet obtained 100 answers and a rating of 8.2, against Salesforce’s 120 answers and a positive rating of 8.1. Under “Dashboards – CRM,” Prophet obtained 100 answers and a positive rating of 7.7, against Salesforce’s 119 answers and a positive rating of 8.0. Under “Forecasting,” Prophet had 100 answers and a positive rating of 7.9, against Salesforce’s 171 answers and a positive rating of 7.8.

Mobile and social

Under “Social Collaboration Features,” Prophet obtained 99 answers and a rating of 8.0, against Salesforce’s 164 answers and a rating of 8.1. Under “Social Network Integration,” Prophet obtained 99 answers and a rating of 7.6, against Salesforce’s 150 answers and a rating of 8.1.

Integration

Within Integration and under “Data Import & Export Tools – CRM,” Prophet had 51 answers and a rating of 7.0, against Salesforce’s 119 answers and 7.3 ratings. Under “Integration APIs – CRM,” Prophet had 51 answers and a 6.9 rating, against Salesforce’s 61 answers and 7.2 positive ratings.

References

G2 Crowd: Avidian and salesforce. (2015). Web.

Lam, A., Cheung, R., & Lau, M. (2013). The influence of internet-based customer relationship management on customer loyalty. Contemporary Management Research, 9(4), 419-440. Web.

Matteson, L. (2013). The three types of CRM systems. Web.

StraightMarketing.com: customer relationship marketing. (2010). Web.

TopTenReviews: Prophet. (2015). Web.

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