NetSuite

Transitioning to any application suite is a complex process. And if you and your company have elected to move forward with a NetSuite implementation, there are some things you’ll probably want to keep in mind in order to ensure the transition runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

NetSuite is a powerful tool, but only if correctly and carefully integrated into your business.

• Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
  Smashing NetSuite into your existing inefficient workflow and chaotic environment will not single-handedly turn your business into a shining model of productivity. You’ll need to do a little spring cleaning first — double-check all of your data, back up the important stuff, work with employees on building better organizational habits, and look for ways to improve your existing work pathways. NetSuite implementation has a bigger impact when you start with a strong footing.
• Work with a NetSuite Partner
  NetSuite has a worldwide network of incredible partners with deep experience in implementing the software and working with businesses. It’s not just about the technical elements of getting everything installed — a NetSuite partner can work directly with your business and its existing practices to spot opportunities for improvement and better tailor the implementation to your specific needs. This also saves you the trouble of designating a team to the transition.
• Take it Slow
  NetSuite ERP solutions will indeed make your business more efficient, but it’s not an overnight transition. Employees need to get used to the software, workflow bugs need to be worked out and kinks need to be discovered and fixed. Be ready for a slight dip in productivity as your business flexes and adjusts to the new methods of work NetSuite brings, and don’t be surprised if it takes a few weeks or months for everyone to end up on the same page.

Changing any part of your business can feel scary. This is especially true when working with such a massive shift as will occur when you successfully implement NetSuite. But with the right approach and a little patience, you will be amazed at how NetSuite completely changes your business. www.abouttmc.com

Netsuite is a powerful ERP solution that combines CRM, eCommerce, and a variety of other mission-critical functions into one simple integrated product. Once it has been implemented into your workflows, you’ll spend less time fretting with software and more time actually doing the things that need to be done. When it finally comes time to bringing NetSuite into your business, however, there’s one critical dilemma left: Who is going to help you with implementation?

The best option here is going with an official NetSuite partner. NetSuite has endorsed a global network of providers for a variety of implementation tasks, and committing to one of these partners will make your implementation much, much easier.

Here’s why:

• Proven Track Records
  All of NetSuite’s partners have a deep history of providing top-notch service to clients. They’ve done the work, dealt with the problems, and understand how to best tailor the NetSuite implementation to your individual needs. When you work with a NetSuite partner, you can be certain you’re getting the best quality service from leading industry experts.

• Process Knowledge
  The folks over at NetSuite know their product inside and out. What they don’t know yet is how their product fits into your business practices. Working with an experienced partner gives you access to their depth in your industry, which in turn allows you to utilize their process knowledge to your benefit.

• Full Business Support
  NetSuite covers NetSuite ERP, but not much else. If you want to know how to best implement NetSuite into your existing software, you’ll need to work with a partner. Also, NetSuite partners can help you re-analyze your business from the NetSuite framework, identifying areas in which you can improve operations to make things run more smoothly. It’s all about value-added services.

Working with a NetSuite partner offers key advantages over going directly to NetSuite alone. You receive the same implementation and software support, but with a multi-faceted approach that is designed to work specifically with you and your business. NetSuite isn’t a one-stop solution for all of your processes—it’s just a tool to facilitate the job. With a NetSuite partner, you’ll learn how to efficiently wield this tool to make your business stronger and healthier.

For more information please visit www.abouttmc.com or contact us at 310.559.3982

When It’s Time for A New ERP System

ERP Implementation and internal discussions about selecting a new ERP System seem to come up too often. The complaints about your current ERP System probably started a while ago.  “The system is so slow; I can’t get anything done on time”.  Just a few complaints initially, and they were pretty easy to dismiss.  Over time, as the company has grown however, the complaints became more frequent, and more vigorous.  “I would have had this report finished sooner, but the system is really difficult to work with”.  Message received, the system needed an upgrade.  The first thing most companies do is invest in more powerful hardware to run the system, and that seems to do the trick.  For about six months.  Then the complaints, and the excuses, are back.

