Plenty of businesses approach a NetSuite implementation like installing any other simple piece of software. However, you may never see the full range of advantages this leading ERP solution can provide if you go it alone rather than teaming up with a NetSuite implementation consultant.
Treating the NetSuite ERP system like a plug-and-play fix can lead to mounting frustration as users try to bridge the learning curve without seeing clear benefits. If you want a seamless NetSuite implementation, you’ll want the support of a NetSuite implementation partner that offers a wide range of professional services.
What Is a NetSuite Implementation Consultant?
An implementation partner or consultant is a certified professional who helps businesses with their NetSuite ERP implementation to get the technology in place for their business. The NetSuite technology is incredibly robust and can streamline numerous business processes—but unless you know how to implement NetSuite in the right way for your business, the setup can be time-consuming and costly. (The hours that go into researching the best setup for your business and putting it in place could have been spent on revenue-generating activities.)
A NetSuite implementation partner helps businesses like yours for a living, so they’ve seen almost every need and know exactly how to meet it. That also means NetSuite partners save time and money because they’re doing NetSuite implementations with prior knowledge and expertise.
The trick, of course, is selecting a consultant or firm you can trust to understand your unique challenges and help you improve your operations, all at a lower cost.
In essence, a NetSuite consultant should help you save money, boost productivity, and avoid any potential pitfalls of NetSuite implementation. While not every implementation approach may be the same, we believe the best NetSuite implementation consultants meet the six criteria described below.
What Do NetSuite Consultants Do?
A NetSuite consultant is a technical expert or team of experts able to guide your business through the process of implementing and managing the cloud-based NetSuite ERP solution. That means their job description includes everything from tailoring a solution unique to your needs through staff training, implementation, and post-go-live support.
These experts should have insight into your industry’s unique needs and be able to identify NetSuite capabilities that can bridge your business process and workflow gaps. Their deep knowledge of NetSuite functionality and analytical approach should drive solutions that help your business realize all the potential benefits NetSuite can provide.
When it comes to an implementation partner working with your team, you can expect them to meet with stakeholders to understand your unique business requirements. After this scoping, they’ll likely relay the needs to the company project manager if the implementation process requires a team. This helps ensure everyone is on the same page and the project moves forward at a faster clip.
Your NetSuite implementation partner or implementation team will then begin the initial implementation of your NetSuite solution. They’ll ensure the ERP implementation targets your key business processes and is equipped with the latest insights on how to use the technology in an industry-specific way.
What Makes a Good NetSuite Consultant?
There are plenty of NetSuite consultants, but selecting a partner who can best meet your business needs is important. That’s exactly why we keep saying partner. The following factors can give organizations confidence that their NetSuite implementation consultant can meet their business needs.
1. Certification through NetSuite
There are several levels to NetSuite certification, each demonstrating expertise in implementation and administration. If you’re finding NetSuite partners through a larger firm, you want to look for NetSuite Alliance Partners. This means the firm has an official relationship with NetSuite reports that companies that work with certified professionals experience more effective deployments and see a greater return on their investment.
Being a certified NetSuite Alliance Partner ensures a consultant—or a firm offering NetSuite consulting services—possesses a comprehensive understanding of the NetSuite platform, its intricacies, and the skills to tailor it perfectly for your business. They are validated by NetSuite, demonstrating that they meet high industry standards and have a proven record of delivering high-quality services. This certification signifies their capacity to use their extensive knowledge of NetSuite to streamline your business processes for optimal efficiency, manage your data effectively, and provide ongoing support—all critical components for a successful implementation.
2. A Focus on Processes as Much as Technology
Technology alone can’t fix operational problems, and installing new technology without addressing process changes first can also highlight problems you didn’t know existed. That’s why a good NetSuite consultant will guide you through a business process review that identifies opportunities to align improved processes with superior technology.
