While NetSuite is available online as a SaaS, it isn’t as simple as getting an account and immediately starting to use it. To successfully implement, you must strategically select the right partner for your business, which requires consideration of short- and long-term goals and your plans for the platform.
Every implementation partner is different; some partners are a better fit for your company than others, as some partners work in specific industries. Let’s take a closer look at what it means to be a NetSuite partner to help you identify what you need.
What Does it Mean to Be a NetSuite Partner?
NetSuite partners customize NetSuite software solutions to your specific business needs. This usually includes discussing your current business processes and what kind of process transformations you wish to occur.
A NetSuite partner should have experience implementing many types of NetSuite integrations with newer and legacy systems. They should also be involved in the data migration process from current systems into NetSuite and will create a configuration tailored to your specific business needs.
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Expertise You Need
Your NetSuite partner needs the expertise to match your people, processes, and technologies.
The right partner for your business will be able to demonstrate how they solve problems. They can discuss how they delivered results for previous clients in an industry similar to yours. Feel free to ask them how long they’ve been working with NetSuite and how many implementations they’ve done during that time.
The provider may be able to provide case studies on past projects. It can be worthwhile to ask them about the pain points that their past customers had and how they solved them. You can ask about the implementation’s impacts on the business, what challenges they found along the way, and how they addressed those challenges.
Look for a Partnership
It’s important to remember that working with the NetSuite partners is not a transaction but a partnership. You want your NetSuite partner to take a consultative approach when implementing the platform in your business. They need to understand the needs of your company and be able to provide advice on best practices for resolving problems for you.
It’s likely that any implementation partner that offers an out-of-the-box type of solution without a needs analysis will not understand your business well enough to provide a successful implementation.
The right advisor will likely be smaller and more agile. They must be able to pivot quickly where needed and have the ability to move processes around to really support your business. They need to realize that companies are unique, people have different methods, and various issues can arise during implementation.
The Right Pricing Structure
As a word of caution, NetSuite Direct and some consulting firms may give you a flat rate designed to fit within your budget. Unfortunately, the reality is that pricing for a proper implementation can vary. Choosing a flat rate may cause you to end up with a rigid implementation that does not fit your needs. With a fixed bid, you either “get what you pay for” and require further optimization, or you end up with a firm that “nickels and dimes” your business with every little customization necessary to get things working correctly.
Flat rate models often leave you with a system that ends up being a bottleneck for your business. Understanding all the costs—including hard costs like professional services and required hardware—is essential. There are also soft costs including those that cover:
- Labor.
- Mistakes and timelines.
- Training.
- Testing.
- Change management.
- Customer disruption.
Slow Down to Speed Up
How can you help to mitigate costs? You need to have clear requirements and make sure you have considered all functions and processes upfront to prevent changes. You need to slow down to speed up and ensure you have checked and covered all your bases. To select a suitable ERP, NetSuite needs to be optimized for your business to scale. You must ensure the chosen system can do what you expect to avoid expensive custom development.
For expert support on your implementation journey, contact CrossCountry Consulting.