IFS Cloud Platform vs SAP CRM comparison

IFS and SAP are both solutions in the CRM category. IFS is ranked #21 with an average rating of 7.8, while SAP is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8. IFS holds a 0.5% mindshare in CRM, compared to SAP’s 10.7% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of IFS users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of SAP users who would recommend it.

IFS Cloud Platform

Read 30 IFS Cloud Platform reviews

176 Views
125 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

SAP CRM

Read 43 SAP CRM reviews

3,697 Views
3,245 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

IFS Cloud Platform

SAP CRM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

SAP CRM and IFS Cloud Platform compete in the enterprise management software category. Based on the comparison, SAP CRM holds an advantage in data integration and analytics, while IFS Cloud Platform is preferred for its flexibility and user experience.

Features: SAP CRM is known for robust data integration, lead management, and predictive analytics. Its strong connection with SAP ERP allows seamless data flow across platforms. The system offers detailed insights and stable operations. IFS Cloud Platform provides an intuitive interface, solid enterprise management solutions, and excellent mobile compatibility. It excels in flexibility and can be easily customized to fit unique business requirements.

Room for Improvement: SAP CRM needs to address its high cost and complex integration issues. Users report outdated technology, frequent maintenance issues, and sluggish system performance affecting mobility and data visibility. IFS Cloud Platform requires improvements in reporting tools and batch documentation. Despite a modern interface, its integration complexity and expensive implementation can be challenging.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP CRM supports multiple deployment options such as public, hybrid, and private cloud, as well as on-premises setups. Customer service quality varies with some reporting delays and inconsistency. For IFS Cloud Platform, deployment is versatile, and customer support is considered consistent and reliable, enhancing smooth implementation and operational phases.

Pricing and ROI: SAP CRM is priced higher and may not suit small businesses, despite offering a comprehensive feature set. The high costs and low perceived ROI sometimes lead to platform changes. IFS Cloud Platform offers competitive pricing suitable for medium to large enterprises, providing better value through its extensive functionalities and scalability, ensuring advantageous long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IFS Cloud Platform vs. SAP CRM Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IFS Cloud Platform vs. SAP CRM

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 849,963 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IFS Cloud Platform

Ranking in CRM

21st

Ranking in Local Government CRM

6th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Customer Experience Management (7th), Field Service Management (2nd), Help Desk Software (11th), ERP (13th), Activity Based Costing Software (7th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (3rd), IT Asset Management (10th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (10th), License Management (3rd)

SAP CRM

Ranking in CRM

3rd

Ranking in Local Government CRM

2nd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Marketing Management (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of IFS Cloud Platform is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP CRM is 10.7%, up from 10.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM

Featured Reviews

Brendan Fisher

IFS Applications Consultant at Zest Business Process Management Ltd

Robust, customizable, and modern

IFS is a very large and complex software, and implementation of IFS can be challenging and may lead to a difficult lengthy project. It can take between 12 and 24 months in some cases to deploy. I have found that not all clients are fully aware of how big the task is that they're undertaking when they make a decision to move to software like this. Companies need to be more aware of the complexity of an ERP implementation project and while I fully recommend moving to IFS, it is not easy and does require business change when adopting an ERP solution. New features are a difficult ask - I work across multiple industries and everyone would probably choose a different feature. Maybe BIM in Construction or Customs link-ups for importers/exporters.

Read full review

GodfreyNoel

Distribution Cordinator at Unilever Inc.

Excellent user experience with ease of use and reliable technical support

When SAP CRM does the maintenance, it can take a long time, which can impact business continuity because we have to wait for the maintenance team to finish their work. Maybe if SAP could establish how you can access the tool using a cloud-based environment that would be virtualization, that would be better.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"When it comes to financing, the solution has helped us to concentrate finance functions like accounting processes in one system. This includes about 70 internal entities around the world."

"IFS Applications' best feature is the user-friendly interface that has a .NET Framework application in the front end and an Oracle database and WebLogic middleware."

"What I like about IFS Applications is that it's easier to use and implement than SAP. I also like that the IFS Applications team is more flexible than the SAP team."

"The workflow of the solution is very good."

"The most valuable feature is the distribution module."

