One of the topics we often discuss with our prospects and customers is the concept of ERP “customization” vs. “personalization.” While this may seem like just semantics, there is a significant difference, and this distinction is one of the ways NetSuite separates itself from most of its competitors.

ERP Customization Upgrade Issues

So first a little background. Legacy ERP systems (and unfortunately still quite a few current ones) gave partners/developers access to the system code. If a customer wanted anything non-standard, the code would be modified to accomplish the desired functionality. Unfortunately, these changes resulted in custom code, meaning the system was no longer using standard code. While this didn’t result in immediate negative impacts, issues typically arose when the next version of the software was released.

Since new version upgrades replaced the existing version, any customizations would be overwritten and have to be replicated. Oftentimes, customers would skip a version (or two, or three…) since replicating the customizations could be a large undertaking. If the original developers were gone and there was no documentation, the upgrade might even be impossible. These upgrade delays resulted in customers using very old versions of unsupported software that often was not in compliance with new accounting/regulatory rules. Because of these issues, customizations in the ERP world got a very bad reputation (rightfully so), and companies tried to adapt their practices to work with out-of-the-box functionality instead that often resulted in less efficiencies or lack of insights.

"Since new version upgrades replaced the existing version, any customizations would be overwritten and have to be replicated. Often times, customers would skip versions since replicating the customizations could be a large undertaking."

NetSuite True-Cloud Personalizations

Enter NetSuite. I still remember clearly the first time I worked with NetSuite 15 years ago and the first upgrade cycle we went through. We made multiple personalizations (rather than customizations) when we first deployed NetSuite, and when the upgrade was done, all of these personalizations simply carried over to the new version. There was no rework required. It was amazing, and I wondered how it was possible!

Unlike many legacy ERP systems, NetSuite was built from the ground up for the cloud and was designed to be personalized. Without getting into too much technical jargon, this means that personalizations are not changing the core code, but are instead abstracted a layer above. All users are running the same core version of NetSuite, and the personalizations are customer-specific and can only interact with NetSuite in a controlled manner. While we often talk about custom fields, custom records, and custom scripts, the reality is that none of this custom work impacts NetSuite source code. To get around the confusion, NetSuite and its partners started adopting the term "personalization," which more accurately describes these things in the NetSuite world.

When researching ERP systems, you should be concerned about any system where custom work changes the source code. Instead, look for a solution, such as NetSuite, that allows personalization that doesn't require changes to the source code. A simple test you can do is ask the ERP provider to explain how any custom work will impact the next upgrade. If the answer is anything other than, “When you upgrade, your custom work will carry over without any issues,” you should reconsider that solution.

"We made multiple personalizations (rather than customizations) when we first deployed NetSuite, and when the upgrade was done, all of these personalizations simply carried over to the new version."

The Benefits of Personalizing Your ERP System

Now that you understand the background and differentiation, "Why should you care about personalizing your ERP system?" Many business executives we talk to wonder why they can't run an ERP system out of the box. NetSuite offers many standard processes and modules that should cover most of your business needs, and we use personalizations to expand on NetSuite's standard functionality to handle your unique processes and requirements.

NetSuite personalization examples include:

• simple tasks like creating a custom report or a new field to track a piece of data not in standard NetSuite,

• more advanced tasks like automating filtering/populating fields based on other data or custom calculations for pricing, or

• complex tasks like adding an entirely new feature/module specific to your business that does not already exist in NetSuite.

These examples require us to personalize NetSuite, but none of the items above impact the core source code. These changes will only affect the way your company interacts with the system. Personalizations are a great way to extend NetSuite's functionality, bring additional efficiencies and insights, and cater to your company's nuances.

I hope this information about ERP customizations vs. personalizations is helpful to you as you conduct your ERP system search. We’d be happy to conduct a live demo of NetSuite to see if it’s a good fit for your company.

If you are already using NetSuite, and need help personalizing it for your company's unique needs, contact us to set up a discovery call.

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For many businesses, the price of growth is complexity, and perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than with their technology. As companies add more employees, customers, product lines and service offerings and expand to new markets, the separate systems they use to manage their operations can quickly become a tangled web of tools and databases — resulting in encumbered processes, redundant efforts, siloed data and the high cost of maintaining many disparate systems. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions help tame that technology beast, but finding a solution that suits a company’s specific needs is no small endeavor. This article gives businesses a head start by comparing the ERP systems of six leading vendors: NetSuite, Microsoft, SAP, Sage Intacct, Deltek and Epicor.

Which ERP is Best for My Business?

As with any type of technology, choosing the best ERP system ultimately depends on a business’s distinct needs in terms of features and functionality, customizations and integrations, and method of deployment, be it on premises, cloud-based or a hybrid of the two. According to Panorama Consulting Group’s “2023 ERP Report,” nearly two-thirds of organizations select a cloud-based ERP, up from 53% in 2021.

An ERP system’s design is also an important factor. Most ERP systems are modular, meaning that individual business functions — such as accounting, marketing and ecommerce — plug into the platform as separate components, or modules, pertinent to the business. Some ERP providers bundle modules as a complete package for purchase; others offer modules individually, so that companies can add individual capabilities as needed. The appeal of either approach often depends on a company’s size, budget, future ERP needs and overall growth plans.

On a more technical front, modules are either native or non-native to their ERP solutions. Native modules use the same codebase and database as the ERP, allowing for simple, seamless integration without the need for additional resources, such as middleware technology or external consultants. A natively integrated ERP system delivers a single view of companywide data for real-time analysis, which is especially attractive to customers that require a wide range of capabilities within a unified system.

Non-native modules, which are typically applications acquired by the ERP provider, use codebases and databases that differ from those in the rest of the ERP system. Some customers prefer the non-native ERP approach for its flexibility to integrate outside modules or third-party applications, considering it a best-of-breed strategy. However, ERP integrations require additional effort and cost, and separate databases can hinder real-time data access.

"As with any type of technology, choosing the best ERP system ultimately depends on a business’s distinct needs in terms of features and functionality, customizations and integrations, and method of deployment, be it on premises, cloud-based or a hybrid of the two."

NetSuite ERP Overview

NetSuite launched the market’s first cloud-based ERP system in 1998, based on founder Evan Goldberg’s vision of building a unified suite of applications to replace the many disconnected systems that companies traditionally used to run their businesses. At the time, the company was known as NetLedger. In 2002, it was rebranded as NetSuite, secured a $125 million investment from mentor and Oracle founder Larry Ellison (who had initially encouraged Goldberg to start the company), and Zach Nelson became CEO. Five years later, NetSuite went public at a valuation of more than $1.5 billion. NetSuite’s evolution came full circle in 2016 when Ellison bought the company for $9.3 billion, making it a global business unit within Oracle.

Today, NetSuite offers a comprehensive ERP system with 13 natively integrated modules that support back- and front-end functions, including finance and accounting, human resources (HR), customer relationship management (CRM), manufacturing, supply chain management (SCM), professional services automation (PSA) and ecommerce. At the system’s core is a single, unified database that consolidates data from across the company in real time and, when combined with advanced reporting and analytics tools, provides an end-to-end view of the business that leads to more informed decision-making. Another important advantage is that the entire organization works from the same set of clean, consistent data.

NetSuite ERP allows for significant customization, enabling customers to create automations that streamline their processes and workflows. NetSuite also includes tools to build third-party integrations with its platform, as well as a network of 600-plus partner applications suitable for seamless integration.

NetSuite has a customer base of more than 36,000 small, midsize and large businesses across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Japan and Asia-Pacific (JAPAC) region. The company handles more than 500 million application requests per day and supports 29 languages, with native tax solutions for 54 countries.

NetSuite offers a comprehensive ERP system with 13 natively integrated modules that support back- and front-end functions, including finance and accounting, human resources (HR), customer relationship management (CRM), manufacturing, supply chain management (SCM), professional services automation (PSA) and ecommerce.

Microsoft ERP Overview

Microsoft offers two ERP solutions under the Dynamics 365 brand: Dynamics 365 Finance targets midsize to large organizations, while Dynamics 365 Business Central targets small to midsize businesses. Both solutions are largely comprised of applications built by companies Microsoft acquired starting in 2001. The acquired products were brought to market as on-premises solutions under various names until they were consolidated into the two offerings and extended to the cloud, with Dynamics 365 Finance launching in 2016 and Dynamics 365 Business Central in 2018.

Dynamics 365 Finance is a comprehensive ERP solution with strong support for finance and SCM, in particular, and with modules for CRM, HR, ecommerce and more. Given that Dynamics 365 Finance was born of multiple acquisitions, some modules, such as CRM and payroll, use different codebases, thus requiring further integration and incurring additional cost. Dynamics 365 Finance is a partner-sold, implemented and supported solution, meaning customers deal primarily with third-party consultants. EMEA customers represent the largest slice of Dynamics 365 Finance customers, followed closely by the Americas and, to a lesser extent, JAPAC. About 3,000 customers use Dynamics 365 Finance in the cloud, though Microsoft doesn’t confirm specific customer numbers for its ERP products.

Dynamics 365 Business Central boasts a larger cloud customer base of about 20,000 across the Americas, EMEA and JAPAC, with annual revenue capping at $150 million. Like its larger-market counterpart, Dynamics 365 Business Central offers solid core-finance capabilities. Additional capabilities, such as CRM and HR, have some native functionality but rely on middleware integrations with partner solutions to fill gaps. For example, Dynamics 365 Business Central doesn’t have native payroll, talent management, workforce management or HR service management capabilities. As a result, adding these capabilities involves additional expense and implementation time.

NetSuite vs. Microsoft

This section examines how NetSuite and Microsoft compare on bigger-picture issues, such as go-to-market strategy, deployment options and integration/partner ecosystems. Let’s first note some commonalities — namely, both companies’ solutions are used by small, midsize and large businesses, though NetSuite’s core customer base leans more toward fast-growing organizations. And both companies offer some core ERP features across finance, HR, CRM, manufacturing and SCM, though the depth of those features varies.

Beyond those similarities, the two companies take different approaches to how they architect their solutions and how they use application partners to extend their capabilities. One of the most important — and obvious — distinctions is NetSuite’s focus on a single solution for all customers versus Microsoft’s multiproduct approach. This is an important differentiation, particularly for growing companies. Whereas NetSuite offers one ERP solution for all customers, who, as they grow, can add more capacity or features to adapt the system to new requirements, customers of Dynamics 365 Business Central could eventually outgrow their ERP system. For example, they may need support for international financial consolidation, which Dynamics 365 Business Central natively lacks and thus would necessitate a complex workaround. Ultimately, growing companies may need to implement an entirely new solution from Microsoft or another provider to accommodate their needs.

Another critical difference between the two companies’ offerings is how they deliver key ERP features to customers. NetSuite’s integrated suite of native modules combines finance, procurement, warehouse management, inventory management and more in a single solution, but the modules are sold separately. Companies can build their ERP solution by starting with only the modules they need, then purchasing additional modules later as they grow. And because all NetSuite modules are built on the same codebase, integration doesn’t require additional resources or middleware. In fact, third-party integrations are rarely required because NetSuite covers all the bases.

Meanwhile, Microsoft bundles its modules as part of its standard offering. Dynamics 365 Business Central includes, for example, finance, sales, customer service, marketing, supply chain, project management, manufacturing, CRM and warehouse management. That’s advantageous for companies that need all of those features, but those that don’t end up paying for more than they need. In addition, integration still plays a large role in Microsoft’s ERP solutions, because many of its modules were acquired from other companies and built on different codebases. They’re distinct applications with their own user interfaces and databases.

