The Ultimate Guide to NetSuite ERP: The Top Key Facts 2024

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What is NetSuite ERP?

NetSuite ERP system screenshot

NetSuite ERP is a cloud-based software solution that helps businesses manage their core processes, such as accounting, inventory, and order management. NetSuite ERP is designed to be scalable, flexible, and customizable to fit the needs of different industries and sizes of businesses.

In this blog post, we will explore some of the key features and benefits of NetSuite ERP, as well as some of the challenges and drawbacks that you should be aware of before choosing this solution for your business.

Top 10 NetSuite ERP Industries

NetSuite serves a wide range of industries. With its extensive suite of features and capabilities, NetSuite effectively supports businesses across diverse sectors. From manufacturing and retail to wholesale distribution and professional services, NetSuite’s industry-specific solutions empower organizations to streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and drive growth. Whether you operate in healthcare, nonprofit, technology, or any other industry, NetSuite offers tailored functionalities to address your unique requirements.

1. eCommerce

NetSuite ERP enables online merchants to:

  1. Manage their web store, inventory, order fulfillment, marketing, and customer service from a single platform.
  2. It Supports multiple currencies, languages, and tax rules for global e-commerce.

2. Manufacturing

NetSuite ERP helps manufacturers:

  1. Streamline their production processes and optimize their resources
  2. Manage their inventory and supply chain
  3. Comply with industry standards and regulations.
  4. It supports multiple manufacturing modes, such as make-to-stock, make-to-order, assemble-to-order, and engineer-to-order.

3. Wholesale and Distribution

NetSuite ERP helps wholesalers and distributors:

  1. Improve their operational efficiency
  2. Reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction. 
  3. It provides real-time visibility into inventory levels, demand trends, order status, and profitability. 
  4. It also supports multiple warehouses, locations, and channels.

4. Retail

NetSuite ERP helps retailers:

  1. Deliver a seamless and omnichannel shopping experience to their customers.
  2. It integrates with point-of-sale (POS) systems, e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and social media to provide a unified view of customers, orders, inventory, and promotions.
  3. It also enables retailers to manage their merchandising, pricing, marketing, and loyalty programs.

5. Non-profit

NetSuite helps non-profit organizations

  1. Manage their finances, donors, grants, projects, and programs.
  2. It provides tools for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, fundraising, compliance, and governance. 
  3. It supports multiple currencies, languages, and tax rules for global non-profits.

6. Software and Technology

NetSuite helps software and technology companies:

  1. Manage their complex revenue recognition, recurring revenue management, renewals management, and billing processes.
  2. It supports multiple business models, such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and subscription-based services

7. Professional Services

NetSuite helps professional services firms:

  1. Manage their projects, resources, timesheets, expenses, invoices, and profitability.
  2. It also provides tools for collaboration, communication, and knowledge management.

8. Financial Services

NetSuite ERP helps financial services firms:

  1. Meet the increasing regulatory compliance demands
  2. Ensure high levels of operational controls, and manage their global operations and multi-subsidiary locations with ease and efficiency.
  3. It supports multiple currencies, languages, and tax rules for global financial services.

9. Healthcare

NetSuite ERP helps healthcare organizations:

  1. Improve their visibility, minimize complexity, and remain flexible in the face of constant change.
  2. It provides solutions for patient management, billing, revenue cycle management, supply chain management, and analytics.

10. Education

NetSuite ERP helps education institutions:

  1. Manage their finances, students, faculty, staff, courses, programs, and alumni.
  2. It provides tools for enrollment, registration, grading, transcripts, financial aid, and fundraising.

Where are NetSuite servers located?

NetSuite Location

NetSuite servers are located in multiple geographically distinct data centers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Each data center has a counterpart that provides:

  • Data mirroring,
  • Disaster recovery
  • Failover capabilities

It is in its region in case any data center becomes non-operational. NetSuite ERP also operates a hosting operations team that monitors the system performance and availability 24/7.

NetSuite status is the measure of how well NetSuite ERP services are functioning at any given time. NetSuite status is displayed on a publicly available status page that shows system status at all times, including quantitative availability metrics as well as up-to-the-minute announcements during disruptions. NetSuite also provides a Service Level Commitment (SLC) that guarantees a 99.7% availability (outside scheduled service windows) for the NetSuite ERP service. Credit is available if NetSuite does not deliver on its SLC promise.

NetSuite Current Status

Who are NetSuite ERP competitors?