"Individual user profiles that can be configured as templates to minimize data entry."

"The financial posting controls are quite handy. The user interface is really friendly, highly flexible, and pretty intuitive for end users."

"We could quickly understand what was going on and what the customer wanted to do."

More IFS Cloud Platform pros

"SAP CRM's most valuable at a branch level."

"SAP CRM integrates well with SAP ERP which is useful."

"The flexibility to design the portal and customize it according to the needs of the clients is valuable. The integration with SAP ERP is also valuable."

"The platform is highly scalable."

"What I found most valuable in SAP CRM is its multitenancy, and you can use it from your website, SMS, and even social media, and it's all integrated, so my company is trying to leverage on all of those."

"The solution assists us in identifying what to send, what to offer, and what customers are buying."

"Compared to other systems, SAP CRM has been reliable, stable, and cost-effective for us."

"Its scalability is good."

More SAP CRM pros

Cons

"We have upgraded to the latest version right now. We have issues with the quality. We tried to enroll in their Evergreen program which was meant to help us adopt any service update or anything that the tool’s providers come up with."

"An area for improvement would be transactions, which can be tedious to complete as the process is very complex."

"Some kind of bot assistance, some kind of artificial intelligence to help people solve the problems, would be interesting."

"Sometimes from the sales perspective, clients don't always fully understand how large a task or a project they're getting involved in when they decide, "We're going to switch across to IFS." They could probably do a little bit more, maybe around preparing people for these projects."

"The user interface can be improved. When you're clicking through the screens, there are some icons or symbols that really need updating and would be more useful and noticeable if they are aesthetically pleasing."

"The solution needs to improve its documentation and user-friendliness."

"Ability to place approval check-points in the custom workflow, so clients can decide what they want it."

"The next version has already been released, and some of the technical things are a little bit behind the curve in development. This is specifically security, maintenance, security role maintenance, and creation. This is in their new product, called IFS Cloud."

More IFS Cloud Platform cons

"The implementation and integrations could be better. After we went into the production environment, we had some issues. Most of them were with the ERP integration. Many other issues were around the client's integrations between the ERP and CRM platforms. It could be more user-friendly. It wasn't very user-friendly initially, but now it's easier for them to use. Now, the users can use that platform better than at the beginning. We would like to see reports with more analytic features and artificial intelligence in the next release. For example, show more metrics and KPIs and more dynamic dashboards. Because the platform has some models, but it's not easy to use. It's a little complex."

"The solution needs more flexible customization, tender request, and they need to think about some of the localization aspects."

"SAP CRM could improve by making the solution more current, it is out of date. There are no more updates for SAP CRM."

"CRM is costlier than its competitors."

"Our users are using it primarily from their laptop browser and very few are using it on their mobile because the mobile is not that user-friendly."

"As SAP CRM is still in its pilot version in my company, and my team is still experimenting on it, there's little room for exploration, but its setup is not as straightforward, so this could be an area for improvement."

"Content management is one area where SAP CRM could use some work because we were seeking a CRM solution that could store BLOB data, like PDF and email data, which takes up a lot of space in the database. Recently, we migrated to a content server, but it would be nice if CRM had built-in BLOB data management because BLOB data is a challenge we've been dealing with since last year."

"The interface could be improved."

More SAP CRM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is reasonably priced."

"Compared to SAP, the pricing for IFS Applications was very affordable. People using the solution would find that it's worth the money."

"IFS Applications is expensive software, but it's on par with SAP and Oracle. It's for large enterprises and government entities and not for small and medium-sized enterprises. They have one licensing model, but if you want to have a module-specific license, they provide component-based licenses. Unlike SAP and Oracle, it doesn't have different levels of licensing. It's one level of licensing."

"Licensing is on an annual basis, with no additional costs."

"It is better to buy implementation services from IFS than from partners"

"Ask for all-inclusive pricing, as they are pretty flexible if you ask for custom models."

"The pricing of the solution may appear to be expensive for smaller companies with only tens of users; however, for larger and mid-size industrial companies, IFS is able to win deals and the pricing is competitive in the market."

"Pricing is an area that could be improved. They could be more competitive."

More IFS Cloud Platform pricing and cost advice

"The product is expensive."

