The state of ERP

NetSuite

Unlike other major ERP vendors, NetSuite's solutions are completely cloud-based on-demand services, with no on-premises options available. NetSuite operates across a wide range of industries, including agriculture, retail, IT reselling, e-commerce, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and advertising, and has a presence in a number of countries including Australia and the Asia Pacific region, although its biggest presence is in the US.

The core NetSuite product is comprised of four main modules, one of which is Accounting/ERP. This offers a range of core business financials such as general ledger and budgeting, and ERP functionalities such as order and supply chain management, HCM and business intelligence. Due to all of NetSuite's products being built on the same platform, ERP customers can extend any single product with extra functionality like CRM, web presence and e-commerce to create a complete end-to-end solution.

NetSuite products are developed using NetSuite Business Operating System (NS-BOS). NS-BOS is accessible by partners, ISVs and customers, and is the core platform for the development of vertical ERP solutions. All NetSuite products, including the development environments, are hosted on the SuiteCloud platform, which consists of the physical datacentre and hosting environments. There is also a strong developer network and an online store called SuiteApp.com, which features third-party applications and add-ons that enhance NetSuite functionality for specific industries and markets.

(Credit: NetSuite)

Cloud solutions have a major attraction in that apart from appropriate internet bandwidth, companies do not need to deploy on-premises infrastructure in order to implement a full business solution. Of course, many companies are reluctant to give over the security and storage of their critical data to an external host, but enough are reconsidering due to the significant cost savings on offer.

Apart from the functionality on offer from its product range, NetSuite is pushing the cost-saving factor in a big way. There are a large number of case studies about its featured customers around the world available online, and many of them are promoting the savings that particular company made by moving away from an existing on-premises ERP solution (for example, SAP), in terms of both removing the requirement for expensive infrastructure and/or saving on licence fees.

For large enterprises with multiple geographic locations and site offices, either through expansion or acquisition, NetSuite has the OneWorld solution. This takes the core NetSuite modules — ERP, CRM, Ecommerce and Business Intelligence — and expands them to meet the needs of a multinational so that a company can manage all its workflows using a single NetSuite account. Global Accounting/ERP accommodates multiple currencies, tax rules and regulations to ensure compliance across all spheres of operation while maintaining unified reporting and data transparency.

(Credit: NetSuite)

NetSuite's approach is highly innovative and dynamic. A complete move to the cloud may still be something that many companies are unwilling to consider, and it is possible that the recent trends in on-premises server and datacentre virtualisation across all industries may make the potential cost savings of an SaaS solution less immediate. One option for existing Oracle EBS customers is to take advantage of the OneWorld for Oracle solution, which allows businesses running EBS to expand ERP functionality while still taking advantage of their existing on-premises investments.