How do I Amplify the Value of my NetSuite Investment?

I was a NetSuite Direct Account Executive for 12 years. NetSuite is an excellent and powerful SaaS application with tremendous ROI, which is why, 3 years after leaving NetSuite, I came back to the product I love, this time working for BSP, a 5-Star NetSuite reseller and implementer. 

Something common that I continue to witness is companies making the investment in NetSuite, but then not getting the value out of the application after they go live.  This happens for many reasons, including:

• They didn’t have an internal administrator who had the aptitude or time required to quarterback the implementation or be the go-to NetSuite power user after they were live.
  
  
• Their staff turned over and they lost their NetSuite administrator.
  
  
• They elected for an inexpensive implementation when what they needed was more consulting hours and/or NetSuite expertise to fully configure and customize the application to properly run their business. 
  
  
• The implementation team itself lacked NetSuite expertise and/or an understanding of the customer’s business.
  
  
• End users were not included, informed, or consulted in the overall process, and the end-user-training was overlooked or ineffective.
  
  
• After going live, they didn’t have, hire or purchase the level of expertise or Support needed to continue optimizing the application for a changing business.  (A common sign of purchasing ineffectual Support is the # of hours used up by the consultant to research areas of the application or the business problem they don’t fully understand.) 

Thankfully, there are a few ways to right the ship and start wringing out every piece of value in a company’s NetSuite investment. It all starts with choosing a team of NetSuite experts to deliver the services required to get back on track and begin reaping the ROI. This may require paying a higher hourly rate for the proper NetSuite expertise vs. offshore entry-level resources, but it’s well worth the investment. 

Why? Because expert consultants take less time to identify and solve problems or architect solutions.  Think of it this way… would you prefer to pay a lower hourly rate and spend more hours on the phone with an inexperienced consultant … or pay a higher hourly rate and solve the problem faster, with confidence?

Getting a company’s NetSuite investment where it can reap the expected ROI can involve one or more services, as follows: 

1. NetSuite Assessment - A Health Check For Your NetSuite Deployment 
   This involves opening up the hood to understand how a company is utilizing NetSuite, seeing how it compares to their business goals, and getting a written recommendation of how to move forward from NetSuite experts.  More information about BSP’s Assessment service can be found here.
   
   
2. NetSuite Support - A Subscription Support Contract with an Expert Team
   For customers who don’t have access to a solid NetSuite administrator as much as they’d like to, it may make sense to purchase a Support contract. Support contracts can vary in services performed, right up to giving administrator rights to the NetSuite experts, so they can perform that role on behalf of the company.  BSP’s three levels of Support services can be found here.
   
   
3. NetSuite Projects - Customizations, Integrations, Workflows or Modules
   Sometimes what’s required is additional functionality to streamline a company’s operations. These services are scoped out and performed as one-time projects, agreed upon within a Statement of Work.  BSP has extensive experience with SuiteScript, SuiteTalk, SuiteFlow and of course configuring new modules or fixing existing configurations to better meet the needs of the business. Learn more about our Flex-Time project blocks here.

NetSuite is a journey, but it’s well worth the investment when the application is configured and utilized properly. Our team is here to help. Please feel free to contact me with any of your NetSuite needs.