"We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for SAP CRM, which is expensive."

"Its price is reasonable. As compared to other CRMs, this CRM is competitively priced. They have multiple flavors with different sets of functionality. Pricing is based on the flavor that suits your requirement. If you have more users, the cost will come down."

"SAP CRM offers a free trial for anyone wanting to test the product before purchasing it."

"We pay for the license yearly."

"From the maintenance perspective, SAP CRM is quite expensive compared to cloud services because the current solution they're using is managed by us and we are hosting it on servers. There is the cost of hosting, and managing servers and applications. The overhead is substantial, but this solution is a legacy system. It will take some time for the customer to migrate out of it."

"SAP CRM costs approximately a couple of thousand a month."

"SAP CRM is not suitable for smaller businesses because it is expensive. The larger businesses would be able to handle the cost."

More SAP CRM pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which CRM solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Energy/Utilities Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IFS Applications?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten since it is an extremely scalable solution that can be used for various use cases with thousands of users.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?

The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive features and minimal need for customization. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IFS Applications?

I am not able to recall much about batch. Documentation-wise, they need more. There is not much available online, and the documentation availability is on the lower side compared to other products,...

See all answers

What do you like most about SAP CRM?

Getting the right information at the right time across different programs is important. These programs lack interaction between them. IPA is a good option to bring them together.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP CRM?

Every user needs to have a license.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP CRM?

One area for improvement is the security model, especially regarding records management retention and the audit and legal holds. Since we're in the middle of a cloud digital transformation, it's es...

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP ERP vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 11% of the time

IBM Maximo vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 11% of the time

SAP S/4HANA vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 11% of the time

ServiceNow vs IFS Cloud Platform

Compared 7% of the time

More IFS Cloud Platform Competitors

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs SAP CRM

Compared 33% of the time

Salesforce Sales Cloud vs SAP CRM

Compared 24% of the time

Zoho CRM vs SAP CRM

Compared 13% of the time

Siebel CRM vs SAP CRM

Compared 10% of the time

Oracle CRM vs SAP CRM

Compared 10% of the time

More SAP CRM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IFS Cloud Platform

April 2025

Download IFS Cloud Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP CRM

April 2025

Download SAP CRM product report

Also Known As

IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud

No data available

Overview

IFS is the world’s leading provider of Industrial AI and enterprise software for hardcore businesses that make, service, and power our planet. Our technology enables businesses which manufacture goods, maintain complex assets, and manage service-focused operations to unlock the transformative power of Industrial AI™ to enhance productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. Industrial AI is IFS.ai.

IFS Cloud is a fully composable AI-powered platform, designed for ultimate flexibility and adaptability to our customers’ specific requirements and business evolution. It spans the needs of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Information Technology Service Management (ITSM), and Field Service Management (FSM). IFS technology leverages AI, machine learning, real-time data and analytics to empower our customers to make informed strategic decisions and excel at their Moment of Service™.

IFS

SAP CRM is a comprehensive customer relationship management solution that helps businesses streamline their sales, marketing, and service processes. It offers a range of features including lead management, opportunity management, campaign management, and customer service management. With SAP CRM, businesses can effectively manage their customer interactions, improve customer satisfaction, and drive revenue growth.

The solution integrates with other SAP modules, allowing for seamless data exchange and real-time insights. It also offers mobile access, enabling sales and service teams to access critical information on the go.

SAP CRM is a powerful tool for businesses looking to enhance their customer relationships and drive business success.

SAP

Sample Customers

China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia.

Brau Union Osterreich AG, Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., AOK Bundesverband, RAK Ceramics, NHS 24, Wholesale Sports Outdoor Outfitters, FC Bayern Munchen AG, Tumi, The Kellogg Company, MVV Energie AG, Anglian Water Services, German Football Association (DFB), Nebraska Book Company Inc.

Buyer's Guide

IFS Cloud Platform vs. SAP CRM

April 2025

Free Report: IFS Cloud Platform vs. SAP CRM

Find out what your peers are saying about IFS Cloud Platform vs. SAP CRM and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IFS Cloud Platform vs. SAP CRM report.

See our list of best CRM vendors and best Local Government CRM vendors.

We monitor all CRM reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.