Next there is usually a quick trip to the local software retailer, the old system gets upgraded to the “Enterprise” version, and the complaints drop off again.  For a while, anyway.  As the company grows, so do the problems and the complaints come back, and now they are coming from a larger number of the employees.  The delays and the frustrations are causing significant pain.  March 1^st has arrived, and the previous year has still not been closed.

Next, you start to hear from the banker, the investors and the CPA, this system is completely inadequate for your company today.    The time had come to change to something that can accommodate the growth of the company.  This kind of solution is not going to come out of shrink wrapped box.  The stakeholders in the company have been heard, the evidence has been reviewed and the conclusion is inescapable: it is now time to upgrade to a truly GAAP-compliant, ERP system.  This is good news; recognizing the existence of a problem is the first, key step in solving it.

Step 2, more and more frequently, is to assign someone in the company to the task of researching suitable replacements for the old system.  For most companies, this will begin with an internet search (which might have led you to this blog post).  While this step is very important, it is very likely that at least one key step (and maybe more) has been short-changed or skipped entirely.

ERP Implementation: The Missing Steps

1. Build the Scorecard

Before the search for a replacement ERP system is started, it is critical to clearly define what the new system needs to provide.  Before I can plan out my summer vacation using Google Maps, I need to know where I am going.

Start by listing the various attributes of your current system, and assign a grade to each one.  The grading can be simple (pass or fail) or more detailed (from 1 to 3 for passing grades, and from -1 to -3 for failing grades).  Incorporate all of the various complaints and excuses resulting from the old system, this is important feedback from the users.  The result is a scorecard that can be used in evaluating potential replacements for the old system.  At a minimum, the new ERP system must score at least as well as the old system, in every critical area.  Scoring the old system, and the potential replacements, will allow you to identify those ERP candidates that are worth investigating further.

2. Establish the budget

Before beginning the search for the new ERP system, it is important to have a budget established, or at least a budget range in mind.  It makes no sense at all to investigate an Oracle or SAP-type of system if your budget will only be $100,000 for everything, software, hardware and services.  It is a lot of fun to window shop at the Porsche dealer, but my purchase will probably be down the street at the Toyota Dealer.

3. Deployment –To be in the Cloud or Not to be in the  Cloud

You have heard the phrase “In the Cloud”, but do you really understand what is meant by it?  DO you know the difference between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).  Do you want to continue to host your own system on-premise, or does moving to hosted/cloud-based system make better long-term sense?  Here again, the internet can provide a wealth of information, and should be able to help you determine which approach(es) to deploying the new ERP system need to be considered, or which can be dismissed from the beginning.

With these three key preliminary steps completed, it is time to begin the research phase, identifying potential candidates for your new ERP system.  The search will also be quicker, because you have already identified how the various candidates will be graded, which potential solutions fit within the budget, and you know how you want to be able to deploy the new system.

Ask the experts at TMC which ERP System is right for you. We are a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that offers Microsoft Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV and Dynamics CRM. We are also a Certified NetSuite Solutions Provider. We have performed over 300 ERP Implementations and will give you our honest, no obligation opinion on what we feel is right for you at the time. It doesn’t do TMC any good to take on a client that isn’t a good fit for us, much less a good fit for you. So, give us a call at 310-559-3982 or fill out a Free Business Value Assessment here and let TMC take the stress and frustruation out of ERP Implementation.

NetSuite Wholesale Distribution Key Benefits

• Built-in support for wholesale distribution business processes
• Real-time visibility throughout your entire organization, from sales to operations to invoicing
• Integrated business management with one complete solution, eliminating integration hassles
• Cost savings and fast ROI from reduced IT infrastructure and rapid time to market

NetSuite is the Answer!  The Question is “Who to Work With?”:

NetSuite Local Partner vs. NetSuite Direct Sales Team

Congratulations!  After a long and extensive software evaluation process, you have made the decision to deploy NetSuite.  After all, the advantages of NetSuite over its competition are significant:  One fully integrated system for CRM, Financials and eCommerce, deployed through the cloud, no more upgrade headaches, and much more.  This should mean that all of your major decisions are over, right?  RIGHT?