Exploring an ERP options beyond Oracle NetSuite? Discover the cloud-based ERP solutions that product-centric businesses, like Oracle NetSuite users, have taken into account when making their purchasing choices. When assessing various alternatives, prospective buyers analyze strengths in areas such as assessment and agreement, integration and implementation, customer service and assistance, and unique product functionalities. Check out The Top alternatives ranked by recent software buyers by Gartner:

Top Oracle NetSuite Alternatives

Acumatica Cloud ERP

Acumatica Cloud ERP is a cloud-based ERP platform that offers functionality for financial management, distribution, manufacturing, project accounting, and customer management. It provides a flexible and customizable system that can adapt to specific business requirements. Acumatica is known for its user-friendly interface and mobile accessibility.

SAP Business One

SAP Business One is an integrated ERP solution for small and medium-sized businesses that cover various aspects of a company, such as accounting, sales, inventory, purchasing, customer relationships, reporting, and analytics. It can run on a Microsoft SQL server or SAP HANA in-memory platform and be deployed on-premises or in the cloud. It is scalable, customizable, and suitable for different industries and subsidiaries.

Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct is a cloud ERP system for high-growth small and medium-sized businesses that offers applications for core financials and accounting, purchasing, order management, financial reporting and business intelligence. It also integrates with Salesforce CRM and other third-party software. It is designed to help businesses improve margins, reduce errors and make better decisions with real-time data visibility.

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a family of ERP and CRM software products that cater to different business sizes and needs. Some of the products include Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics AX. They offer applications for financial management, supply chain management, project management, customer engagement, human resources and more. They can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud, and they can integrate with other Microsoft products like Office 365 and Power BI.

Workday

Workday is a cloud-based enterprise software suite that provides a wide range of applications for human capital management, financial management, and business planning. It offers organizations a unified platform to manage their workforce, streamline HR processes, handle payroll, track time and attendance, and facilitate financial management tasks such as accounting, budgeting, and procurement. Workday’s intuitive interface, mobile accessibility, and powerful analytics capabilities make it a popular choice for medium to large-sized organizations seeking a modern and integrated ERP solution.

Odoo

Odoo is an open-source ERP solution that offers a free community version and a paid enterprise version. It has a large support user base and heavy customization options. It provides sales, CRM, accounting, manufacturing, inventory, and more modules. It can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud and accessed via a web browser or a mobile app.

What is the cost of NetSuite ERP?

NetSuite Licenses Pricing
General Access user$ 120 / month
Employee Self Service user$ 19 / month (sold in packs of 5)
Planning and Budgeting$ 120
NetSuite Support Pricing
NetSuite SupportFor free
Sandbox environment10% of the estimated price
NetSuite Implementation Pricing
Small Implementation – 250 hours$ 25,000
Med-Size Implementation – 400 hours$ 40,000
Enterprise Implementation – 600 hours$ 60,000
NetSuite Pricing for Connectors by Celigo
NetSuite Shopify Connector$ 5,400 / year
NetSuite Salesforce Connector$ 6,000 / year
Total Solution Cost = (User License Cost * Number of Users) + Implementation Cost + Support Cost.

Determining the pricing for NetSuite, an Oracle product, involves considering various components. These include NetSuite licenses, NetSuite SuiteApps, NetSuite Support, NetSuite Implementation, and the NetSuite Connectors.

NetSuite ERP Licenses Pricing: NetSuite Licenses Pricing: NetSuite operates on a subscription-based model, with pricing based on factors like the number of users and required modules. The subscription fee covers access to NetSuite’s core functionality with a base price of $999 and a user price of $99.

NetSuite SuiteApps: SuiteApps are third-party applications that enhance and extend the functionality of NetSuite. The pricing for SuiteApps can vary, with some being free while others requiring additional fees.NetSuite offers a vast marketplace of SuiteApps. The top SuiteApps may include solutions for CRM, e-commerce, inventory management, financial reporting, and more. The pricing for these SuiteApps can vary based on their specific features and functionalities.

NetSuite Support Pricing: NetSuite provides different support options. Essential Support is typically included in the subscription fee, providing access to self-service support and a knowledge base. There are also some additional support options, such as enhanced support or NetSuite Managed Services, which come at an additional cost. 

NetSuite Implementation Pricing: Implementing NetSuite involves configuration, customization, data migration, and training. The implementation cost can vary depending on the complexity of the organization’s requirements and the extent of customization needed. This cost is typically separate from the subscription fee. The implementation fee is a one-time payment from  $20,000 to $45,000.

Azdan adheres to the NetSuite One Implementation Methodology in their customer implementations to ensure successful and tailored implementations for customers of all sizes. It consists of five key elements:

NetSuite Pricing for Connectors: NetSuite offers connectors that integrate with other systems or platforms. Pricing for these connectors can vary depending on the specific integration requirements.

What are NetSuite ERP partners types?