For example, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, the company’s CRM solution, was built largely by Microsoft and uses a different codebase than the other modules. As a result, it requires significant and costly integration, using Microsoft’s Dataverse middleware to connect with the core ERP system. Dynamics 365 Finance’s modules for CRM and payroll are also on different codebases. In other cases, integrations are required to fill feature gaps in Microsoft solutions. For example, commissions and subscription billing aren’t native for Dynamics 365 Finance and require integration with partner solutions or third-party apps.

It’s also important to note the differences in how each company built its solutions. Microsoft’s ERP systems were built or acquired as on-premises solutions that were then re-architected for the cloud. As a result, Microsoft can offer customers more options for how they want to deploy their ERP system: in the cloud, as a hybrid solution or on premises. But because Microsoft’s solutions aren’t cloud-native, upgrades are more complex — creating integrations and customizations that can break in the process — which is why some customers delay them. As a result, they miss out on the latest features and leave themselves vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks.

NetSuite is a cloud-only solution. Its native cloud architecture means that all customers use the same version, with twice-yearly upgrades that automatically carry customizations over to the latest version.

NetSuite vs. Microsoft: Features Comparison

Finance

NetSuite ERP and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance both feature strong core-financial capabilities, as well as support for newer revenue recognition requirements, which are important for companies using subscription-based pricing. NetSuite has some additional revenue recognition capabilities, such as support for subscription billing and complex transactions involving multiple deliverables or bundled products/services.

Dynamics 365 Business Central doesn’t support the advanced revenue recognition features described above and also has more limited billing capabilities, requiring integrations for both features. It also doesn’t offer native financial consolidation, meaning that if a company has subsidiaries, each one would require a separate database that needs to be integrated using middleware — at additional cost. NetSuite natively maps local subsidiary ledger transactions to a standardized general ledger at the customer’s headquarters, so it doesn’t need further integrations.

CRM

NetSuite and Microsoft both offer CRM modules with strong features. As noted earlier, Dynamics 365 Sales was built by Microsoft, so it uses a different codebase than many of Microsoft’s other ERP modules. It also uses a different user interface and a separate database. Customers can combine data from multiple systems via middleware integrations, using partner resources. Both of the Microsoft products include some native CRM features, such as contact management, sales force automation and project management. Additional capabilities require integration with Microsoft Sales.

NetSuite’s CRM is natively integrated and uses the same unified database as all other NetSuite modules. It features core capabilities for sales force automation, customer service, marketing automation and sales reporting and analysis.

HR

HR capabilities for Dynamics 365 Finance also require integration with a separate application, which creates the same challenges described above for CRM. Dynamics 365 Business Central has a native HR module, as does NetSuite via its SuitePeople module.

Other Features

Each company’s products have strong manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, with both Microsoft products having particular strength in SCM.

Reporting and Analytics

NetSuite’s unified database provides a single set of companywide, consistent data for reporting. NetSuite’s SuiteAnalytics module allows users with no coding experience to build new reports and drill down into data to uncover additional insights. Conversely, because some Microsoft modules use different databases, some customers may experience reporting challenges that typically occur when trying to pull data from unconnected systems — unless they spend the time and money to integrate them using middleware.

Both Microsoft ERP solutions feature prebuilt reports. Integrations are required for any extended capabilities, such as customized dashboards or data visualizations. Microsoft’s Power BI data analytics tool can help extend reporting and analytics functionality, but customers should keep in mind that it is a complex solution that often requires specialized programming resources and extra cost to build customizations. NetSuite’s prebuilt, integrated modules consolidate data from multiple systems from the start, bypassing the need for any integration for companywide reporting.

Customization

While most ERP systems require some degree of integration with other systems, the simpler it is to customize and integrate, the more powerful — and less costly — the ERP system becomes. NetSuite uses no-code customization solutions to allow customers to create custom fields, reports and buttons. More complex customization can be achieved using SuiteCloud, a Java-based customization and integration platform.

Microsoft customizations are more complex. Dynamics 365 Finance, for example, requires knowledge of additional specific frameworks and languages, such as C# and X++, which, in turn, often necessitates more expensive third-party resources. Dynamics 365 Business Central customizations are simpler, though they require specific Microsoft Visual Studio Editor resources.

Sage Intacct ERP Overview

Intacct was founded in 1999 as a cloud-based financial management and accounting software provider for lower–mid-market businesses. It continued refining its core financial product, receiving several rounds of venture funding, until 2017, when it was acquired by The Sage Group for $850 million. The Sage Group, which primarily operated in the U.K. and offered a number of on-premises accounting solutions, viewed Intacct as a means of expanding into the U.S. market and establishing a cloud-based solution.

Following the acquisition, Intacct was rebranded as Sage Intacct, part of The Sage Group, and has continued to focus on its core financial management product. The company has also created partnerships to allow customers to integrate with other software providers and add broader ERP capabilities, such as HR and CRM, to its primary product. Sage Intacct primarily serves a U.S.-centric base of lower–mid-market businesses, with approximately 14,000 customers worldwide. It offers multiple ERP products. Sage Intacct, which is reviewed here, serves midsize businesses with a fully cloud-based set of native financial modules, as well as additional HR capabilities. The company also offers Sage x3, which targets companies with more complex manufacturing processes, as well as multiple on-premises and cloud-based ERP solutions targeting smaller businesses and specific industries, such as construction, hospitality and wholesale distribution.

NetSuite vs. Sage Intacct

Comparisons between NetSuite and Sage Intacct should begin by noting the difference in how each company approaches ERP. Sage Intacct is, first and foremost, a financial management and accounting solution that provides additional capabilities, such as HR, CRM, manufacturing, SCM and ecommerce, via integrations. Like Microsoft, these integrations require additional work and create separate databases. Sage Intacct’s marketplace of partner solutions features 50 complementary applications on its platform and another 200 integration partners whose applications can be connected via the company’s Web Services tool. Those solutions often come with additional fees and resource requirements, which can increase Sage Intacct’s total cost of ownership (TCO). These limitations ultimately make Sage Intacct best suited to companies upgrading from an entry-level accounting system.

As noted in the NetSuite Overview section, NetSuite’s all-in-one ERP approach natively integrates a suite of ERP modules into a single product, so integrations are usually unnecessary and data is consolidated into a single database. NetSuite’s SuiteApp.com marketplace offers 600-plus add-on applications built for the NetSuite platform.

The two companies also differ in the way they approach implementation and support. NetSuite’s SuiteSuccess methodology aggregates industry-specific best practices to provide implementation in as few as 100 days — often far less time than is usual for Sage Intacct. Customers can use NetSuite’s professional services organization or a NetSuite partner for implementation. Sage Intacct offers a small professional-services team, and most implementations rely on partners.

NetSuite vs. Sage Intacct: Features Comparison

Finance

NetSuite and Sage Intacct both offer robust financial modules, but potential buyers should consider a few key differences. For example, for the many companies shifting to subscription-based models, bundled products and services, and project-based revenue recognition, advanced revenue recognition has become more important. NetSuite handles complex revenue recognition scenarios based on accounting standards, such as ASC 606 and IFRS 15, enabling businesses to automate complex processes, track revenue, ensure compliance with accounting standards and streamline financial reporting. Sage Intacct’s revenue recognition capabilities require the purchase of an additional module.

Global customers should also note that Sage Intacct has limited global capabilities and primarily serves English-speaking countries. That means that they must purchase additional modules to accommodate some features, such as global consolidation and VAT tax capabilities. Multisubsidiary consolidation with Sage Intacct calls for an additional separate consolidation module, and adding the ability to create intercompany reports requires subscriptions to Sage Intacct’s customization services, platform services or custom report writer.

NetSuite ERP provides multi-entity consolidation natively, with real-time visibility into intercompany transactions, financial reporting and automated eliminations all included. The NetSuite OneWorld module supports 27 languages, more than 190 currencies, transactions in more than 90 bank formats, and tax and reporting standards for more than 100 countries.

CRM

Sage Intacct lacks a native CRM offering, instead relying on an integration with Salesforce.com. NetSuite has its own native CRM module that includes sales force automation, customer service management and marketing automation, as well as a connector to Salesforce.com, whose records sit inside NetSuite and are fully searchable and reportable.

HR

Sage Intacct has limited native HR capabilities through its Sage People app, which is a separate software package, as is its payroll offering powered by ADP. Each application requires somewhat significant integrations and uses a separate data model, making it difficult to see information on payroll and operational productivity side-by-side, for example. NetSuite’s native HR module, SuitePeople, covers payroll, employee recognition, and performance and workforce management.

Production and Supply Chain

NetSuite’s manufacturing module includes product data management, work order management, demand/supply planning and forecasting, quality management, execution systems, and work in process (WIP) and routing. Sage Intacct has no native module for manufacturing, again relying on integrations to fill gaps. Sage Intacct supports some supply chain functionality, including inventory management, though the majority of its SCM capabilities require integrations. NetSuite’s supply chain module includes order and inventory management, procurement, planning and execution, warehouse management and demand planning.

Ecommerce

Sage Intacct also relies on integrations for its limited ecommerce support, while NetSuite offers SuiteCommerce, its native commerce module. SuiteCommerce supports B2B and B2C omnichannel experiences, as well as content management and embedded promotions tools.

Reporting and Analytics

NetSuite and Sage Intacct both offer business intelligence, analytics and reporting capabilities. NetSuite offers a wider range of prebuilt financial and operational reports (200, compared to Sage Intacct’s 60), customizable dashboards and data visualization capabilities.

The two companies also take distinct approaches to data modeling, with implications for not only the speed of reporting but its limitations, as well. Whereas NetSuite uses a single, shared database to provide real-time access to companywide data, Sage Intacct uses separate data tables to house information on different parts of the business in subledgers. As a result, Sage Intacct’s report writer carries an additional charge for customers seeking to combine operational and financial data. Granted, Sage Intacct’s subledger approach has the advantage of ensuring the accuracy of financial data, but it relies on batch processing, which doesn’t run in real time and can slow down reporting.

Customization

NetSuite and Sage Intacct both offer tools that use industry-standard JavaScript to help customers and partners develop their own customizations, functionality and applications. They also provide integrated development environments (IDEs) and application programming interfaces (APIs) to connect other applications to their platforms. NetSuite’s SuiteCloud development platform allows businesses to tailor their ERP systems to their specific needs. Sage Intacct also offers some customization and integrations using open, XML-based APIs and software development kits (SDKs), but not to the same extent as NetSuite.

SAP ERP Overview

SAP was founded in Mannheim, Germany, in 1972; it launched its first product, R/1, an accounting system running on IBM servers, the following year. Two subsequent versions, R/2 and R/3, were launched in 1979 and 1993, respectively. R/2 was a mainframe-based solution that later added support for manufacturing processes, supply chain logistics and human resources. R/3 was a client-server–based solution that evolved into SAP Enterprise Central Component (ECC), the company’s first ERP product, in 2004. SAP ECC is still widely used today, though the company will no longer support it after 2027.

Today, SAP offers three ERP products, targeting companies of all sizes:

• SAP Business One: An on-premises ERP solution that recently transitioned to a hosted-cloud offering for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), often fewer than 50 users.

• SAP Business ByDesign: SAP’s first cloud-based ERP solution launched in 2007, though it was subsequently pulled from the market for further retooling and rereleased in 2008, focusing on the manufacturing, wholesale distribution and professional services industries. It targets SMBs of up to roughly 1,500 users and offers support for finance, CRM, procurement, project management and SCM.

