What is Better, SAP or Salesforce?

Updated:

April 3, 2024

⏱️ 4 minutes

In today’s digital age, businesses rely heavily on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to manage their sales, customers, and overall business operations. Selecting the appropriate CRM software can be challenging, especially when you’re faced with the choice between two of the most widely used solutions in the industry: SAP and Salesforce.

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Overview

Salesforce was one of the first companies to offer Software as a Service (SaaS) in the cloud, while SAP is known for its robust Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for data processing. Both of these software solutions are popular in the CRM space, but they have their differences.

So, which one should you choose? In this blog, we will examine various factors, including user interface, sales and customer support, integration, customization, pricing, and others, to provide you with a comprehensive analysis and assist you in making an informed decision between SAP and Salesforce CRM.

What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is a world leader in the CRM applications market, with an impressive market share of 19.5% and an annual growth rate of 21%. This cloud-based CRM platform is a popular choice for businesses, with many features that make it an attractive option for managing customer relationships and improving sales.

One of the biggest advantages of Salesforce is that it is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, which means that users don’t need to install any software or servers on their machines. Instead, they can simply sign up on the Salesforce website and start using the platform to meet their business needs.

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What is SAP?

SAP software is designed to provide an enhanced customer experience, focusing on managing all business activities rather than just sales. With seamless integration with their S/4HANA ERP software, SAP’s CRM software could be an ideal choice for both small and large businesses.

Comparison of SAP and Salesforce

User Interface

If you’re looking for CRM software with a better interface, Salesforce might be the better option for you. The platform provides an easy-to-use interface that primarily emphasizes components related to customer relationship management.

In comparison, SAP cloud has a decent interface, but it is not as comprehensive and user-friendly as Salesforce. So if having an easy-to-use interface is a priority in the business, Salesforce might be the way to go.

Integration

Integration is an important aspect of any CRM solution. When it comes to integration, Salesforce and SAP both offer various options for integrating with other applications.

Salesforce provides a range of APIs, which are well-known for their reliability and speed, to facilitate faster integration with other applications. In addition, it offers integrated marketing automation and customer service platforms, making it easier to manage customer data across different platforms. Salesforce also acquired MuleSoft, a company known for its integration of software and services, which has further strengthened Salesforce’s integration capabilities.

In contrast, SAP provides its own cloud-based services for API integration, including the SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer Element, which is a turnkey solution. Additionally, SAP’s Sales Cloud can be integrated with their Hybrid e-commerce platform, resulting in a more economical integration option.

Overall, both SAP and Salesforce have strong integration features, making it simple to collaborate with third-party apps.

Customization Features

When it comes to customization features, Salesforce is considered to be the better option of the two. Salesforce is equipped with a broad set of tools and functionalities that make it easy to customize and configure the CRM application to meet the unique needs of a business. The platform offers a range of customizable options for different components such as dashboards, workflows, reports, and more.

While SAP CRM also provides customization options, it is not as flexible and customizable as Salesforce. SAP CRM offers some basic customization options for its applications, but not as extensive as Salesforce.

Salesforce’s focus on customization, flexibility, and adaptability has helped the platform remain a top choice for many businesses.

Customer Support

Salesforce is perceived to have better customer support and is viewed as a strategic consultant for businesses to grow and evolve. Salesforce is known for its timely and comprehensive response to client issues and has a self-help portal, learning base, and live chat included in its annual maintenance and support contracts. However, premium administrator support comes at a high cost, and users must pay 12-15% of their subscription fee for phone support.

In contrast, SAP’s customer support is known to resolve issues eventually, but it takes longer to access support compared to Salesforce. SAP offers a self-help portal, a learning base, and 24/7 toll-free worldwide support for non-technical questions, but user reports suggest that SAP CRM solution reports are not readily available for all modules.

Email Utilities

Both Salesforce and SAP offer email utilities for tracking and monitoring email interactions. Salesforce simplifies the tracking of customer emails across different email applications, linking those interactions with the corresponding contact, account, or opportunity for future reference.

On the contrary, SAP also offers an email tracking feature but needs users to manually add specific parameters to enable tracking. Salesforce goes a step further by allowing for the automatic assignment of interactions to the relevant contacts and opportunities, providing an additional layer of sophistication not currently available in SAP.

Cost Effective

In terms of cost-effectiveness, Salesforce is generally considered more affordable than SAP CRM. The entry-level price for SAP CRM is $75/user/month, while Salesforce offers plans starting at $25/user/month, making it a more budget-friendly option for businesses looking for a CRM solution. Additionally, Salesforce offers a range of pricing plans to choose from based on business needs, which can help companies to scale up or down as needed, while SAP’s pricing is more rigid and based on contractual agreements.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you’ve gained a better understanding of the differences between SAP CRM and Salesforce. Ultimately, it is difficult to say which one is superior, as both have their own strengths and weaknesses.

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