Just like most Value-Added Resellers in the business management cloud space, the Cloud Genius ERP team had many options to consider before we decided to align ourselves with NetSuite as our go-to-market partner in the Detroit area. We felt NetSuite offered a strong value proposition at the time, even before Oracle transitioned from having an investment in NetSuite to making it a subsidiary in late 2016:
- NetSuite was the first Software as a Service (SaaS) ERP packaged solution to market in 1998 (as NetLedger, rebranding as NetSuite in 1999), beating even Salesforce.com to the cloud computing space by about a month
- We find that NetSuite’s mature, integrated business functions offer medium sized businesses and startups great value:
- Financials and accounting
- CRM
- E-commerce and Point of Sale o Professional Services Automation o Extensibility for functions like Human Resources (SuitePeople) and other functional add-ons
- NetSuite’s channel management team has been very supportive, and we have excellent resources at our fingertips to ensure successful customer deployments
- Our development team can create powerful customizations which can be ported forward as NetSuite evolves through its upgrade path
- There are approximately 40,000 businesses running NetSuite, the #1 Cloud accounting solution.
- NetSuite offers affordable subscription pricing. They have committed to the cloud, instead of trying to “Fake Cloud” hosted solutions that are nothing more than hosted application software
These were some of the decision factors that went into our partner selection. We were also impressed by how committed NetSuite is to customer value and the cloud. As complex, monolithic on-premise ERP applications continue to retreat from the market, cloud-based business application suites are booming.
The Business Cloud Leader
Since NetSuite was founded, other ERP cloud software vendors have entered the market, either as startup companies like Acumatica, or established ERP companies like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. Acumatica is more like traditional on-premise software, just hosted by a service provider. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 editions for sales and back office are new to the marketplace, but don’t yet offer the breadth of functionality and mobile-device flexibility that NetSuite can. Oracle liked NetSuite so much they bought the company.
Our team has worked with several different business management suites over the years, and we have been impressed with how NetSuite has enhanced the CRM, analytics and Point of Sale modules of their suite recently. Oracle committed to protect, expand and improve NetSuite, which is promising. Zach Nelson, NetSuite’s CEO, said he felt Oracle would evolve to be more like NetSuite in the SaaS and cloud era, instead of the other way around.
The Right Choice for Cloud Genius ERP – And Our Customers
ERP projects have often succeeded or failed based on five key factors:
- How much planning is done ahead of time to design a business roadmap, define responsibilities and define a destination or definition of success.
- How well a business application can be customized to how a company does business, such as custom fields and workflows.
- Success of user and administrator onboarding and testing.
- How scalable and flexible a solution is to evolve with a business as it grows and pivots.
- Project management and post-deployment success validation.
Our team of developers, application engineers and business analysts have deep expertise to ensure these criteria are met to our clients’ satisfaction. Does your Detroit-area business need help deciding between NetSuite and other business applications? Have you already acquired or decided on NetSuite, and need expertise to roll it out across your company, or integrate it with legacy systems? Let’s book a meeting to plan the best cloud ERP strategy for your business.