• SAP S/4HANA: SAP’s flagship ERP product was launched in 2015 for on-premises and cloud environments. Because it’s built on SAP’s in-memory database technology, it enables real-time processing of large amounts of data, which makes it well suited for larger enterprises. It features advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), automation and integration capabilities. Current SAP ECC customers will need to move to S/4HANA by 2027.

SAP’s three ERP products have approximately 80,000 combined customers in over 180 countries. Its customer base is almost evenly split between the Americas and EMEA, with another, smaller presence in APAC.

NetSuite vs. SAP

NetSuite’s and SAP’s ERP solutions have quite a bit in common. Both providers target customers of all sizes and boast a wide range of modules across core ERP functions. But a peek under the hood reveals two companies with noticeably different approaches to ERP in terms of product portfolios, deployment options and depth of features.

As mentioned earlier, NetSuite has only one ERP product. Because it was created as a 100% cloud-based solution, every customer uses the same system, and customers benefit from streamlined implementation processes and smooth upgrades and updates. SAP has had multiple on-premises, cloud and hybrid ERP solutions throughout the years, sometimes targeting the same audiences and often causing confusion among customers. As with Microsoft, SAP’s multiproduct strategy can create challenges as companies grow. For example, SAP’s Business One is ideally suited for companies with fewer than 350 users; any more than that and performance issues can arise. To address that problem, growing customers must move to an entirely new system — Business ByDesign, S/4HANA or a system from a new provider.

NetSuite’s integrated suite architecture also differs from SAP’s approach to delivering many of its features. Due to feature gaps (described later), SAP customers are more likely to require integrations with other products in the company’s portfolio (or from partners) to provide the same level of functionality as NetSuite. Those integrations can create a web of solutions that use different codebases and data structures, as noted with other providers earlier.

Consultants are often needed to connect those systems using middleware, and they’ll also have to retest those integrations with each system upgrade to ensure that they don’t break. SAP’s partner apps and extensions can simplify integrations. Each product’s ecosystem varies in size. S/4HANA has 400-plus apps and extensions available, with most intended for on-premises deployments (100-plus for S/4HANA Cloud, 20 of which are SAP-certified). ByDesign has slightly more than 100 partners (three certified). Business One has fewer than 40 (16 certified). As noted earlier, NetSuite’s unified platform and extensive ecosystem of 600-plus partner applications, extensions and add-ons reduce the need for integrations because so many capabilities are built on — or for — the platform.

NetSuite vs. SAP: Features Comparison

Finance

Like NetSuite’s ERP solutions, SAP products offer a wide range of financial management tools, including accounting, budgeting, forecasting and financial reporting. Financial consolidation capabilities represent the biggest difference between the two ERP solutions. NetSuite’s OneWorld module offers native financial consolidation and intercompany capabilities. But S/4HANA, for example, uses group reporting for financial consolidation, which is less mature and may require additional products and licenses to work effectively. Both Business One and ByDesign require integrations with SAP or third-party apps for financial consolidation capabilities that are comparable to NetSuite’s.

CRM

NetSuite, S/4HANA and ByDesign all offer similar core CRM functionality, with automation tools for sales force, customer service, and marketing campaigns and emails. Business One has more limited CRM features, specifically regarding sales force and marketing automation.

Manufacturing and SCM

Each company’s ERP solution provides a strong set of manufacturing and SCM capabilities. AP’s manufacturing capabilities vary by their individual products. Business One, for example, offers deep core functionality for demand planning, engineer-to-order (ETO) and material-requirements planning (MRP). S/4HANA is particularly well suited to companies with complex processes, providing the ability to support lean control, continuous improvement and just-in-time replenishment.

HR

For the most part, each company’s solutions handle key HR functions, such as employee management, benefits administration and payroll processing. ByDesign’s payroll process is slightly more limited, compared to NetSuite, which has its dedicated SuitePeople module for HR capabilities. SAP customers wanting more HR features would need an additional license for SuccessFactors, the cloud-based HR systems provider SAP acquired in 2012, though the integration may require middleware and additional resources to implement and maintain.

Ecommerce

SAP doesn’t have native ecommerce modules for any of its ERP solutions, but it does offer integrations to fill the gap, most notably with its SAP Hybris/Commerce Cloud and C/4HANA solutions. The former is an add-on and better suited to enterprises than to SMBs. NetSuite offers a native ecommerce module, SuiteCommerce, with B2B and B2C functionality for drag-and-drop editing, responsive site design and a built-in content delivery network (CDN).

Reporting and Analytics

SAP’s reporting and analytics capabilities vary by product. For most reporting capabilities, including customized reporting, Business One requires an integration with SAP’s Crystal Reports software. Crystal Reports was built in the 1990s for fairly technical users and lacks some critical capabilities, such as drill down/drill through for custom reporting. For analytics, customers can also use SAP Analytics Cloud, a separate product requiring an additional license. Customizations for both require partner resources.

ByDesign and NetSuite provide similar reporting features, with support for real-time data analysis, visualization tools and drill down/drill through functionality for custom reports. Because NetSuite uses a consistent data model and database for all of its information, customers can drill down and drill through customized reports and dashboards, from summary-level data to detailed levels. NetSuite SuiteAnalytics also enables end users to self-serve real-time analytics across all areas of the business, eliminating the need for developers, separate reporting tools or data warehouses.

S/4HANA also offers strong analytics capabilities, with intuitive dashboards and emphasis on AI. With a conversational interface and digital assistants, users can review real-time company data and quickly make informed decisions.

Customization

Like Microsoft, SAP bundles its ERP modules as a standard offering. For example, SAP Business One customers can only opt out of its CRM module. Customers either purchase everything or find another solution. NetSuite customers can opt in or out of any module, building gradually as they grow.

Customization also involves adapting ERP processes and workflows to each company’s unique processes and policies. SAP’s solutions can be rigid in that regard. Customizing Business One, for example, requires Microsoft Visual Studio, a separate tool that often entails external resources for any changes. In addition, ByDesign uses best-practice processes that are difficult to change, and it has no engine to create custom workflows. S/4HANA Cloud is also a highly standardized product offering little in the way of customization, which some businesses may prefer because it forces the organization to adapt to standard processes. Notably, S/4HANA uses machine learning to capture real-time insights and surface patterns that can then be used to automate and optimize business processes on the fly.

NetSuite supports point-and-click, standards-based customization and rapid configuration of processes, interfaces, roles and reports. NetSuite’s SuiteFlow module uses a “clicks not code” framework, so customers can configure workflows themselves.

Deltek ERP Overview

Founded in 1983 by accountant Donald deLaski and his son Ken, Deltek has had a winding ownership journey. After an IPO in 1996, the deLaskis took the company private in 2002, following a sharp decline in stock price. In 2005, investment firm New Mountain Capital acquired a 75% stake in the company, which once again went public in 2007. In 2012, however, Deltek was taken private again, when it was purchased by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $1.1 billion. In 2016, Roper Technologies purchased Deltek for $2.8 billion.

Through it all, Deltek has had a specific mission: to serve a targeted audience in government contracting, professional services, architecture and engineering, and construction. Deltek offers six ERP solutions with a fundamental set of primarily finance and project management capabilities. It surrounds these platforms with a wide range of modules for information management, business development, project portfolio management, HR and manufacturing.

Much of Deltek’s ERP portfolio was built through acquisitions (ComputerEase, Maconomy and Workbook), and each of its six solutions can be deployed on premises or in the cloud. The company is in the midst of transitioning customers from its flagship ERP product, Vision, to an updated offering built with Vision as its foundation, though the rollout has been choppy. Initially, the updated offering was billed as a true-cloud ERP system called Deltek for Professional Services (DPS). It launched in 2017 but was renamed Vantagepoint in 2018, with both on-premises and cloud deployment options. Deltek’s ERP portfolio consists of:

• Ajera: For architectural and engineering firms with roughly 25 users or fewer

• ComputerEase: For the construction industry

• Vantagepoint: For larger architecture and engineering firms, as well as consultants

• Costpoint: For government contractors

• Maconomy: For professional services firms

• Workbook: For agencies

Deltek has approximately 30,000 total global customers, with many located in English-speaking countries. Its customers range from very small businesses with fewer than 25 users (Ajera) to large enterprises with more than 10,000 (Maconomy).

NetSuite vs. Deltek

Because Deltek’s ERP solutions cater to service-oriented businesses, its products have a strong focus on accounting and project management. Deltek’s solutions also have some manufacturing, HR and CRM capabilities, but they’re separate modules from its core ERP systems, so customers must use integrations to connect them. To help, in late 2022 Deltek launched Unionpoint, a no-code/low-code integration-platform-as-a-service (IPaaS) that makes it easier to connect Deltek modules and integrate with third-party apps. Since Unionpoint’s launch, Deltek has released connectors for two of its products, Vantagepoint and Deltek Talent Management, which make it easier to integrate them with other Deltek modules and third-party apps. More connectors are expected soon. Deltek partnered with Workato to build Unionpoint.

Like those of other ERP players, Deltek’s integrations mean data isn’t stored in a single database, limiting visibility into real-time, consistent data for decision-making. By contrast, NetSuite’s entire solution is built on the same code, with a single database, so users can consolidate data from across the entire organization for greater insights. It also means integrations are seamless among all NetSuite modules.

Deltek’s application partner program provides some help with extending capabilities, offering roughly 50 integrations built for its platforms that customers can use to extend functionality. NetSuite’s SuiteApps.com marketplace features more than 600 partner applications built for the NetSuite platform.

NetSuite vs. Delek: Features Comparison

Finance

Every Deltek ERP system offers some degree of financial capability, but it varies by product. For example, Maconomy has solid financial capabilities, including multi-entity consolidation, but most finance operations for Workbook need an add-on. Vantagepoint has solid accounting features, but its financial management capabilities are limited, compared with NetSuite’s. For example, Vantagepoint lacks tax management options. Meanwhile, NetSuite’s financial management module, NetSuite OneWorld, handles everything from accounting to multi-entity consolidation, subscription billing and advanced revenue recognition. NetSuite OneWorld also manages multiple subsidiaries, business units and legal entities, domestic or internationally, from a single solution.

CRM

Deltek ERP solutions offer CRM functionality, but largely through integration with one of Deltek’s two CRM offerings. The company’s main CRM module, Vantagepoint CRM, allows customers to gather information about clients to streamline processes, activities and interactions. Its other module, Vantagepoint CRM Plus, provides additional support for marketing campaigns, activities and lead qualification. As for NetSuite, its native CRM module manages sales force automation, marketing automation, customer service management, partner relationship management, and reporting. It also offers native integration with other NetSuite modules, such as ecommerce, to pull data across both modules into a single system for better automation and reporting.

HR

Deltek and NetSuite take different approaches to their HR solutions. NetSuite offers an all-in-one HR module, SuitePeople, while Deltek offers several HR modules with different characteristics, rather than one native solution. Deltek’s central HR module allows companies to store and manage employee information. For other tasks, Costpoint and Vantagepoint customers can integrate with Deltek’s Talent Management module, which adds recruitment, training, performance and development, and compensation. As of 2022, integrating Vantagepoint with Talent Management became simpler, thanks to Deltek’s Unionpoint IPaaS solution. For customers using other Deltek ERP solutions, similar capabilities are available via integration with separate modules for acquisition, compensation, learning and performance management.

NetSuite SuitePeople offers similar functions in one solution, along with robust analytics and global features. It also natively connects HR and payroll data with financial, project planning and budgeting, and procurement processes — in one database.