NetSuite relies on a diverse network of partners to deliver comprehensive solutions and services to businesses. These partners include:

Alliance partners

These are value-added resellers (VARs) that sell, license, implement, and support NetSuite to end-users. They also provide industry-specific solutions and services based on NetSuite. They earn commissions and margins from NetSuite sales and renewals.

Solution providers

These are value-added resellers (VARs) that sell, license, implement, and support NetSuite to end-users. They also provide industry-specific solutions and services based on NetSuite. They earn commissions and margins from NetSuite sales and renewals.

SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN) partners

These are independent software vendors (ISVs) that develop applications and integrations that extend and enhance NetSuite functionality. They also offer complementary solutions that work with NetSuite. They can leverage NetSuite’s development tools, APIs, and marketplace to create and distribute their products.

Can Netsuite ERP be Customized?

NetSuite can be customized in various ways to suit your business needs and preferences. It offers a range of tools and options for customization such as:

  • SuiteBuilder: This is a visual, point-and-click tool that lets you enhance the out-of-the-box NetSuite experience by creating custom records, forms, fields, tabs, subtabs, and other user-facing components. You can also personalize the user interface and the printed documents according to your branding and localization settings.
  • SuiteFlow: This is a workflow management tool that lets you automate common tasks and processes with visually defined workflows that don’t require coding. You can also use triggers, actions, conditions, transitions, and states to control the flow of data and events in NetSuite.
  • SuiteScript: This is a scripting tool that lets you create business applications and programmatically defined customizations that extend NetSuite functionality. You can use JavaScript to write scripts that run on the server-side or the client-side, and leverage NetSuite’s APIs and libraries to interact with the data and the user interface.
  • SuiteTalk: This is a web services integration tool that lets you exchange business-critical data at scale with existing on-premises or cloud-native applications over industry standard interfaces like REST, SOAP, CSV, ODBC and .NET. You can also use SuiteTalk to access NetSuite’s external APIs and webhooks to trigger events or actions based on data changes.

Can NetSuite ERP do Payroll?

NetSuite ERP can do payroll for employees in the United States with its SuitePeople Payroll system. This is a full-service payroll solution that automates payroll processes, such as:

  • Calculating gross-to-net earnings
  • Withholding mandatory taxes
  • Deducting benefits and other contributions
  • Scheduling and issuing payments
  • Filing and managing payroll taxes
  • Providing employee self-service capabilities
  • Posting payroll data to the general ledger in real time

NetSuite Payroll can help you simplify payroll processes, reduce errors, enhance compliance, lower costs, and improve visibility over your payroll expenses. Here are five payroll solutions for NetSuite SuiteApp.

5 Payroll Solutions for NetSuite SuiteApp

  1. SuitePeople US Payroll: SuitePeople USA Payroll is a comprehensive payroll solution designed specifically for businesses operating in the United States. It streamlines and automates the entire payroll process, including payroll calculations, tax withholding, and deductions. With SuitePeople USA Payroll, you can ensure accurate and timely payroll processing while complying with federal and state payroll regulations.
  2. Inopeople Middle East Payroll: Inopeople Middle East Payroll is a localized payroll solution tailored for businesses operating in the Middle East region. It provides extensive support for the unique payroll requirements and regulations of various Middle Eastern countries. With Inopeople Middle East Payroll, you can efficiently manage payroll processes, including compliance with local labor laws, tax calculations, and employee benefits specific to the Middle East.

  3. Deputy (SuiteApp from Australia): Deputy is a workforce management software that helps businesses efficiently schedule and manage their employees. It provides features for creating schedules, managing time and attendance, and streamlining communication with employees. The integration between Deputy and NetSuite enables smooth payroll and workforce management (WFM) operations. It transfers timesheets from Deputy to NetSuite, facilitating employee onboarding for schedule creation and clocking in/out for time and attendance purposes.

  4. UKG PayrollPro (SuiteApp from Canada): UKG Pro offers a unified cloud solution for HR, payroll, and talent management with powerful analytics. It integrates seamlessly with NetSuite’s ERP suite, enabling businesses to manage their entire lifecycle efficiently. This partnership combines deep features in financials, supply chain, customer relationship management, HR, payroll, and talent management. It provides a tightly integrated solution with cloud flexibility and scalability.

  5. Infinet Cloud (SuiteApp from UK): Infinet Cloud Payroll manages Australian, New Zealand, and UK payroll within NetSuite. It ensures compliance, updates, and handles leave management. It’s used by over 650 NetSuite customers globally, streamlining payroll across multiple jurisdictions. With one-click access to payroll data, it’s the go-to solution for in-house payroll management.