A key element that your NetSuite implementation consultant will consider is examining and refining your processes before implementing or modifying technology. The reason is clear—your systems and processes are like gears in a well-oiled machine. The entire mechanism can break down if one piece fails or is not synchronizing properly.
Let’s consider recurring billing, a critical area for many businesses. While seemingly straightforward, this can be a complex process filled with nuances involving customer data management, invoicing schedules, payment processing, and more. If your present techniques are flawed or ineffective, installing cutting-edge software won’t miraculously solve the problem. It may even amplify these inefficiencies.
This is where a NetSuite consultant like those at 360 Cloud Solutions really proves their worth—they can provide an in-depth assessment of your recurring billing process. They’ll work with you to craft a revised, effective process flow by identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, or errors. Once these improved processes are identified, they can leverage NetSuite’s robust features to automate and optimize them. This means fewer human errors, faster turnaround times, and improved customer experience.
3. Guides You Through Change Management
Training should be a key part of any NetSuite implementation, but change management is bigger than simply teaching someone to use new software. Change management begins with education for employees and C-suite leaders around common objections. A consultant should help switch to cloud-based processes and make more efficient workflows feel seamless—not stressful.
Team readiness is a critical milestone in any successful ERP implementation. Everyone from the executives to the end-users should understand their role and be equipped to carry out their responsibilities within the new system. NetSuite partners guide organizations in creating focused, continuous training sessions tailored to the needs of different employee groups.
They follow a multi-phased process that begins with introductory training, advances to application-specific training, and finally, to the usage and troubleshooting stage. This comprehensive approach ensures a smooth transition and avoids the common pitfalls of technology-facing resistance and slow adaption rates amongst team members.
The transformational impact of an ERP system doesn’t come without complexity, as it fundamentally alters how businesses operate. Navigating these changes can be challenging and time-consuming without professional guidance. NetSuite partners bring a wealth of knowledge, not only of the software but also of industry best practices. They know the right questions to ask, the most effective processes to implement, and how to manage resources best.
Implementing the software without a NetSuite partner can result in overlooking critical procedural elements, inefficient use of resources, and delays. Ultimately, NetSuite partners significantly reduce the risk of unsuccessful or costly implementations.
4. Is Committed to Helping You Save Money
Making a shift to NetSuite ERP should drive cost savings by making your business more efficient and productive. Your ERP consultant should be equally on board with creating a structure that ultimately saves you money by ensuring you are only paying for the solutions you need, allowing you to scale cost-effectively.
Proficient NetSuite consulting services bring a combination of industry insight and software knowledge, which is crucial in customizing the software to your business’s unique needs. They adapt the broad functionality of NetSuite to suit your operations, thus ensuring that you won’t have to pay for extraneous features.
They also help orchestrate a smooth transition during NetSuite implementations, cutting downtime, training, and productivity loss costs. Furthermore, they provide critical insights for long-term budgeting, such as useful add-ons, updates, or alterations that could lead to significant cost savings down the line. Therefore, hiring a skilled NetSuite solution provider directly correlates with cost-effectiveness, making your NetSuite investment a catalyst for business growth and sustainability.
5. Provides Ongoing Support
Support can mean different things to different companies. For some, it may mean having immediate access to an expert who can resolve a technical issue. For others, it may mean augmenting your staff with project-specific support or ongoing system monitoring. A good NetSuite consultant should provide the versatility to meet your future needs.
6. Has Ample NetSuite Experience
NetSuite has been around since 1998, and it’s evolved in many ways since then. NetSuite implementation partners who have likewise evolved with this leading ERP solution are rare. Still, this long-term use can provide valuable insight in helping businesses get the most effective ERP implementation for their needs.
Experience is a factor that sets 360 Cloud Solutions apart. We were the third-ever NetSuite Partner, and our senior-level team has more than 125 years of combined experience in NetSuite know-how. Contact us today if you’re looking for an experienced partner to support your NetSuite implementation and operation and its business applications.
