Introduction to NetSuite

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I told you a few months back that Insightful Accountant was growing in terms of our coverage, and that meant that we would be writing a lot more about other products outside the typical product lines we have covered over the past several years. One of the primary reasons for this is that we are trying to ‘time our own growth’ with the typical small business that is transitioning to becoming a mid-level business. That means that they are probably reaching the point that they are outgrowing solutions like QuickBooks (Desktop or Online), Xero and Sage 50, because the reality is that no matter how many 3rd-party add-on solutions or Apps you plug into one of these ‘starter products,’ you simply can’t meet all the needs of a truly growing company that has progressed beyond ‘small’ status.

That’s why I will be introducing you to NetSuite in a series of articles of which this is the first. You see, NetSuite is designed to help companies manage all aspects of their business in a single system rather than taking the ‘chunkification’ approach of plug-n-play Apps or 3rd-party add-ons to help you accomplish needed work.

NetSuite is an ‘all-in-one’ cloud-based platform that really is the next logical step for small companies currently running QuickBooks or any of the other ‘starter general ledgers,’ that need to move up to a solution that can provide scalability and extensibility as they continue to grow and expand from a mid-size business to an enterprise-level company. The NetSuite ‘financial core’ serves as the basis for the features you need ranging from eCommerce and supply chain management to inventory-centric retail or process-manufacturing. And with features like CRM and HR as well as customizable management dashboards your entire organization will be enamored with NetSuite as they transition from their old faithful QuickBooks to the ‘bigger and better’ solution on the block.

So, experience has shown me that there are really three kinds of people when it comes to these kinds of systems and the idea of ‘change.’ First, we have managers who are looking for some very specific things like key information available in the most simplistic and quickest manner possible. Second, we have the accounting/bookkeeping personnel who want ease of access to the actual accounting records and want to assure that the information is recorded in a manner that is consistent with ‘how the company’ tracks critical data, as well as meeting fundamental accounting principles (after all, this is an accounting system). Third, we have typical users (the real workers in operations) who want the most simplistic way of doing their work possible, or recording what must be tracked, and absolutely not having to ‘duplicate’ any work by recording something in more than one place. If a system can accomplish all these things, then typically it is a success.

With these three areas in mind let me introduce you to NetSuite by discussing just a few of the features that fit into each of these categories. Remember, this is just my ‘introduction,’ I will have more details in the next couple of articles I will be writing when I take my ‘Deep Dive into NetSuite.’

Insightful Accountant is presenting two webinars with NetSuite in the next month. If you'd like to learn more, join us for these webinars "The Case for A Continuous Close" on January 16, 2020 and/or "Graduate Your Customers onto NetSuite to Scale Your Business" on February 4, 2020. Both webinars will be great presentations if you’re wanting to learn more about NetSuite or what ‘making the move’ can do for your firm.

Management Bliss

NetSuite1 includes pre-configured KPIs, workflows, reminders, reports and value-driven dashboards for daily and strategic needs, in other words all the kinds of things that management personnel just ‘fall in love with.’

Your management team will have real-time visibility to see consolidated financial results for any part of the business at a summary level and all the way down to the underlying transactional details. Combine that with built-In Business Intelligence that delivers a single version of the truth and provides real-time insights into key business performance indicators for a unified view of the organization and they will be experiencing ‘management bliss’ in no time.

Accounting/Bookkeeping Happiness

Keeping the accounting and bookkeeping staff happy isn’t always easy, but with NetSuite’s support for project accounting and reporting on project financials and profitability they will be on their way to loving NetSuite even more than they did their ‘old G/L’.

Add in features like automatic revenue recognition using flexible scheduling and sophisticated allocations, fixed asset lifecycle tracking, full-service payroll processing with time tracking support, incentive compensation and expense reimbursement, along with integrated budgeting and forecasting tools to manage financial projections against actuals and the accounting/bookkeeping team will be wondering why they weren’t using NetSuite ‘from day one.’

The Real Workers/Operations Panacea

Change is probably the most difficult for this group because they really don’t have time to do the work and worry about the newest software too, so they want the transition to be simple. This is where NetSuite’s integrated systems makes things much easier than the hodge-podge of 3rd-party Apps and software linked to their previous General Ledger. NetSuite now handles all the core processes, and can handle them from anywhere, even via mobile App.

So, let’s look at just a few of the areas where NetSuite can streamline the operations side of things:

Procurement, Receiving & Inventory Management

Purchasing can be a time-consuming and inefficient ordeal, NetSuite helps companies buy goods and services at the best cost and in a timely manner by saving employees’ valuable time with easy-to-use capabilities, reducing costs by channeling purchases to approved suppliers and improving visibility via real-time information regarding company spend and vendor performance.

Managing and coordinating the efficient transportation, receipt and storage of inbound inventory is critical to the success of your business. NetSuite offers native dashboards targeted at managing everything from expediting outstanding orders to scheduling specific receipt dates.

NetSuite also offers inventory tracking in multiple locations, safety stock, re-order points, cycle counts, demand planning and distribution requirements planning to make sure you have enough inventory on hand in the right locations to meet demand. And, NetSuite incorporates everything you would expect to help you maximize management of your products from the end of production through fulfillment and on-time delivery to your customers.

Order Management

NetSuite’s order management streamlines order processing by eliminating manual bottlenecks, preventing errors and establishing a smooth workflow from opportunities and sales quotes to sales order fulfillment ensuring timely invoicing and customer payments.

Manufacturing & Production

From sales order to work order processing, routing and scheduling, order fulfillment and product costing, NetSuite’s manufacturing features provide management of every step of the manufacturing process to help you define, manage and maintain your products throughout their life-cycle. NetSuite has a unique approach to item definition that permits items to be tailored so that the specific item type requires only the information that is appropriate to that type of item.

NetSuite’s routing functionality makes it easy to define the people, machines, work centers and time it takes to make every product. And, NetSuite’s Quality Management features are designed to help you deliver the highest quality in your products the first time thereby reducing returns and replacements.

With features like these everyone in Operations, whether they are in sales, order management, manufacturing, procurement or order fulfillment will be happy.  And folks, we have just gotten started looking at NetSuite, there is so much more I want to tell you. That’s why you will want to join me for the next part of this mini-series as I take my ‘Deep Dive into NetSuite’.

In the meantime, if you would like to get more information about NetSuite just head on over to the company’s website.

Insightful Accountant is presenting two webinars with NetSuite in the next month. If you'd like to learn more, join us for these webinars "The Case for A Continuous Close" on January 16, 2020 and/or "Graduate Your Customers onto NetSuite to Scale Your Business" on February 4, 2020. Both webinars will be great presentations if you’re wanting to learn more about NetSuite or what ‘making the move’ can do for your firm.

Footnotes:

1 – Included with NetSuite SuiteSuccess Starter Edition.

Disclosures and trademark acknowledgements:

QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit,Inc.; Xero is a registered trademark of Xero, Limited; Sage 50 is a registered trademark of Sage Group, plc.

While this article may reference sponsored webinars or other sponsored content, the author's content and opinions contained herein are his own and are not in any manner associated with sponsored content.