Project Management

NetSuite and Deltek both offer substantial professional services automation (PSA) tools. NetSuite’s SuiteProjects module offers contextual project collaboration, resource management, project management, project accounting, business intelligence and flexible permissions. NetSuite’s native integrations with other modules, such as finance and accounting, pull detailed data from every module into a single, real-time database for greater insights. NetSuite’s OpenAir professional services automation tool also supports large services organizations focused on delivering complex projects.

Because Deltek targets professional services companies, its PSA tools offer a few more specialized capabilities than NetSuite. For example, Deltek’s ArchiSnapper field app for architecture and engineering firms features paperless inspections, automated field reports and simplified punch lists.

Manufacturing and SCM

While NetSuite and Deltek both offer manufacturing and SCM capabilities, Deltek’s focus on professional services organizations means that its capabilities in these areas are limited. Deltek Costpoint is the company’s principal manufacturing ERP solution, but it largely focuses on project management for its customers in government aerospace contracting. Additional features require integration. That said, Deltek’s 2022 acquisition of TIP Technologies deepened Deltek’s manufacturing capabilities. Dubbed Deltek + TIP, the new module is a quality management system (QMS) that supports compliance, process automation and supply chain quality management. TIP Technologies, which was already a Deltek independent software vendor, also offers a seamlessly integrated module for shop-floor manufacturing execution.

NetSuite’s manufacturing and SCM capabilities are considerable. NetSuite manufacturing features include product data management, work order management, demand planning and forecasting, quality management, manufacturing execution, and WIP and routing. NetSuite SCM covers order management, inventory management, procurement, global planning and execution, and warehouse management.

Reporting and Analytics

NetSuite’s unified database offers several key reporting benefits, compared to ERP solutions that use integrated applications with their own data models and databases, as some Deltek products do. NetSuite’s consistent data model and unified database let customers drill down and drill through customized reports and dashboards, from the summary level to detailed levels. And its SuiteAnalytics lets end users self-serve real-time analytics across all areas of the business, eliminating the need for developers, separate reporting tools and data warehouses.

Some Deltek products, such as Costpoint, have no native ability to configure dashboards, forms, saved searches, reports or workflows. Prebuilt reports are available, but customized reporting means adding tools or partner assistance. Vantagepoint has a business intelligence module that lets users dynamically create dashboards, but users must export data to Excel for dynamic manipulation. Vantagepoint also lacks a detailed built-in report writer.

Customization

Deltek’s history of building some products and acquiring others means that its products frequently require customization. For example, Maconomy customers often heavily customize the solution, which involves incorporating Deltek professional services at additional cost. NetSuite offers a highly customizable architecture, with its SuiteFlow “clicks not code” framework and point-and-click tools for standardized customizations. In addition to SuiteFlow, during implementation, NetSuite’s SuiteSuccess methodology includes best practices for implementation, including customization, acquired across 25 years and focused on a single, cloud-based ERP solution. NetSuite’s expansive Customer Success and Support Services teams also provide solution guidance and ongoing configuration assistance.

Epicor ERP Overview

Epicor is another ERP provider with a long, complex history. Ownership of the company has changed hands four times in 12 years. The Epicor brand launched in 1999, following the merger of two accounting software companies: DataWorks and Platinum Software. In 2011, Apax Partners purchased Epicor for roughly $1 billion and merged it with another recent acquisition, Activant, a supplier of accounting software for automotive, hardware and lumber, and wholesale distribution companies. The merged company kept the Epicor name. Private equity firm KKR purchased Epicor for $3.3 billion in 2016 and sold it for $4.7 billion in 2020 to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, another private equity firm.

Epicor offers 11 ERP products, serving 21,000 mostly midsize customers in 120 countries, although 75% of its customers are in North America. Its ERP solutions target the manufacturing, building supply, distribution, automotive and retail industries. Epicor is known for its SCM, production management, inventory management, and warehouse and fulfillment. Many of Epicor’s ERP systems appeal to highly specific markets. For example, Epicor Eagle and Propello are retail management systems that can be augmented with additional components for particular features, such as finance.

This comparison will focus on two of Epicor’s broader offerings:

• Epicor Kinetic: The company’s flagship ERP for manufacturing, launched in 2021, offers a multitenant cloud-based upgrade of its previous Epicor ERP, a single-tenant hosted solution that many of the company’s manufacturing customers still use.

• Epicor Prophet 21: This cloud-based ERP, hosted on Microsoft Azure, targets wholesale distributors.

Despite its many changes in ownership, Epicor has maintained a steady pace of acquisitions, adding 12 companies during that same 12-year span of time. Most of the acquired companies provide cloud-based modules that boost Epicor’s existing product portfolio. Recent examples include DSPanel, which provides cloud-based financial planning and analysis software, and eFlex, which offers cloud-based manufacturing execution systems.

These acquisitions have been important for Epicor, which came late to the cloud game. The vendor began re-architecting its portfolio in 2015, and its first cloud offerings arrived in 2018. Since then, it has standardized its portfolio with multitenant cloud offerings through its partnership with Microsoft Azure.

NetSuite vs. Epicor

Like Sage Intacct and Deltek, Epicor is more of a specialist ERP systems provider when compared to NetSuite; it focuses on a far narrower set of customers and offers a smaller set of core capabilities.

Epicor provides basic financial management functionality in all of its solutions, but its bread and butter lies in its manufacturing and SCM focus (especially with its flagship Kinetic ERP system). CRM, HR and ecommerce capabilities can be added to Epicor’s core ERP products, but they require integration with other systems, at additional cost. In addition, each Epicor ERP solution constitutes a separate platform, so if a customer does business in two Epicor verticals, it needs to implement two ERP solutions.

Integrations with third-party or partner systems also introduce new codebases and databases into Epicor’s solutions, so data isn’t stored in one location but, rather, in silos. NetSuite’s comprehensive solution features 13 natively integrated modules, with no further integrations required. For customers that want to integrate with third-party applications, NetSuite’s partner ecosystem is significantly larger than Epicor’s. NetSuite has more than 600 partners with solutions built for NetSuite, while Epicor has 25. NetSuite’s integrated approach also creates a single database incorporating clean, consistent data that can be used to build richer insights derived from information drawn from across the entire organization.

The two companies also offer divergent deployment options. NetSuite is 100% cloud-based, while Epicor offers three deployment choices: cloud, hosted and on premises. Its cloud solutions, however, are re-architected on-premises solutions, which means that upgrades can sometimes be challenging and run the risk of broken customizations. As a result, some customers forgo them and become version-locked, reducing their access to the latest innovations and potentially exposing themselves to security breaches.

NetSuite vs. Epicor: Features Comparison

Finance

Financial management is a core feature of almost every ERP system, and so it is with NetSuite and Epicor Kinetic and Prophet 21. Both NetSuite and Epicor offer strong financial functionality, including revenue recognition and global capabilities. Epicor Kinetic offers particularly strong risk management proficiency, despite requiring add-ons or third-party integrations for customizable reporting, planning and budgeting. Epicor’s March 2023 acquisition of cloud-based financial planning and analysis provider DSPanel adds this functionality when integrated. However, Epicor’s products lack native multi-entity consolidation, a core feature for NetSuite. Each Epicor entity uses a separate general ledger that needs to be consolidated manually or on a triggered batch sync, which necessitates another module.

HR

Both companies offer HR capabilities. Similar to many other Epicor features, HR and payroll are separate systems that have to be integrated. As a result, there’s no unified database serving the two functions. NetSuite’s SuitePeople module offers a few additional features that Epicor doesn’t. NetSuite includes workforce reporting and analytics, for example, functions that require an add-on or third-party app for Epicor.

CRM

While both companies have CRM modules, NetSuite’s offers more features than Epicor’s. Like many of its other modules, Epicor’s CRM uses a separate database, so customers don’t get the benefits of real-time reporting that, for example, allows customer and financial data to be combined. NetSuite also provides sales force automation features; Epicor doesn’t.

Manufacturing and SCM

With its long history in the manufacturing and distribution industries, Epicor has thorough offerings in manufacturing and SCM.While NetSuite’s manufacturing capabilities are considerable, Epicor has made some important acquisitions in the space, leading to some strong native manufacturing capabilities. For example, Epicor’s 2022 acquisition of eFlex Systems, a provider of cloud-based MES technologies, enables manufacturers to manage and visualize global operations in real time, connecting devices, sensors and machines with people to help operators build the right part, with the right tool, at the right setting, in a safe and repeatable way. NetSuite has native and 3rd party answers to the same use case, including relationships with best-of-breed solutions that Strategic Information Group also enjoys.

Epicor also performs strongly in SCM, particularly for production management, inventory management, and warehouse and fulfillment. It also offers products highly tailored for specific industries, such as automotive and electronics manufacturing. NetSuite offers some of these capabilities but customers may require additional modules and/or partner applications.

Reporting and Analytics

Epicor’s native reporting and analytics capabilities aren’t as robust as NetSuite’s. For example, Epicor’s analytics module uses a separate database, so customers can’t create real-time reports. Nor does Epicor offer preloaded dashboards. Integrations with third-party apps, such as SAP’s Crystal Reports and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), can offer better report customization, but between license fees and integration efforts, costs can add up. In addition, both report-creation tools require technical expertise to create customized reports, leading some customers to hire dedicated report writers or use Epicor’s professional services team.

Why Choose NetSuite?

NetSuite’s approach to ERP emphasizes scalability, seamless integrations and simplified customizations to combine the power of feature-rich native modules with the flexibility to adapt NetSuite ERP to meet specific business requirements. By offering each of its modules individually, NetSuite allows customers to start small — with a single finance module, for example — and then add additional modules later, as needed. Each module is prebuilt for integration, so no additional resources or costs are necessary. The NetSuite SuiteCloud customization tool also helps organizations adapt NetSuite to their unique business models and IT ecosystems, including integrations with third-party applications. In addition, NetSuite has a marketplace of more than 600 prebuilt integrations with partner solutions that can easily extend capabilities across the entire platform.

As NetSuite celebrates its 25th anniversary, it remains committed to delivering the most powerful, but easy-to-use ERP in the market, supported by an extensive customer success team and implementation methodologies derived from tens of thousands of implementations worldwide.

Comparing ERP system providers rarely involves an apples-to-apples comparison. Each solution has its own strengths and weaknesses, and what’s seen as a strength by one ERP buyer may be a weakness for another. Understanding each vendor’s history, however, as well as the differences in how they define and deliver their products, can help determine which solution best fits a company’s distinct needs.n.

Why Choose Strategic Information Group?

As full-service NetSuite consultants, we're here to help you implement and optimize NetSuite to take full advantage of its capabilities.

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Are you considering a new ERP but haven’t made the move because you’re afraid the project will be expensive, the system will be complicated, or the implementation will be overwhelming? Don’t get spooked! With NetSuite and the Strategic Information Group true-partner approach, we can make moving to a new ERP a treat!

Is your current system a monster?

Learn how to spot red flags in your current system that might be holding you back or putting your company at risk.

• Is your system's functionality limited, causing you to turn to Excel or other manual systems?

• Does your system have limited scalability, causing frustration or delays during busy times, acquisitions, or when expanding offerings?

• Is your system's flexibility limited, meaning it cannot handle your company's nuances, so you must use "work arounds"?

• Does your system have limited support, resulting in version lock or even a broken system with nowhere to turn?

Learn how you can benefit from NetSuite’s many treats!

NetSuite can provide you with:

• Cloud-based functionality allowing your staff to work from any location at any time

• 360 degree visibility across your entire business

• Single Suite features allowing you to buy what you need now and build your subscription as you grow

• Easy personalization ensuring alignment with your company needs without version lock

Let us guide you through the ERP implementation haunted maze!

