NetSuite

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The First-Time User’s Guide to NetSuite Integration & Training Options

NetSuite

If there’s one truly powerful piece of software that literally wears many hats, and can easily be accessed via the cloud, perhaps it’s none other than – NetSuite! Oracle NetSuite is a powerful, wide-reaching enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform that covers, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, human resource management and more. If you are a first-time user, here’s your guide to NetSuite training and integration, along with a quick look at the pros and cons of learning it.

Customizing and Learning NetSuite Can Take Some Time

NetSuite was founded by a bunch of talented individuals named Larry Ellison and Evan Goldberg in 1998. It was called NetLedger then. This was pre-cloud computing, and during this time there weren’t as many business solutions that were hosted online, as the majority were on-premises.

In late 1998, Oracle bought NetLedger, and it was renamed Oracle Small Business, which eventually became NetSuite. Today, it has become a publicly-traded company with offices all over the planet, and has pulled in approximately $741 in revenue in 2015 alone.

NetSuite separates its features into different areas – Expenses, human resources and pipeline analytics, and it’s reflected in its design, with features separated into different tabs across the top of the program.

It’s crucial to note that NetSuite is amazingly customizable, so much that you can limit the number of tabs on top (Because you want to focus on something like sales), or track the average selling price of a product in a certain region of the world.

But then again, like mastering other types of software or systems, NetSuite requires a little bit of getting used to. Although NetSuite training can be a bit time-consuming, although the rewards are certainly greater than what most would expect.

What Users Think About It 

Users are divided on how easy the training and familiarization is for NetSuite (which is quite understandable for first-time users). But then again, they all agree that it indeed is a very powerful piece of software, which offers a lot of customization.

One senior financial analyst that I talked to recently says that he finds NetSuite quite easy to use and setup. He adds that it’s also very intuitive, as compared to other accounting software or ERP platforms.

He further notes that he used to work with SAP, and to be efficient he had to memorize a lot of t-codes, as well as go through dozens of awkward screens. But with NetSuite, he says that he can be semi-efficient with it in just a matter of days, or even in an hour. And, since it’s cloud-based, and fully integrates with other important business software like Adaptive Planning, he says all the training and familiarization are worth it.

Another user who works as a company administrator says that NetSuite’s support is very much responsive, although one might run into limitations based on their plan, or based on their current circumstances.

He further adds that support is very responsive, but depending on the level of support purchased it may take a while to get answers and issues resolved. Although NetSuite does assign an account manage who can be contacted by phone anytime to help expedite support issues as needed. 

How Well Does NetSuite Integrate with Other Software or Applications?

It’s amazing to note that NetSuite has the ability integrate with 86 apps on GetApp, and it ranks first in their category leader ranking for accounting and business management.  While NetSuite has fewer integrations than some accounting apps, the good thing is that the company who owns it (Oracle) offers a full suite of applications which natively integrate with each other.

Pros, Cons & Pricing

Now, let’s discuss the ups and down, the pros and cons of NetSuite, along with its pricing. As mentioned earlier, NetSuite gets high scores across the board in terms of integration, customization, wide-reaching applications and more.

For the pros, the good thing with NetSuite is that it covers multiple categories from accounting to inventory, customer service, e-commerce and more. It’s also powerful and customizable, has greater reliability, no downtime, and takes a little time to get the system up and running.

Now for the cons, some say that the software can be complicated to use. Thus, it pays to give your full attention to all the subjects during your NetSuite training. The system can also be quite expensive for small business (although if the startup if serious about moving up in terms of enhancing their operations, and improving their revenues, then I strongly suggest that they subscribe to NetSuite).

Well, to be honest, NetSuite would probably be too costly (and perhaps unnecessary) for a small business that’s beginning. Experts say that NetSuite’s starting price is at $499 a month.

However, businesses who are starting to see significant growth, or have a profitable market niche already, should consider giving it a second look. Understandably, the full-blown NetSuite option may not be necessary, or affordable for your business.

However, Oracle has surprisingly spun different features off into individual, and truly individual or customized solutions. Examples of this include their CRM, e-commerce and inventory management apps.

Training Options

Now there are actually two options for NetSuite training, and these are enrolling in online courses, or hiring a training consultant who will teach the students remotely or in person.

Online NetSuite courses are great, and one will have the option to buy a course directly from NetSuite, although they can expect to pay between $2,000 to $5,000 per course.

It can be fairly subjective to determine the length of a particular NetSuite course, and it may likely differ from individual to another. For example, some people end up taking a course that had a timeframe of 4 days in just one day. 

For an individual who’s never seen or interacted with NetSuite before in their entire life, they can expect to finish things a little bit longer though.

However, the good thing is that there’s a free NetSuite beginner online course, which outlines the major pieces that the typical user will see. Among the topics that would most likely be included in this free Beginner course for NetSuite include Navigation Tricks, SuiteAnswers, SuiteBundler Installations, Saved Search, CSV Upload, Roles and Permissions, Dashboards, Company Info/General Preferences and Personalize Settings.

Most companies in the small and medium-sized market opt for onsite NetSuite training. Generally training in this field comes from NetSuite partners who have resources coming onsite. You can always search for consulting companies in your area that are partnered with NetSuite.

Highlighted red will go to this page https://cogtek.co/netsuite-training-advanced-support/