Midmarket businesses have a lot of options when it comes to ERP. With dozens of vendors and minimal differences between them, the consultation and pitch process can become immensely convoluted when demos start to look similar. However, these small differences add up, and over the 5-10 years you will be using a software, a slight inefficiency can turn into a major detriment.
For growing businesses, these inefficiencies not only stack up, they scale with your business. More transactions, more quotes, more invoices—the challenges start to multiply.
As one of your primary jobs during an ERP decision is to look at solutions that deliver now and in the future. Too focused on the long term and you pay more than you should today, too focused on today’s needs and you could cripple future growth. While the cloud has made it easier than ever to grow your software with your business, it’s important to know that your vendor has the skills to innovate and the backing to support your business throughout the software’s useful life.
At MIBAR, we believe NetSuite is one of the best choices for businesses in need of a current and future solution that can streamline processes, saving your people time and your business money. That said, there are always places where a software product can improve, and at their annual SuiteWorld event, Oracle and NetSuite announced new ways they plan to deliver for growing businesses, specifically those making between $1 million and $200 million in revenue.
Steps NetSuite is Taking to Better Serve the Midmarket
One of the biggest questions that analysts and potential customers alike had during the Oracle acquisition was the company’s ability to deliver for growing businesses. Many naysayers thought the acquisition would reinforce their enterprise focus, a myth we debunked in our blog “Is NetSuite Too Big for Our Business?”
Even if we can prove through our implementation success stories that the product is not only viable but designed to help growing businesses thrive, it’s exciting to see that they are doubling down on delivering solutions for companies like yours. In a recent CIO article, author Marc Ferranti discussed some of the ways NetSuite looks to deliver, looking at advancements to the product, improved relationships with software partners, easier implementations, and more.
“We were going after a lot of different targets, trying to attack the enterprise, trying to continue to do well down-market and that’s a real challenge,” said Evan Goldberg, Executive Vice President of Oracle NetSuite in an interview ahead of SuiteWorld. “Now Oracle has us really directed at these fast-growing mid-size companies and the vast chasm between packaged software solutions or really low-end services like QuickBooks and big enterprise ERP systems.”
How can they do this and what steps are they taking?
Improving on SuiteSuccess
SuiteSuccess is engineered to solve unique industry challenges that historically have limited a company’s ability to grow, scale and adapt to change. Helping companies get up and running quickly with the software, NetSuite has continued on improving SuiteSuccess by enhancing its vertical-market cloud applications. One location this has come about was the company completing one of its first big co-projects with parent Oracle—the addition of Planning and Budgeting Cloud Service (PBCS) to SuiteSuccess.
Using a the powerful Oracle PCBS functionality, this platform provides templates for NetSuite’s core verticals, including warehouse distribution, manufacturing, marketing and advertising agency, software, retail, services and nonprofit.
Building Bridges with Third Party Developers
Though NetSuite can integrate with a wide range of third-party solutions with relative ease, one of the most common critiques has been its ability to build bridges with developers through a robust third-party marketplace. Today’s customers expect vendors to work with other products, with the CIO article noting that to continue its ascent, the company will have to play along with focused products including front-end ecommerce and tax providers. One such way the company has looked to deliver is by offering a standard API to deliver stronger integrations:
“We’re adding an entire REST [Representational State Transfer] interface for NetSuite that’s gonna help from a technical perspective get more partners to build deeper integrations,” Goldberg said.
SuiteTax API Helps Companies Grow Globally
As information travels faster than ever, organizations are able to work with new customers in new markets. Knowing this, many companies are taking their business into the global market earlier than ever, creating a challenge that NetSuite has prepared for.
“Companies are going global faster than ever before and have gotten more complex than before so it’s this kind of double whammy for them — they have to do it all sooner, when they have fewer resources, and it’s more complicated than ever,” said Goldberg.
To address this, the company has developed the SuiteTax API, allowing the company to work with new partners.
SuiteAnalytics: A New Way to Query, Analyze, and Visualize Data
Another way that NetSuite has worked to improve its software is through the unveiling of SuiteAnalytics, a product a half-decade in the making, designed to provide additional business intelligence functionality, data visualization, and analysis tools for the everyday user. This product is designed to improve on the user experience of those users who would formerly pull data out of NetSuite, dump it into Excel, and use pivot tables to visualize data. Now NetSuite offers this functionality in an easy to use package.
Big Things on the Horizon for NetSuite—Bring Your Company into the Cloud
As a leading NetSuite partner in NYC, we believe there are few solutions that can stand up to NetSuite, but as we said, there is always room for improvement. We are excited that the company has increased its focus on integration while reinvigorating its focus on midmarket businesses.
We invite you to learn more about this powerful ERP product and contact us for a free consultation.
Additional NetSuite Resources:
ERP Customizations Made Easy with NetSuite