Choosing and implementing a new ERP system can be overwhelming. Learn how partnering with Strategic can make your project run smoothly.

• We have a proven deployment methodology to mitigate migration risk and help ensure a successful deployment on an agreed upon timeline.

• We offer ongoing Customer Care Plans with an assigned support consultant.

• We provide additional functionality with our NetSuite Extensions to round out your NetSuite solution.

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Implementing a new ERP system can be a scary process — we know because we’ve been through many of them. You know you want features, controls, and insights included in a new system, but getting from "here-to-there" can be daunting. Various studies show that over 60% of ERP implementations fail, and over 75% get considerably delayed. Don't get too spooked; there are ways you can significantly increase the odds that your ERP implementation will be successful. With this in mind, we put together the following seven tricks as a good starting point to help make your ERP implementation more of a treat.

1) Start With A Strong Team & Plan

Planning for an ERP implementation involves more than simply gathering people and creating a project task list and timeline. That part is easy. The real challenge lies in creating clear goals and objectives and convincing leadership and front-line staff to support those. We’ve always found it helpful if teams work together to address the following questions in detail on the front end.

Do you have clearly stated company leadership team backing?
Your project team members will quickly sense if the leadership team is not on board with a new ERP system. If they don't really believe in the project, how can the ERP team?

Do you have clear goals and objectives?
Your goals and objectives should be specific and clear. Avoid using vague expressions such as "improved performance" or "increased efficiencies." Instead, you should be able to answer questions like:

• Which major challenges or issues do you aim to address, particularly at the beginning of the ERP project?

• How you will measure the project's success?

The answers to these questions should be the guiding principles throughout the project.

Is the right combination of company leadership and front-line staff involved?
Make sure to include team members who can view the big picture as well as those who are responsible for the day-to-day tasks. Relying only on one perspective will not give you a comprehensive view, which can lead to missing important details or getting too bogged down in the minutia.

Do you have a small project steering team that can quickly make decisions?
In any implementation project, there will always be challenges, unexpected problems, and critical decisions to be made. It is crucial to have a steering team that is capable of making firm and swift decisions. It is not feasible to have a large leadership team of 20 or more making daily decisions and expect the ERP implementation project to move forward efficiently.

Have you considered team member events or other projects in your timeline? 
Having a key player out on PTO for two weeks or undergoing a month-long audit during a key portion of the ERP implementation project can quickly make the project timeline unrealistic.

"Your goals and objectives should be specific and clear. Avoid using vague expressions such as 'improved performance' or 'increased efficiencies.'"

2) Ensure Your Team Has Time

Too many organizations underestimate the time and effort required for an ERP implementation and expect team members to complete the project in their "spare time." This idea is unrealistic and can lead to failure, especially in today's environment of doing "more with less." For an ERP implementation to be successful, it requires focus from the team, and this can only be accomplished if the team has time to focus. We see this issue all the time, and a recent survey confirms our observations by stating that lack of time was the number one reason for ERP implementation failure. So, before starting your ERP project, it is crucial to find a way to reduce some of the current responsibilities of key players so they can devote their time to the project. A reliable ERP implementation partner can also be helpful because they can assist your organization with a shared implementation approach and take on some of the project tasks.

"For an ERP implementation to be successful, it requires focus from the team, and this can only be accomplished if the team has time to focus."

3) Keep It Simple

Too often, organizations tend to get sidetracked by focusing on complex scenarios that happen occasionally. Or, they may try to fully automate a process on day one that would be fine at 80% automation for the time being. Though it is crucial to discuss and dedicate time to these significant challenges, it is more important to focus your attention on the typical situations and the simplest procedures that affect daily processing.

Yes, we realize this is hard to do. You are paying for a new, fancy ERP system, and it should handle your more complex scenarios with full automation, right?

Here’s the reality: Moving to a new ERP system requires your entire team to learn a lot of new terminology and processes. Making sure the team can devote their attention to the regular day-to-day tasks that are easy to handle will increase the likelihood of them mastering the new system and being successful in their daily work once it goes live.

Now, this isn’t to say that you should ignore your complex scenarios or that last 20% of automation. It just means putting them on the back burner for a post-go-live project. Document how you will handle them in the meantime and move on. Taking this approach will help the team stay focused, learn the new system more easily, and move quickly toward a successful go-live.

"Making sure the team can devote their attention to the regular day-to-day tasks that are easy to handle will increase the likelihood of them mastering the new system and being successful in their daily work once it goes live."

4) Embrace Leading Practices

The term “leading” or “best” practices can sometimes seem like an overused buzzword with little meaning, but it's actually a powerful concept. Leading practices are tried and true approaches that organizations in your same industry or vertical have proven to be successful. While each organization may offer unique products or services, the process flows within ERPs are typically consistent across organizations.

Implementing an ERP system provides an excellent opportunity to reevaluate and address any inefficient practices or workarounds that your organization may be resorting to because of the limitations of outdated financial software or ERP. This is the time to leverage the experience and knowledge of industry leaders to align your business with best practices. If you need help, a strong ERP implementation partner, who is well versed in your industry's leading practices, can help you implement these within your new ERP system.

“Implementing an ERP system provides an excellent opportunity to reevaluate and address any inefficient practices or workarounds that your organization may be resorting to because of the limitations of outdated financial software or ERP.”

5) Test, Test, Test

From our extensive experience conducting ERP implementations over the last 30 years, we can confidently say that your go-live experience is directly proportional to the amount of testing done prior to it.

Our team constantly tells clients: “There is no such thing as not testing. You will either test before go-live or after go-live, but either way, it will happen. One is just a lot more pleasant than the other.”

We preach significant testing to clients because it involves more than ensuring the system records transactions correctly. The primary benefit of testing is to help the team get hands-on experience with the system and understand its navigation, process flows, reporting, etc. When the team focuses on testing during the allocated time, it helps to make the go-live process much smoother since they already have a good understanding of the new system.

“There is no such thing as not testing. You will either test before go-live or after go-live, but either way, it will happen. One is just a lot more pleasant than the other.”

6) Don’t Overly Rely On Consultants

As a consulting firm, it’s hard to say that you shouldn’t rely too heavily on an implementation partner, it's hard for us to say that you shouldn't rely too heavily on an implementation partner, but I firmly believe this is true. In our experience, organizations that rely too much on a partner often fail to learn the system themselves and miss opportunities to personalize it to their specific needs.

While we believe bringing in a strong ERP implementation partner makes it more likely your implementation will be a success, it's important to remember this is your company, your system, and your people. Use the implementation partner as a partner, but don’t use them as a substitute for key roles within your organization. Here are the primary roles we recommend you keep in-house:

Project Management
While an implementation partner will likely assign a project manager, this project manager will not be in your office every day and does not have the relationships or understand the nuances that an employee would. Therefore, I believe it's crucial to appoint an internal project manager who can work closely with the implementation partner. When utilized effectively, this internal project manager can drive activity and obtain feedback that a partner project manager probably could not.

Subject Matter Experts
Too often, we see organizations rely on outside consultants as the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for their new ERP system. While this makes sense during the requirements and design discussions, internal team members should take over as the SMEs after that.

The ERP implementation partner may know the system better, but the SMEs need to be able to apply the practices to real life and, most importantly, explain them to others on the team. Internal SMEs, who know the company and its employees, will carry more weight than a consultant when explaining these practices to the team.

Ongoing Support
Implementation partners can be great resources for support, which is why we created our Customer Care Plans. However, in our experience, we find the most successful organizations have people and processes in place to provide their own front-line support and only escalate to the partner as needed. This approach enhances the organization's expertise and accelerates the development of processes and documentation.

“Organizations that rely too much on a partner often fail to learn the system themselves and miss opportunities to personalize it to their specific needs.”

7) Don’t Skimp On Change Management

This is the last and most often overlooked area to keep in mind. When implementing a new ERP system, it directly impacts the entire organization, including those who are even slightly associated with it. For example:

• Team members who are experts on the current system now will be newbies.

• A job that was once comfortable now is disturbed with new terminology and processes.

• Job responsibilities may change based on new process flows.

• Uncertainty may exist around job status because certain process flows are now automated.

With all of this in mind, it is extremely important to keep the entire organization informed and to help alleviate these types of concerns. This includes:

Leadership Support
A leadership team member should send an announcement to the entire organization at the beginning of the project discussing why it's being done, the anticipated goals, and the support expected from all. Make sure the entire leadership team understands these points and have them discuss it regularly with their teams. Everyone in the organization should understand the benefits that will result from the new system.

Provide Ongoing Updates
Nothing feeds rumors and uncertainty more than a multi-month, company-wide project when people are left in the dark and not informed of project updates for extended periods. The most successful implementations we've seen include clear, continuous communication. If you have weekly or monthly meetings, make this an important topic. If you don't, send out a monthly update instead, ideally from a leadership team member. Reiterate the importance of the project and the support of the leadership team, along with any successes that have been completed.

Share The Plan
People want to know how this new ERP will impact them. Make sure they understand the timeline of the project, especially for things that impact them. Be proactive by answering questions like:

• When will I be trained?

• Will there be hands-on learning opportunities before go-live?

• When will the go-live occur?

• How will I get support?

Try to put yourself in their shoes and think about what questions they might have.

Follow Through
Once you share the plan, walk your walk. Have detailed training and test plans, have a well thought out cutover plan, and provide support resources at cutover.  A new ERP is an opportunity to show the strength and caring of your leadership team, so take advantage of it.

Although there are many other areas to consider when selecting a new ERP, we hope our seven ERP implementation tips provide you with a good starting point to begin your research and planning.

With over 450+ deployments under our belt since 1996, we can help you evaluate whether NetSuite is the right ERP system for your organization. Contact us to discuss NetSuite or learn more about our implementation approach.

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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) has come a long way from its roots as material resource planning systems used by manufacturers. Today organizations of every stripe and industry rely on ERP software to run their businesses. From finance and accounting, to inventory management and professional service automation, ERP improves efficiency and cross-departmental coordination by connecting core business functions, eliminating redundancies and manual tasks and providing a single source of data to ensure that the entire business is working from the same script.

Whether you plan to upgrade an existing system or are evaluating ERP software for the first time, the 10 tips in this article will simplify the selection process and improve your chances of a successful rollout.

How to Choose the Right ERP

Selecting the right ERP for your organization is not something to take lightly — it’s an important step to getting your business to the next level. It requires an organization to take a deep dive into its operations, data and business processes. Because ERP solutions have broad capabilities, careful thought and diligence will be needed so that the ERP not only supports business operations today, but scales as the company grows. Engaging stakeholders from across the organization early in the ERP selection process is key to getting the buy-in necessary to position your business for success once the ERP system goes live.

ERP Selection Explained

At its core, an ERP system is an integrated suite of applications for managing finance and accounting; sales and customer service; order processing, inventory and warehouse operations; manufacturing; service delivery; and many other critical business functions. Although ERP implementations typically focus on finance and accounting first, any individual ERP rollout may start with whichever functional area presents the greatest challenges for the business. It’s that breadth of functionality, combined with the fact that ERP systems consolidate data from across the organization and therefore serve as the company’s system of record, that makes choosing the right ERP system to match your business’s needs so important.

The main value of an ERP system is its ability to help companies plan and allocate resources, automate time-consuming manual processes and improve internal collaboration and communication. By providing a single source of accurate data for the entire business, ERP software also enables more informed decision-making that improves performance.

By providing a single source of accurate data for the entire business, ERP software also enables more informed decision-making that improves performance.

What is the Right ERP for Your Business?

