7 Reasons NetSuite Is the Right ERP Solution for Fast-Growing Manufacturers
It’s a big and widening world out there, where opportunities can seem boundless for manufacturers but so can the challenges. To succeed in the expanding global playing field, you need software that’s flexible, scalable, and savvy enough to help you adjust to ever-changing market conditions.
NetSuite provides the unified and responsive ERP suite you need for effectively managing circumstances like complex supply chains, shifting customer demands, multiple locations, and market disruptions such as the most recent pandemic.
“What we need and how we operate and what it takes, we’re constantly evolving. To have a system that can constantly evolve with you, that’s huge,” observed the CFO/COO of Hourglass Cosmetics, a startup which worked with GSI, an authorized NetSuite reseller, as its implementation partner for NetSuite.
More specifically, here are seven reasons why NetSuite for Manufacturing is the right enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite for fast-growing manufacturers.
1. NetSuite Is Built for SaaS and Cloud from the Ground Up
Analysts agree that SMBs are increasingly turning to Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud-enabled ERP. NetSuite offers long-standing industry leadership in both these architectures.
"Large enterprises are rationalizing, modernizing, and transforming their enterprise application portfolio, and ERP is a prime concern. And when you add in the COVID-19 pandemic, the emphasis on digital and the purchase of more modern systems, the movement to SaaS and cloud-enabled ERP systems has begun,” noted Mickey North Rizza, Program VP, Enterprise Applications and Digital Commerce at IDC. Likewise, medium-sized/midmarket businesses are also investing toward their digital future with these ERP systems, the IDC analyst added.
Concurred Third Stage Consulting, in another recent report, said, “ERP systems and other enterprise technologies were already rapidly moving from on-premise to the cloud, but this trend will accelerate in the coming years. With more remote workers, globally dispersed supply chains, and data distributed among multiple systems, cloud ERP systems are becoming a necessity.”
As a startup company itself more than 20 years ago, NetSuite launched its first cloud-enabled SaaS solution way back in 1998. An acquisition by Oracle in 2016 provided NetSuite with the resources to become an even bigger player in ERP. NetSuite now has more than 26,000 customers of all sizes in approximately 100 countries. Recent industry recognition includes the following.
- NetSuite ranked as a leader in IDC’s 2020 worldwide report on medium-sized/midmarket business ERP applications.
- NetSuite has also been recognized as a 2020 Gartner Peer Insights Customer Choice for Service-Centric ERP, based on survey responses to Gartner from NetSuite customers.
- For the first time ever, NetSuite got the nod as the #1 ERP vendor in the 2020 edition of Third Stage Consulting’s annual ERP and HCM Report.
“The industry’s pioneer cloud ERP system is in a great spot now that other vendors are struggling to prematurely rush their cloud offerings to market,” Third Stage noted.
Learn more about the latest Netsuite release in Netsuite 2021.2.
2. NetSuite Is Based on a Customizable Modular Design
To help manufacturers and other businesses contain costs while they grow, NetSuite is a fully integrated ERP suite of applications. Every customer receives core ERP and customer relationship management (CRM) modules to meet business needs. Core ERP functionality includes standard financial capabilities, purchasing, order management, item and inventory management, and more. With the CRM core module, you get contact management as well as service and marketing/sales automation.
Optionally, however, you can easily add other applications from the suite. You only pay for the functionality you need. Some of the many additional applications in the suite are for financial planning and budgeting, advanced inventory management, fixed assets management, production management, warehouse management systems (WMS), B2B and B2C eCommerce, supply chain management (SCM), professional services automation (PSA), and human capital management (HCM), and more!
In the production management software, for example, you can view and edit your shop floor operations schedule through a calendar view application. You also get a real-time look at machine downtime, quality issues, and any shortages in labor or materials.
Beyond all that, you can tailor NetSuite to meet the specific needs of your business by customizing the user interface (UI) or using application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate NetSuite with other solutions, whether your favorite internal applications or financial and ERP systems of outside distributors and suppliers.
“GSI was the only partner that said they could handle our complex accounting and contextual business reporting needs, including incorporating our parent company’s chart of accounts. They delivered on all fronts,” maintained Hourglass’s CFO/COO.
3. Award-Winning Financial Software Is an Integral Part of the Picture
Speaking of financials, that’s the bottom line really for any business. NetSuite comes with a financial dashboard and financial analytics for real-time insights into the financial performance of your business. The NetSuite suite provides streamlined and auditable revenue and expense management.
It also works seamlessly with your manufacturing operations so that everyone in your organization shares a single “source of truth” for financial, sales, and customer data.
Also, for three years in a row, NetSuite has been named in the Leaders Quadrant of Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Core Financial Management Systems for Midsize, Large, and Global Enterprises.
Meanwhile, IDC has also named NetSuite a worldwide leader in SaaS and cloud-enabled finance and accounting applications for 2020.
4. Your ERP Data Remains Highly Available but Secure
Because NetSuite for manufacturers is a public cloud ERP solution, you have easy access to your ERP data from any location in the world, from any device. All you need is an internet connection and a web browser.
The system uses role-based profiles for permissions to access data among all employees. A dedicated team from NetSuite monitors the system on a 24/7 basis to ensure strict operational security.
5. Implementation Is Fast and Efficient
GSI’s NetSuite ERP implementation practice uses a proven and versatile five-step NetSuite implementation methodology called SuiteSuccess, designed to accommodate the diversity of requirements in each NetSuite implementation.
Through this approach, implementation can be accomplished in 100 days or less.
6. Your Company Saves Money on IT Costs
With a SaaS cloud-enabled ERP system like NetSuite, there’s no need to make upfront investments in server hardware and other infrastructure for running and accessing ERP. You can scale up capacity as your business grows, without spending money on purchasing additional infrastructure.
With NetSuite providing system management, maintenance, and security for ERP, you can redeploy IT staffing resources to more strategic projects.
7. Your Reach Grows More Global
As you expand into international markets, you need to address needs around multiple currencies and regulatory environments. NetSuite can adjust for currency, taxation, and legal compliance differences at the local level, with regional and global business consolidation and roll-up.
Your real-time visibility through NetSuite expands to the worldwide level for consistent and compliant management across the organization, locally and globally.
GSI Has Your NetSuite Needs Covered
You can continue to evolve with NetSuite no matter where on the globe your manufacturing business goes. It's easy to expand on NetSuite's SaaS and cloud-enabled architecture and modular design to grow along with your company as you move into new markets.
Contact GSI, a trusted NetSuite consulting and SaaS managed services provider, to get started today.