Not so fast.  There is still one major decision left to be made:  Whom to partner with to perform the actual implementation.  NetSuite does offer their own services team, and they will do an excellent job of deploying NetSuite.  After all, who better than the team that writes the software.  Well, this decision is a little bit more complicated than that, and there are some excellent reasons to consider working with a NetSuite partner organization.

Consider the following advantages with a NetSuite Partner:

1. 1. Deep Industry Knowledge.  Your local NetSuite partner will know your local competitive landscape, and the specific challenges that your business is facing.  This knowledge has been developed and extended over years and/or decades of providing consulting services in the local area.  Working with a NetSuite partner will ensure that you benefit from this knowledge.
2. 2. Process Oriented Consultants.  NetSuite will be able to provide a great depth of product knowledge, but it is the whole system expertise of the local NetSuite Partner that also provides the necessary process knowledge that your company needs to really benefit from the new system.
3. 3. External System Integration.  Your local NetSuite partner, having worked to integrate multiple systems together into a unified whole, that can truly deliver the full end-to-end system integration that your company needs to thrive.  The NetSuite project team only works on NetSuite, while you NetSuite partner can provide consulting expertise for your entire organization.
4. 4. Business Process Review.  Implementing a new NetSuite system, only to carry forward the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of your existing business processes, will not meet the needs of your business.  Not today, and certainly not in the future.  Leverage the expertise of your local NetSuite partner to fully review your existing processes, and then design replacements that will truly meet the needs of your organization, your customers and your employees.

Choosing NetSuite as your new ERP system was a great choice.  Follow that decision with another great decision, and choose your local NetSuite Partner to handle the implementation of the new NetSuite system.  Take advantage of their local knowledge, end-to-end expertise and decades of consulting experience.

Technology Management Concepts has been providing the highest quality consulting services and ERP implementations for over 25 years.  TMC can deliver highly experienced Project Managers, Application Consultants and Technical Services to ensure that you get the very best results from your NetSuite implementation.

Do you remember that little cricket named Jiminy teaching you how to spell Encyclopedia? He was a real life-saver when it came to elementary spelling tests. When it came to spelling that word his little voice would pop into the subconscious and start singing: EN-CY-CLO-PED-IA. The spelling test could have been a flop, but because Encyclopedia was spelled correctly, it didn’t matter. Sadly, the massive volume hardcover encyclopedia is no longer the source of all factual information and is fast being forgotten on dusty shelves thanks to the advances of the internet.

The encyclopedia has existed for more than two-thousand years cataloging world facts and histories. The first encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, made for public consumption were published in 1768-1771. Over the years the Encyclopedia restructured itself from three volumes and one editor to several volumes and a fleet of editors.   Encyclopedias were boosted as being a lasting educational resource. To have a set of encyclopedias in your home was like having your own personal library. Unfortunately this resource of information quickly died out as technology progressed in the 20th century.

Today, we find all our answers on the web. Although informative, the internet isn’t always as correct as we hope. With certain websites claiming to have all the facts, school children might be disillusioned by what is truly fact and what is skewed information.

But you don’t have to worry about keeping your facts straight. NetSuite is the Encyclopedia equivalent to all of your business information needs. Through NetSuite Order and Quote Management your Sales Department can easily give accurate projected sales estimates .  NetSuite also offers a unique tool to help predict your clients buying habits. If your client happens to buy more of your product during May and not so much in August, NetSuite will point this out to help with your sales campaigns. An added feature also gives you better order cost accuracy by including automated tax and shipping-rate calculations. No more thumbing around for a calculator and inputing rows of numbers on a spreadsheet. NetSuite can do it all.