Choosing an ERP system that is a good fit for your organization can be time-consuming, so it pays to have a plan. While not an exhaustive guide to choosing the right ERP system for your business, the following list of 10 tips will get you started on the right path. By following these tips and putting in the necessary time and due diligence, most organizations will be able to select an ERP system that best serves their needs.

Tip 1: Determine the features and functions your business needs.

It’s crucial to the success of your ERP journey to determine, early on, the features and functions your business needs in an ERP system. If you’re starting from scratch, you will have to undertake a comprehensive business review and needs assessment to figure out which business processes and workflows will be taken over by the new ERP, which ones will remain independent and, of those, which ones will interact with the new ERP software. If you’re upgrading an existing ERP system, much of the functionality may remain the same but a thorough review is called for, nonetheless, to capture how business requirements have changed since the original system rolled out.

In either case, the needs analysis should include specific objectives — including a clear definition of what success looks like for your organization. What problems is the company trying to solve? What goals will the system help it achieve? How will success be measured? It usually helps to have outside assistance when conducting these assessments. For many popular ERP offerings there are dedicated consultants, systems integrators and value-added resellers (VARs) who have extensive experience with these types of assessments. Once the analysis is complete, sit down with potential providers to review the findings. Since many vendors specialize in specific industries, many will not make it past the first cut.

Most businesses, regardless of the industry they are in or the products and services they offer, will use a basic set of ERP capabilities supplied by different components called modules. Each module itself is composed of a set of capabilities that can support multiple business processes and be customized to meet your business’s specific use cases. There are always ERP modules for finance and accounting, and most ERP providers also offer modules for functions including procurement, manufacturing, inventory management, order management, warehouse management, supply chain management, project management (for professional services offerings), customer relationship management and human resource (HR) management. Some providers offer others, such as ecommerce and marketing automation, for example. The needs assessment will determine the modules required for your organization’s initial implementation. As needs change and the business grows, other modules can be added.

Tip 2: Ensure you have executive and team support.

Since an ERP implementation can reach into every corner of the organization, gaining executive buy-in and leadership is critical to its success. Use your business requirements review to win executive support by showing senior management the ERP system’s potential value. It’s a good idea to elect an executive sponsor who will champion the project. CEOs, COOs and CFOs are all good choices.

Because organizational change is hard and ERP rollouts are, in part, exercises in change management, an executive sponsor’s main role is to get people on board with the project. They take responsibility for making the ERP implementation a success by serving as the project’s chief evangelist, promoting its benefits to every part of the organization. They also can help to remove roadblocks, streamline decision-making and, when needed, make hard decisions about trade-offs between competing priorities.

An executive sponsor should take responsibility for making the ERP implementation a success by serving as the project’s chief evangelist, promoting its benefits to every part of the organization.

Tip 3: Figure out if your ERP integrates with other software you use.

If you plan to continue using existing applications for certain business processes, you will want to choose an ERP solution that easily integrates with those applications. Many popular ERP systems come with certified integrations to other common business applications, such as ecommerce storefronts, point-of-sale (POS) systems, online marketplaces, vendor management, project management and third-party provider and partner ecosystems. These out-of-the-box integrations ensure that core business processes can remain unchanged if needed. Integrating applications into the ERP solution can also eliminate the need to manually reenter data from one system into another.

Look for ERP systems that use industry-standard interfaces, such as REST and SOAP APIs, so you can quickly and easily connect any application to the new ERP. Industry-standard connectors are highly secure and well understood by developers, so using them will help speed the rollout of a new system.

It also is important to look for an ERP system that supports CSV file import and export. Support for Microsoft’s ODBC SQL-based API and the JDBC SQL APIs will ensure a new ERP communicates natively with SQL databases.

Look for ERP systems that use industry-standard interfaces, such as REST and SOAP APIs, so you can quickly and easily connect any application to the new ERP.

Tip 4: Consider the functional fit of the ERP system within your organization.

Functional fit can be loosely defined as the ERP system’s ability to solve business problems. It’s crucial to make certain that the chosen ERP solution is a good functional fit for your organization, so you will need to understand how the ERP will work with existing business processes. While it is important to match the ERP against the business processes in use to meet current needs, you should also think about the future. By gaming out future business scenarios, such as the company expanding internationally, you can come to understand whether the ERP solution under consideration will be functionally fit in both the short and long term.

It’s also important to determine whether a rigid ERP system will suffice or a more configurable system is needed. Rigid systems have many predefined processes that your organization must adapt to, while a more configurable system adapts to how your business runs.

Determining functional fit requires input from all of the organization’s stakeholders. Everyone who will be impacted by the new ERP system should be consulted to ensure the solution will fulfill many needs with as little customization as possible. Look around to see what competitors are using. Some ERP solutions are optimized to run best in a particular industry. Figuring out which systems fit this bill can help you narrow the selection process by short-listing a handful of potential vendors.

Although by no means an exhaustive list, answering these questions can help you find the answers needed to determine function fit:

• Where are our current systems failing?

• What do our current systems do well?

• How many and what type of manual processes can be automated with a new ERP system?

• Where do we need improved reporting and visibility?

• What other in-house and partner systems will need to be integrated with the new ERP?

The answers to these questions should generate a detailed list of the requirements that the new ERP system must meet to be effective. Because functional fit is so crucial to a successful ERP rollout, companies shouldn’t even begin their ERP evaluations until these questions are answered.

By gaming out future business scenarios, such as the company expanding internationally, you can come to understand whether the ERP solution under consideration will be functionally fit in both the short and long term.

Tip 5: Assess the reputation of your potential ERP vendors.

It’s always important to feel confident that a software vendor offers an outstanding product or service with rock-solid support. Fortunately, determining whether a vendor’s reputation lives up to its hype is not hard to do, though it may take a little time. Start by looking at the level of experience the vendor has in your industry. Do they have an industry-oriented approach, with teams that have deep expertise in your industry or implementation partners with the needed expertise?

Gartner, Forrester and many other industry analysts publish annual or semiannual ERP vendor rankings and market research. These reports offer a good idea of a vendor’s strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, the technology industry trade press is a good place to get up-to-date news about a vendor. If the company is public, look for analyst reports about its financial performance, as well as articles in the financial trade press about its short- and long-term prospects.

For up-to-date reviews, look at enterprise software rating websites such as G2, Capterra, Gartner Peer Insights, and Software Advice. All of these review sites offer customer ratings and customer comments. You can also leverage user groups on LinkedIn to ask questions about the vendor.

Once you’ve narrowed down your ERP candidates to the final two or three, a great place to get unbiased information is at a vendor’s user group meeting (assuming you’re allowed to attend). There you’re likely to find a cross section of customers who are well-versed in the vendor’s offering and usually happy to talk in between the new product announcements and how-to sessions.

Finally, Google the vendors on your short list. Look for information on reputation, complaints, bad press and the like.

Tip 6: Consider a third-party consulting partner

Choosing and implementing an ERP system in your organization can be an overwhelming project, from identifying needs to analyzing features and functions and calculating costs. An experienced, third-party consulting partner can help guide you through this process by conducting a thorough business process review and needs analysis, helping you define optimal end-to-end processes, developing a comprehensive project plan, and managing the deployment. Third-party consulting partners will often negotiate costs with the ERP vendor on your behalf. Look for a consulting partner who has extensive experience with your preferred ERP software system, has good communication with your team, and values long-term relationships — someone you can rely on going forward to provide advice and assistance on how to get the most out of your ERP investment.

Tip 7: Consider the costs and associated expenses.

ERP software costs vary greatly by vendor, the number of modules needed, whether the system is cloud-based or running on-premises, whether a third party will implement it and the number and types of user licenses.

Importantly, not all users need full licenses. ERP vendors offer different pricing based on the features each user needs access to, so access should be tailored to the data and features needed for each employee’s role — even C-suite participants. For example, the fee for someone who only needs to enter their expenses or track their time would be less than the fee for someone responsible for paying bills.

Depending on how the ERP system is deployed, there could be significant upfront costs, including licensing fees, annual maintenance, computer hardware (for on-premises installations), data conversion and transfer costs, custom coding, testing, training and implementation support from the vendor and/or consultants. To assess ongoing costs, consider the number of users/subscriptions needed, continuing support, anticipated future add-ons and customizations, and the number of countries you do business in.

Higher costs do not necessarily equate to a better system. If, for example, a more expensive ERP offering has features you don’t need or won’t likely use, the value of that extra functionality will be low. This is another reason why it is critically important to conduct a thorough needs assessment at the beginning of an ERP journey.

To achieve an accurate picture of the return on investment (ROI) for an ERP system for your organization, it’s a good idea to look at the payback over a five- to seven-year time frame.

Tip 8: Clean up your data.

One of the biggest challenges with ERP implementations is deciding what data the new system will require. Migrating all of your organization’s historical data, for example, is not necessary in most situations. If there is no compelling reason to include certain data sets, then don’t. To avoid migrating too much data, many organizations set a cutoff date where data generated before that time is automatically excluded from the migration.

Migrating clean data is important. Because customers interact with multiple departments across an organization, duplicate versions of the same data is common. Plus, data is often stored in different formats — for example, formats for purchase order numbers, dates, names and addresses may be unique to each department and the applications it uses. Some information will be incorrect, and obsolete customer information will likely be present.

A clean data migration requires in-depth analysis to locate all of your organization’s data, categorize it and understand its formats. The goal is to identify and remove as much redundant data as possible, while transforming the remaining data to be migrated into the new ERP system formats.

Because of the complexity of the task, many organizations create a data migration team that can identify which data needs to be migrated, how it will be migrated and what formats and templates are needed. The disposition of data that is not being migrated should also be addressed. The team should include members from across the organization who understand how data is consumed and created in their business units.

Because of the complexity of data privacy today, it is a good idea to include on the team someone with overall responsibility for regulatory compliance — preferably with decision-making authority.

Because of the complexity of the task, many organizations create a data migration team that can identify which data needs to be migrated, how it will be migrated and what formats and templates are needed.

Tip 9: Map out the implementation process.

ERP software offers a broad set of features that touch many different parts of your business, so it’s important to think critically about the implementation process. Each vendor’s or third-party consulting partner's offering is unique; some are highly customizable and will adapt to existing business processes, while others require users to change how they work in order to use the new system. Figuring out obvious stumbling blocks early on will help you avoid unpleasant day-one surprises and ensure the new system will be adopted across the organization as quickly as possible.

Start by finding answers to knowable questions early in the decision-making process: Will employees need to be retrained to use the new system? Who should lead the implementation team? How will we handle change management? Depending on product complexity and company size, implementation can take anywhere from a few months to over a year. With good project management team in place, missing key milestones along the implementation road becomes less likely.

A detailed project timeline helps to smooth out ERP deployments. Most ERP implementation plans include six phases, starting with discovery and planning. After an ERP system is chosen comes:

• Design: Existing workflows are analyzed, any needed customizations are worked out and how you will migrate data is determined.

• Configuration: The software is set up, training materials are prepared and data import begins.

• Progressive testing: This includes fine-tuning of the system.

• Deployment: The ERP system goes live.

• Ongoing support: This ensures that users have all they need to get the most out of the system and a place to turn to address any challenges that emerge.

Setting realistic expectations is an important step in the success of an ERP rollout, as well. Overpromising and underdelivering on things like project length, scope and cost can create unnecessary suspicion and pushback from stakeholders and the board.

Another important consideration is whether your ERP system will be deployed on-premises or in the cloud. Cloud-based ERP solutions can be more cost-effective because they do not require the same level of upfront investment as an in-house system. Most companies today are adopting cloud-based solutions.

