One of the most challenging parts of a business is managing time with prospects and existing customers.
Scheduling appointments with new and existing clients and managing time with all is a tough task.
To manage appointments, businesses often use a scheduling app. There are so many in the market, but there is an ongoing debate between MS Bookings and Calendly.
These two platforms have similar intent but are quite different in terms of features and pricing.
So if you want to know what will fit the best to you as a Dynamics 365 user, stay here. By the end of this blog, you will have an answer!
Microsoft Bookings
Microsoft Bookings is an appointment scheduling app and a part of Microsoft 365. With its easy-to-use interface, you can use it to manage appointments and schedules. It becomes easy for customers to book, reschedule or cancel meetings.
MS booking is compatible with small-sized businesses. It is also integrable with Outlook and other private calendars of your website.
Looking at the features MS Bookings has to offer, it allows users to create templates for recurring appointments. So, appointment booking becomes much easier and faster for customers and the resources handling it.
To use MS Bookings, you have to subscribe to MS 365. You can’t use MS Booking as an individual app. You get access to it even if you purchase a basic plan of MS 365. But if you don’t want to subscribe to MS 365 plan, you won’t be able to use the calendar as well.
As discussed above, it fits the requirements of small businesses but won’t be able to fulfill the demands of enterprises. So, if you have a growing business, it might not be the best choice for your business. But if you are already subscribed to MS 365, not willing to pay extra for a calendar, and have basic requirements, MS Bookings is a decent choice.
Calendly
Calendly is software for booking appointments and managing schedules. It is popular for its meeting scheduling features. Using this feature, customers have to select a time slot, and their appointment will be booked.
Like MS Bookings, Calendly is also integrable with other calendars. You can also import a file of your existing schedule to Calendly.
Other than the meetings scheduling feature, Calendly has various other features that work for all business sizes. All the features it provides are fully customizable.
Calendly has a free plan with basic features. But if you want to use advanced features as well, you have to choose a paid plan. So even if you are a small business and have limited users and usage, you still have to pay to use more functionalities.
Calendly is an independent app. If you want to integrate your CRM with Calendly, you have to pay third-party extensions for integrating CRM. So, you will be paying for one more thing if you want the CRM integration with it.
Cons of Using MS Bookings
- MS Bookings lacks integration with CRM and other tools.
- It offers basic personalization, which is way less than what Calendly’s paid plan has to offer.
- You might find it difficult to use MS Bookings, but it gets easier with their step-by-step guide and regular use.
Cons of Using Calendly
- Free version has limited features. Small businesses have to compulsory purchase a paid plan.
- It offers integration with CRMs, but there are challenges associated with it. You have to pay third-party service providers for integration. Thus, you have to pay at two different places to use Calendly with your CRM.
Which one is the best?
The best scheduling app for you would totally depend on your business requirements. Make a list of the features you require and compare those within both apps. The next step would be price. For a small business, prices are going to matter a lot.
For MS Bookings, you have to be a Microsoft 365 user. If you are and only have basic requirements like scheduling a meeting and managing schedules, MS Bookings might be the best choice for you.
You won’t have to pay extra for an app and can use it to better plan your days. But here, you have limited features and limited growth chances.
If you use any other platform, Calendly can be your tool. It is not platform specific and comes with a lot of features designed to make the meeting scheduling process easy for users.
But if businesses wish to use their CRM data while managing schedules, they have to pay extra to third-party extensions to integrate CRM into Calendly.
As you know, Calendly offers only limited functionalities in the free plan, you have to purchase a paid plan for business activities. Additionally, you also have to pay extra for the integration extensions.
Thus, you are paying at two places. Small businesses might find it costly as you have to pay extra over Calendly’s pricey-paid plans.
MS Bookings vs. Calendly?
Still not sure which one to choose?
We have a bonus suggestion for you! 👉 Calendar 365
Our Calendar 365 is a plugin made especially for Dynamics 365 users. You don’t have to pay any third-party service providers for integrations. This plugin will add functionalities to your CRM.
It has an intuitive interface and is loaded with features to simplify your daily scheduling activities.
Calendar 365 is way more affordable than Calendly, as you have to pay only for the plugin.
You don’t have to manage the calendar as an extra tool. It is within the CRM, making it easy to use.
You get an easy meeting scheduling link feature along with a lot of others like Resource, Entity, and Customer Calendar that is fully configurable.
To make it a little easier for you, we have compared these two major platforms with Calendar 365:
👉Calendar 365 Vs. Microsoft Bookings
For more information about Calendar 365, Contact Us.
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