Don’t become outdated like the Encyclopedia. Let TMC help you upgrade your business with NetSuite and keep your business up to date.

Have you felt the need recently to play hooky from work? Maybe it snowed the night before and you simply don’t want to drive on slick roads. Or the sky too beautiful to be stuck in doors all-day staring at your computer monitor. Then there’s the ultimate, your bed telling you to return for no other reason than to spend a dreamy day curled up nice and warm. No matter what willed you to call off from work, even though nothing ailed you, you’re playing hooky. Once in a while everyone needs a hooky day, or what we now refer to as a “personal day.” It helps recharge us, and reminds us that there’s more to life than working.

Although there is no agreed upon explanation why we use the term “hooky” there are many theories floating about. One being that in the nineteenth century public schools started implementing attendance rules. It was now required that students come to classes daily. During that time the children used a slang saying “hook it”, as in to make off with or escape. So someone not attending school “hook it” for a day. Later the two words were mashed together to form hooki then hooky.

Around the same time another slang word “hook” was used. In its simple form hook meaning as in to steal, may have also contributed to the term hooky. By not attending classes, children were stealing a day off from school.

NetSuite understands the need to get away from the office now and then. NetSuite’s ERP software utilizes the newest mobile technology supporting mobile devices such as iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. You can be away from your office and still know exactly what’s going on, no matter where you are. Your sales team can also receive real-time access to the information they need. NetSuite integrates with your personal calendar keeping you undated and allowing you to accept or decline meetings on the go. Now you can play hooky and not feel guilty taking a day for yourself.

Edward Norton Lorenz, might have had butterflies in his stomach the day he attempted to describe his version of the chaos theory. Just possibly this brilliant mathematician and meteorologist secretly wanted to be an Entomologist instead, but perhaps in his youth his parents forbade him from playing with he creepy crawlies in the yard. As an adult, he found a way to fight back by using the term “The Butterfly Effect” to describe how small changes that may or might not seem related can affect the large picture.

Maybe it bugged him at night thinking about how a small creature can ultimately change the course of history. He used “The Butterfly Theory” to suggest that the wing movement from a butterfly’s wings in South America could affect the weather in Texas.  He insected…insisted that the tiniest influence on one part of a system can create a huge effect on a different part.

A deeper understanding would describe that the butterfly effect the chaos in the world. One  winged insect can ultimately cause the entire world’s destruction with one wing flap. Could you imagine what a hummingbird could do at 52 wing beats per second? It’s amazing the planet is still here.

Thankfully the world is still round and around, and there is no need to fear a butterfly. Hummingbird though… the jury’s still out on. With NetSuite OneWorld you to can expand your business globally without the chaos. With NetSuite OneWorld, your company can manage multiple locations, locally or abroad without breaking a sweat.

NetSuite OneWorld handles many of the mind boggling problems that may arise when conducting business in other countries. Can your current software convert money from Euro, to Pesos, to Yin then to American dollars seamlessly?  NetSuite OneWorld can. NetSuite OneWorld manages your operations globally and locally with multi-currency, real-time financial consolidation. You can see the bottom line without days of preparation.

Language barrier? Again not a problem. Ecommerce with NetSuite gives you the ability to communicate with multi-language web stores. Best of all everything can be managed from a NetSuite system. Just add a computer and Internet and your on your way to global success.

Sometime in 1395 a child was born in the city of Mainz. When Johannes Gutenberg was born he probably wasn’t much to look at. Somehow an idea formed in his impressionable youth that would later revolutionize the way society looks at the world. Who would have thought that simple rattle with his initials carved on the crown would be the start a new media era?

What thoughts must have run though his young mind when the same rattle landed promptly across his father’s forehead imprinting his backward initials? Maybe “cool”, or something  equivalent to that time period. It would take years before he’d come to realize the significance to his discovery.