Figuring out obvious stumbling blocks early on will help you avoid unpleasant day-one surprises and ensure the new system will be adopted across the organization as quickly as possible.

Tip 10: Assess what you’ll need for ongoing support.

Estimating what level of post-implementation support will be needed depends on many factors. They may include, for example, the number of time zones the business operates in, whether it has in-house IT admins who are certified to manage the new ERP system and whether it requires a great deal of customizations.

For on-premises ERP installations, an overriding factor has always been the level of system availability your organization requires. To understand this, companies would have to estimate the potential costs to the business in terms of lost productivity, revenue and impact to reputation if the ERP systems were to go down, even for a few hours. The answer helped to inform the level of support the organization needed. With cloud-based ERP software, however, uptime is no longer a consideration in support-cost calculations because cloud service providers generally guarantee all customers the same very high level of availability.

Many vendors and third-party consulting partners offer custom support packages with tiered levels of support. These support plans should help you ensure your NetSuite software is always operating at its peak efficiency. Plans typically include support hours, account management, health checks, business process reviews, performance reviews, release impact analysis, role audits, and training sessions.  It's a good idea to ask vendors and third-party consulting partners about their specific support plans. Will you have dedicated teams and account managers? What is the average tenure and experience level of support staff? Can they provide customer references?

Look for a partner who values long-term relationships — someone you can rely on going forward to provide advice and assistance on how to get the most out of your ERP investment.

ERP Features Most Businesses Use

While most ERP solutions contain many modules that provide businesses with flexible, extensible software to run their operations on, the core features found in most ERP implementations include:

• Finance and accounting for tracking accounts payable, accounts receivable and managing the general ledger. This module also creates financial statements, including income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows, as well as automated invoices, payment receipts and tax statements.

• Customer relationship management (CRM) for tracking customer activity, managing sales leads and converting prospects into customers.

• Human resources management for consolidating and managing employee information and providing employee self-service.

• Order management for tracking orders from placement to fulfillment.

• Inventory management for SKU-level inventory tracking.

• Production management to plan and manage manufacturing production runs and supply chains.

• Procurement for sourcing goods and services.

Services businesses often include a professional services automation module for project tracking, expense management and team collaboration purposes.

Consequences of Choosing the Wrong ERP

If a company chooses poorly when it comes to its ERP system, it is less likely to gain the business process efficiencies it was looking for. Even worse, a poorly chosen ERP system can cause operational issues as users try to shoehorn existing workflows into a system that is not properly designed to run them. So the consequence of choosing the wrong ERP comes down to a lot of wasted effort — a major undertaking to improve the business that, in the end, doesn’t.

But what constitutes a poorly chosen ERP? It’s simply an ERP implementation that does not make business processes run more smoothly, faster and with automation at key points. That result usually only happens when the software doesn’t actually work the way the vendor promised or when the promised features don’t really match the requirements of your business objectives.

That’s why all 10 tips discussed in this article are designed to help you identify strong business objectives for your ERP implementation, articulate those objectives clearly and comprehensively, in writing, and define what your success will look like and how you will measure it. Armed with that detailed information, companies will be prepared to choose their ERP wisely — that is, to find the ERP system whose features and functions best match the requirements of their business objectives.

Choose the Right ERP. Choose NetSuite.

NetSuite’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System is an ideal solution for companies looking to improve performance today and continue growing in the future. NetSuite was built from the ground up as a cloud-native solution, giving companies the flexibility and scalability necessary to adapt to changing conditions and continue supporting the business as it evolves. NetSuite’s real-time data and roles-based dashboards make for faster and better-informed decisions at all levels of the company.

All of this increases a company’s competitiveness by lowering costs, streamlining business processes and increasing operational agility, empowering the business to reduce risk and capitalize on new opportunities.

Choosing the right ERP system for your organization can be a challenging process because ERPs affect many different parts of your organization. Companies that choose well are rewarded with a system that meets the needs of their business today and helps their organizations grow with fewer points of friction. By following the 10 tips described in this article, companies can do more than select the right ERP; along the way, they will gain a deeper understanding of how their organizations actually function. They will likely uncover some uncomfortable truths but will also gain the valuable insights they need to successfully make the changes to help them grow and prosper.

Why Choose Strategic Information Group?

As full-service NetSuite consultants, we're here to help you implement and optimize NetSuite to take full advantage of its capabilities.

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Are you a fast-growing company with a continually evolving business model?

Do your departments consistently rely on spreadsheets for operational and financial information?

Does your company rely on e-mail as a system of record?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, it might be time to adopt a full-scale business management system. While adopting a cloud ERP system sounds like a daunting and expensive affair, it is not as risky or costly as one might think. Below are some top reasons why you should consider a cloud ERP system.

3 Signs You Might Need a Cloud ERP

1) Scalability

Rapid growth often causes struggles in personnel, processes, and technology. Many fast-growing companies find it difficult to manage an evolving business without making changes to the existing business infrastructure. Making smart changes is key.

Implementing a cloud ERP that can scale with your business can help you manage increased demand by improving business efficiencies, and avoiding process issues and delays that could cause business risk and lost profits. Imagine being able to double the revenue of a company — from $10 million to $20 million — while adding only a single accounting or administrative personnel to support that growth. It may seem “pie in the sky” for many business owners, but a cloud ERP system, like NetSuite, can streamline processes, remove bottlenecks and automate tasks, allowing you to focus on growth plans rather than inefficiencies and back office systems.

“As we opened additional locations, our users and data set were also expanding. QuickBooks couldn’t keep up and was crashing daily. Each of our locations needed its own QuickBooks file and consolidating all of those files for reporting was a major challenge. We outgrew QuickBooks as we grew, and we realized it wasn’t sustainable for our business anymore. That’s when we moved to NetSuite.”

Crystal Robinson, CFO
Alloy Wheel Repair Specialists

2) Death by Spreadsheet

Managing a business with a trusty spreadsheet is a common occurrence when starting out but managing a multi-million dollar business using spreadsheets introduces a tremendous amount of risk to an organization. Spreadsheets are easy-to-use but are problematic because they don't have advanced business logic to validate data.

Upgrading from spreadsheets to a cloud ERP can provide you with advanced analysis and reporting tools and real-time visualizations to discover business issues, identify new opportunities, and build processes for ongoing learning and feedback.

3) Email as a System of Record

E-mail is a great, easy, and efficient way to communicate with customers, vendors, and employees; however, it can also be a big time suck and potential pitfall for an organization. Searching through e-mail to confirm whether a customer received an invoice or the accounting team was asked to correct a revenue figure can be a time-consuming audit. NetSuite allows for collaboration and communication natively in the application helping alleviate the pitfalls that coincide with e-mail as a business system of record.

Benefits of a Cloud Deployment

Many companies have invested tremendous development time and money to make their software cloud available. However, it is difficult for applications not natively built in the cloud to achieve a true multi-tenant cloud architecture. For instance, if you have Dynamics SL on premise, you can pay to have the software hosted off-site and upgraded periodically; however, you will need third-party software like Citrix or Microsoft Terminal Server to access the application.

Because NetSuite was built for a multi-tenant cloud, users can access the software anywhere through a major internet browser. NetSuite releases new features and semi-annual updates without additional upgrade fees, giving all users access to the same version. With NetSuite's accessibility and universal upgrade features, you can spend technology dollars on innovation instead of third-party applications, like Citrix.

We're Here to Help

If you are experiencing some of the issues above, contact us, and we can discuss if implementing a cloud ERP is right for your business. We commit to listening to your business challenges and partnering with you to create comprehensive ERP solutions to help you achieve your business goals.

Test-driving NetSuite is the best way to visualize how this powerful ERP system can take your business to the next level by automating processes, increasing efficiencies, and lowering operating costs. Schedule a live NetSuite demo to learn more.

Why Choose Strategic Information Group?

As full-service NetSuite consultants, we're here to help you implement and optimize NetSuite to take full advantage of its capabilities.

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When an organization procures a cloud-based technology solution, like financial management software and similar business management applications, the solution provider generally stipulates specific service characteristics that identify usage parameters within the account, like monthly transaction volumes, number of users, file storage limits and concurrent processing.

If your business is rapidly growing and you’re approaching or surpassing those service parameters, you need to ensure your business applications can handle the added demand requirements for optimal performance.

The Impacts Business Growth Can Have on Your Business Systems

As your company grows, neglecting to address your service levels could impact business efficiency and customer service. If your business systems can’t keep up with increasing demand, bottlenecks and delays could introduce additional business risk and lost profits. Here are some of the areas in which businesses start to exceed the capacity of their solution’s service parameters during periods of growth:

1. Monthly Transaction Line Volume

If your business has a peak selling season or is generally experiencing fast overall growth, periods of high order volume can strain the responsiveness of your business systems and potentially delay processing sales orders into invoices. That means you may be missing out on recognizing revenue for the month and losing profits. If your systems can’t handle your order throughput, you’ll not only run into system delays on the back-end, but customers may experience slowness browsing your website or errors with checkout that could also lead to lost sales.

To have a better understanding where your monthly transaction lines sit, your solution should be instrumented with transaction line reports that give your administrator and key users the visibility to see when they’re approaching transaction limits that could put your business at risk. The reporting provides a better overview and a deeper understanding of monthly transaction lines metrics before you hit your limits.

2. Number of Users

The number of users that can be supported in an environment also impacts the responsiveness of applications. Employees may experience significant delays navigating the system, like loading pages or running reports, which leads to inconsistent usability, and ordering and billing delays due to higher resource demand.

Just like transaction line reports mentioned above, knowing the number of users is paramount to running your solution efficiently. A simple user visibility report should let you check full licenses so that you can proactively see when you are approaching your user threshold.

3. Concurrency Limits

You may experience issues if your business system is trying to route too many concurrent web services processes at the same time. Setting up too many operations, scripts and file import jobs takes a toll on system performance as these loads are layered on top of one another. Service levels usually dictate the base and maximum concurrency amounts, which governs the rate at which an account can process parallel operations like importing and exporting data. Without a higher concurrency limit, operations become delayed across the entire system which can lead to lower productivity and efficiency.

To ensure you don’t fall victim to slow or delayed operational processing and performance, you should equip your solution with application checks to gauge the health of your applications. These checks include things like page load time and summary details, processing monitoring, web services analysis and similar metrics that are useful for troubleshooting.

Rightsizing NetSuite along with Your Business Growth

NetSuite uses service tiers to scale database throughput capacity to meet the growing demands of individual NetSuite users. NetSuite service tiers deliver the additional level of resources needed to maximize business productivity by defining key service characteristics, such as maximum monthly transaction lines, file storage capacity, number of users and concurrency levels.

With NetSuite, businesses can use an extensive reporting dashboard from the service tiers metrics workbook, which provides dynamic views into the data. NetSuite administrators can leverage prebuilt analytics views that detail both summary level and detail usage data in real-time, including file storage and monthly transaction lines. For a look into concurrent operations, the Application Performance SuiteApp offers visually interactive performance data to gauge the overall health of your account. Combined, these tools help you ensure that you’re running at optimal levels and that you know when it’s time for change.

Rightsizing to the appropriate service level can be easily overlooked, especially if you are growing quickly. Luckily, it is straightforward to move to a higher service tier when your organization requires higher usage parameters. If you proactively upgrade your service level, you can process more monthly transactions and concurrent integrations, as well as handle more users and file storage. This helps you avoid system bottlenecking during peak periods, maintain a consistent user experience within NetSuite, and reduce system delays.

As NetSuite Solution Providers, we can help you select the appropriate NetSuite Service Tier for your business and negotiate on your behalf for the best terms. Contact us to see how we can help you.