Can I Integrate NetSuite ERP with other Solutions

You can integrate NetSuite with other solutions using the NetSuite SuiteCloud Platform Integration. This is a set of tools and technologies that enable you to securely exchange data between NetSuite and your on-premises or cloud-native applications using industry standards such as REST, SOAP, CSV, ODBC and .NET.

You can also leverage the NetSuite Connector to set up data-mapping between NetSuite and your ecommerce storefronts, point of sale systems, online marketplaces and third-party logistics providers. NetSuite integration can help you connect your systems, automate processes, and gain visibility into your business.

How can I learn NetSuite?

  • Explore NetSuite’s Learning Resources: NetSuite offers a range of learning resources, including documentation, tutorials, videos, and webinars. Start by visiting the NetSuite Help Center and the SuiteAnswers knowledge base, where you can find comprehensive guides and articles on various NetSuite functionalities.

  • Take Advantage of NetSuite Training: NetSuite provides training programs designed for different user roles and skill levels. The SuiteTraining program offers instructor-led courses, virtual classrooms, and self-paced online training modules. You can enroll in courses that cover specific modules or areas of NetSuite that are relevant to your role or interests.

  • Seek Professional Certification: NetSuite offers certifications for professionals who want to validate their NetSuite expertise. The NetSuite Certification program provides exams for various roles, including administrators, developers, consultants, and financial users. Obtaining a certification can enhance your credibility and demonstrate your proficiency in working with NetSuite.

  • Utilize NetSuite Sandbox: NetSuite offers a sandbox environment that allows you to experiment and practice without affecting your live data. You can request access to a sandbox account to explore the features, test configurations, and gain hands-on experience in a safe environment.

What are NetSuite Certification Types ?

  • Administrator: This group includes the SuiteFoundation certification, which is a prerequisite for all other certifications, and the NetSuite Certified Administrator certification, which tests your ability to manage and maintain a NetSuite account. These certifications are suitable for NetSuite power users, administrators, developers, and consultants who need a comprehensive understanding of NetSuite’s ERP and system.
  • User: This group includes five product-specific certifications that test your proficiency in using NetSuite features and modules. These certifications are ideal for accounting and finance professionals who use SuiteAnalytics, SuiteCommerce, ERP, Financial User, or Advanced Revenue Management. These certifications are shorter and focused on specific NetSuite functions.

To know more about the certification program click here. To take the exam click here.

Who are the Top Customers Running on NetSuite ERP?

  • Avant: A fintech company that migrated to NetSuite for loan processing and credit card management, gaining real-time visibility and cost savings through streamlined financial reporting.
  • Qardio: A technology company that chose NetSuite OneWorld to support global expansion, optimizing order and financial management while gaining real-time insights and a comprehensive customer database.
  • Shaw Industries: One of the world’s largest carpet manufacturers, utilizing NetSuite OneWorld for global order and financial management, effectively managing subsidiaries and facilitating international operations.
  • Make-A-Wish Foundation: A non-profit organization that simplified complex financial processes by adopting NetSuite, automating donations and allowing more time for fulfilling wishes.
  • Charlotte Tilbury: A makeup brand that transitioned to NetSuite OneWorld, consolidating inventory management, customer relationship management, and reporting, resulting in real-time figures, cost savings, and customization capabilities.
  • YouGov: An international market research firm utilizing NetSuite’s systems, such as OneWorld, Revenue Recognition, and SuiteProjects, to support growth, generating a 100% revenue increase with minimal administrative staff increase.
  • Brandwatch: A social media software company implementing NetSuite OneWorld for accounting management across global offices, automating tax requirements, streamlining reporting, and facilitating rapid expansion.
  • Secrid: A Dutch wallet manufacturer streamlining business processes with NetSuite ERP, gaining reliable analysis, insights, and retail/trade sales information, along with flexible workflows for enhanced efficiency.

Conclusion

NetSuite ERP is a powerful and flexible cloud-based solution that can help businesses of any size and industry to manage their core processes, such as accounting, inventory, order management, and more. NetSuite ERP offers many benefits, such as scalability, customization, real-time visibility, automation, and integration.

However, NetSuite ERP also has some challenges, such as complexity, cost, and learning curve. Therefore, businesses should carefully evaluate their needs and goals before choosing NetSuite ERP as their solution.

If you are interested in learning more about NetSuite ERP or want to see a free demo, please contact us today. We are a certified NetSuite partner and we can help you with your NetSuite implementation, optimization, and support.

Picture of Aynur Nashaat

Aynur Nashaat

I am a B2B marketing executive skilled in blog writing and content creation. With expertise in marketing strategies, I excel at crafting engaging content that drives results. I have a passion for creating impactful B2B-focused content that educates and influences the target audience.

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