It seems a likely story but no one will ever know if a rattle was Gutenberg’s muse. It might have been the Chinese who influenced him to make the printing press? They had movable type since 1041 when ol’ Bi Sheng went crazy over those clay plates. Then Wang Zhen had to jump on the bandwagon and started using wood letters instead. So possibly it was Wang?  Who knows for sure? What’s for certain is Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press changed how society viewed religion, education, science, journalism, entertainment and so much more.

The invention of the printing press ushered in an area of being “in the know”. The rich were no longer the only ones privy to reading books.  No one had to be in the dark about subjects that interested them or had to rely on stained glass pictures to learn their favorite stories. In time, printing became in huge demand. Everyone wanted books regardless if they could read or not. Printing presses swept over Europe, producing mass quantities of books. But printing took a lot of time and dedication to make books look just right.

Can you imagine your accounting department having to wait around for one computer? Or having your sales team go overseas to sell your inventory, only to question if you’d ever see your  products again? Insanity, right?  Thank goodness we live in a world with technology that can make your business life easy.

The old-timer of SaaS, Netsuite is the of the best  Ecommerce, accounting and customer relationship management software solution tools on the market. SaaS software allows you to access your information on your laptop, desktop, pad or phone day or night, just as long as you’re connected to the web. This makes it easier than having to wait three years for that important shipment.

Keep up with Gutenberg’s tradition and stay up to date with your business practices. Give Netsuite a test drive today by contacting our sales representatives at 310-559-3982 or by visiting our Contact Us page to get more information and a quote for your business

May 13–17, San Francisco, CA

Last year, SuiteWorld, NetSuite’s annual convention and user conference, had over 2,000 participants, and we expect even more this year.  For many attendees, the highlights of SuiteWorld include the detailed breakout sessions, giving attendees a chance to do a deeper dive into those areas of specific interest.  The sessions are divided into 8 “tracks”, and I wanted to highlight those sessions that I thought would be really special.

SuiteWorld Track Seven – Manufacturing, Wholsaler & High Tech Solutions

Solution Overview: NetSuite for Manufacturers.  Manufacturing in the Cloud, this is definitely something I want to see.  This session is a joint presentation between the NetSuite Manufacturing team, and a select few of their manufacturing partners.  Highlight will include recent innovations in the offering.

Roadmap and Vision: Manufacturing.  After the overview it’s onto the roadmap where this session will talk about where NetSuite is going with their Manufacturing solution.  This session will include a discussion on how NetSuite clients and partners can participate in determining the direction(s) NetSuite can take the product.

Analyst Panel:  Industry and Technology Outlook for Manufacturers, Distributors and High-Tech.  Join Ray Wang, Principal Analyst and CEO of Constellation Research, as he leads a panel discussion on cloud computing, specific business and industry concerns, and overall directions for manufacturers, wholesalers and high technology companies.

SuiteWorld Track Eight – Customer Success Insights

Sales and Marketing Executive Discussion: Strategies for Improving Sales and Marketing Success.  There is no substitute to hearing what your peers have experienced for themselves.  Current NetSuite customers present the lessons learned, efficiencies gained and success strategies on their own implementation of NetSuite.  This is a moderated session, and there will be opportunities to ask questions of the panel.

Case Studies: Moving to a Global NetSuite OneWorld Deployment.  NetSuite OneWorld provides the power to standardize your international business across a single instance, across subsidiaries and divisions. Hear first-hand by executives by executives who have rolled out NetSuite OneWorld across their global organization, learn how they managed and phased the rollout and met the needs of each individual subsidiary and business unit, and where they are going next.

Services SWAT Team:  Tips and Tricks to Get the Most Out of NetSuite Analytics and Automation.  This two-part session will offer insights and practical advice by the NetSuite professional services experts.  Focused on maximizing workflow and business analytics, you will also learn about KPI scorecards, custom reporting and much more.

Hope to see you in San Francisco for SuiteWorld 2012.