Why Choose Strategic Information Group?

As full-service NetSuite consultants, we're here to help you implement and optimize NetSuite to take full advantage of its capabilities.

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Why Growing Companies are Making the Switch

As your company grows and accounting becomes more complex, you’ll find that entry-level accounting software has its limits. Handling advanced business challenges using spreadsheets and multiple applications just won't work anymore — which is why companies often upgrade from QuickBooks to NetSuite.

With growth comes complexity. Ensure you are set up for future success.

With your current financial software, have you experienced:

• Complex accounting challenges with fixed assets, multi-subsidiary accounting, recurring billing, and revenue recognition?

• Inflexibility because your financial software doesn't adapt to your business processes and prevents you from quickly implementing changing business requirements?

• Lack of real-time, on-demand data causing you to spend too much time collecting, distributing, and analyzing data in spreadsheets?

• Broken transaction flows because your financial software doesn't integrate with your non-core operations systems like inventory, PSA, and/or CRM?

Inventory Management Made Easy: How to Avoid Manual QuickBooks Imports

Why Choose Strategic Information Group?

As full-service NetSuite consultants, we're here to help you implement and optimize NetSuite to take full advantage of its capabilities.

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NetSuite and Strategic

NetSuite ERP System is designed from the ground up to be personalized without impacting core functionality. The personalizations are all at the interface level — we are not changing the underlying code — so you can implement NetSuite's semi-annual upgrades and your personalizations will remain intact.

Since our team at Strategic Information Group has implemented many solutions, we can quickly and easily set up a personalized ERP system to meet your unique business needs. Through our Customer Care Plans, we conduct annual health checks on your system to ensure you are getting the most out of your NetSuite investment, and it's optimized to meet your needs as your business evolves and grows.

Why Choose Strategic Information Group?

As full-service NetSuite consultants, we're here to help you implement and optimize NetSuite to take full advantage of its capabilities.

Learn More

When demand for your product grows, your revenue grows. And when your revenue grows, your finance team grows. And when your finance team grows, your behind-the-scenes systems can get wildly disorganized. At Strategic Information Group, we've seen this many times when companies come to us looking for more from their financial software.

It’s no surprise, then, that many CFOs switch from QuickBooks to NetSuite. Doing so not only makes your system more efficient, but it can also shave days off your financial close: It’s not uncommon for finance teams to reduce their close from six days to four after switching systems.

A comprehensive system like NetSuite also provides wins beyond the accounting department, which indirectly (and sometimes very directly) makes a CFO’s job easier.

Here are a few of the main reasons that CFOs switch from QuickBooks to NetSuite—and the benefits they see.

CFOs’ trouble with QuickBooks

Maintaining a server

Many companies use the desktop version of QuickBooks because the online version can’t handle certain tasks, like foreign banking for example.

This can lead to a situation in which QuickBooks is the only system in the company that runs on a server vs. the cloud. In this scenario, maintaining a server just for QuickBooks takes time and IT personnel that could be better used elsewhere. Plus, there’s the potential for server errors.

Having your team log on to a server is also not as convenient as giving them logins to a truly cloud-based tool: If, for example, your team has to suddenly start working from home in a pandemic, a cloud solution lets them access their work without a VPN. Cloud vendors can devote more resources to uptime and security than a typical business can do on its own. They also update automatically to better account for changes in accounting rules and other regulations.

Shuffling multiple users

When company information lives on a server, team members usually need to install QuickBooks on their computers in order to access it. This poses a problem when they get new computers or pick up a loaner laptop for a day: They have to reinstall QuickBooks, which is time consuming and requires recalling a string of complicated passcodes.

Plus, many QuickBooks licenses only allow a few users into the system at any given time, meaning team members frequently have to remind each other to log out so others can log in.

Copy + pasting invoices

Then, there’s invoicing. QuickBooks often poses a problem for companies that use billing systems based on usage, in which they charge clients for monthly use of a software or service.

For these types of billing systems, invoicing in QuickBooks is often tedious and manual: For example, it might entail simply copying last month’s invoices and typing the current month’s data into them. This process can take days.

Deciding to switch 

CFOs decide to switch from QuickBooks to NetSuite for a variety of reasons: Often, they’ve implemented NetSuite at previous companies. Or a specific functionality, like revenue management or the ability to handle multiple currencies, might solve a specific problem at their company.

These specific functionalities are the most common reasons CFOs switch to NetSuite, per a recent survey of customers. CFOs also choose NetSuite because it will be able to grow along with their department, revenue and company overall (also known as “scalability”) and because it’s cloud-based.

Regardless of the reasons they switch to NetSuite, CFOs often see similar results:

CFOs’ wins with NetSuite

A speedier month-end close

For finance teams that spend way too much time with those homegrown, manual processes, NetSuite can make things simpler.

Instead of manually managing your billing, for example, teams can use our Billfinity to automate recurring subscription management and billing.

Then, instead of working long hours to close their books in the required timeframe each month, teams often find themselves with time to spare. Billing becomes a half-day task instead of a three-day project. CFOs get time to actually review their reports before sending them to investors.

The finance team’s responsibility grows

Aside from simplifying processes, NetSuite can allow CFOs to get more of their teams involved in managing the company’s finances.

NetSuite lets CFOs set up a custom dashboard for each team member based on their role, then share only certain data with each team member. Accordingly, you might assign each team member a “piece of the puzzle”: one to handle banking, another to handle accounts payable and another to manage collections. Each team member will see only the data necessary to complete their “piece of the puzzle,” while you as the CFO will have an overall view.

The divvying of jobs allows everyone to be an “expert” in a single piece of the process. It can also remove pressure from the one team member who often handles the firm’s finances in QuickBooks and finds themselves drowned in requests from others at the company.

As team members move up the ranks into higher roles, they can offload tasks to junior team members. Those homegrown QuickBooks processes are often too convoluted to teach someone else, meaning one person gets “stuck” doing them—for years. NetSuite processes, however, are easier to document and teach to others.

Less need for IT

Those calls to IT—about maintaining the server or for help logging in to QuickBooks—often disappear when CFOs switch to NetSuite. Often, your company’s NetSuite administrators are on the finance team, making the team fairly self-sufficient as far as technology is concerned.

More than just accounting 

Many execs choose NetSuite because it’s not simply a better way to do accounting but rather a better way to run your entire business, from human resources to inventory. As a full-fledged enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, NetSuite’s capacities extend beyond financials into customer relationship management (CRM), payroll, advanced reporting and more.

Getting an ERP system helps you keep track of your finances, inventory and customer communications as your company takes on more customers, said Brenda Budzinski, director of finance at Nebraska-based popcorn distributor Preferred Popcorn.

“QuickBooks is designed to serve small businesses, but once you start growing and servicing more customers, you need more robust systems,” she said.

Advice for those thinking about the switch

The idea of switching systems can be daunting for finance leaders. But many CFOs agree the swap is worth it, partly due to our true partner approach, in which you’ll master the software’s basic functionalities—like managing customers, orders and items/SKUs—before moving on to more complicated ones like reporting and procurement. Of course, our experienced NetSuite consultants will be with you every step of the way. As we like to say at Strategic, "Solutions for Today. Partners for Life."

We believe it’s critical to have an implementation partner with both deep NetSuite knowledge and business expertise. Our experienced NetSuite consulting team has an extensive background in areas including accounting, technology, and business management and has implemented over 450 system implementations since 1996.

We'd love the opportunity to show you how NetSuite can easily manage all of your core business processes within a single, fully integrated system. Test driving NetSuite is the best way to visualize how this powerful ERP system can take your business to the next level by automating processes, increasing efficiencies, and lowering operating costs. Schedule a live demo today.

Why Choose Strategic Information Group?

As full-service NetSuite consultants, we're here to help you implement and optimize NetSuite to take full advantage of its capabilities.

Learn More

When meeting with prospective clients, we are often asked: “When is the right time to move from QuickBooks to cloud financials?” QuickBooks is an excellent and cost-effective solution when companies are getting started; however, many business owners we talked to found it was not the right choice for them long term. Once companies start experiencing accelerated growth, the limitations of QuickBooks become more apparent.  Based on conversations with company leaders over the last 25 years, I put together a list of issues that many of them face before making the switch to a cloud ERP solution.

Wasting Time with Manual Processes

In order to address specific operational needs, many business owners purchase separate applications (such as CRM) or implement manual processes in spreadsheets to keep the business running. We met many company leaders who were wasting valuable time re-keying data (many times double entry in different systems), which can sometimes lead to mistakes or delays in reporting. Manual processes work fine when organizations have a small customer base and few transactions, but as volumes grow, companies are faced with a decision between hiring more employees to maintain manual processes or investing in a technology solution that can grow and scale with them. NetSuite, a true cloud ERP system, takes the place of many separate applications with its fully integrated modules, such as CRM, complex billing, inventory, distribution, and e-commerce. By bringing all your data into one system, you will no longer need to re-key or compile data from system to system.

"As volumes grow, companies are faced with a decision between hiring more employees to maintain manual processes or investing in a technology solution that can grow and scale with them.

Too Many Work Arounds

QuickBooks was designed to automate just a few core accounting functions.  As businesses grow, leaders often find that QuickBook's limited functionality doesn't scale with their business. The companies we spoke to were creating manual processes or using add-on tools for things like revenue recognition, employee expense reimbursements, and consolidated reporting. The lack of advanced features was creating frustrations in their accounting teams and slowing down growth potential.

No Access to Real-Time Data

Since many of the companies we spoke to were using disparate spreadsheets and applications, it was difficult to view real-time data when needed. These companies were spending too much time collecting, distributing, and analyzing data in spreadsheets — which quickly became outdated. Account managers didn’t have visibility on project or billing statuses and executives had to wait until month-end to view financials and performance KPIs. With NetSuite, all data is real-time and all aspects of the business are connected and available (based on role permissions) on-demand to end users.  Business owners are able to monitor metrics from their KPI dashboards all day, and notifications can also be set up based on user-defined parameters. With timely data access in NetSuite, our clients are reacting quickly to market events or internal alerts.

"With NetSuite, all data is real-time and all aspects of the business are connected and available on-demand to end users."

Difficulty Managing Updates, Back-Ups, and Database Performance

We met with a business that was pushing QuickBooks way past its limits and the database was crashing regularly. Their business was booming, yet, they were put at risk by the limitations of their accounting database technology. Luckily, they always had good back-ups and never experienced loss of data (but that can happen), but they knew the time had come to make a move. QuickBooks support was getting more and more arduous. NetSuite’s cloud software platform is built from the ground up to be agile and flexible, without the additional overhead complexities of maintaining the underlying platform. When we moved this company to NetSuite's cloud ERP, they had no more servers or databases to maintain, security patches to implement, or heavy reliance on IT. They were able to focus on moving the business forward.

"When we moved this company to NetSuite, they had no more servers or databases to maintain, security patches to implement, or heavy reliance on IT. They were able to focus on moving the business forward."

Take Your Business to the Next Level With NetSuite

I hope this information about NetSuite and its true-cloud platform is helpful to you as you investigate next steps for your growing business. We know moving from accounting software to an ERP can be overwhelming.

Test driving NetSuite is the best way to visualize how this powerful ERP system can take your business to the next level by automating processes, increasing efficiencies, and lowering operating costs. We’d be happy to conduct a live NetSuite demo to see if it’s a good fit for your company.

Why Choose Strategic Information Group?

As full-service NetSuite consultants, we're here to help you implement and optimize NetSuite to take full advantage of its capabilities.

Learn More