BlackLine's cloud-based financial operations management platform unifyies data and processes, automating repetitive tasks and enhancing accountability. BlackLine solutions for financial close, accounts receivable, and intercompany accounting support large enterprises and midsize companies.
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NetSuite ERP
Score 8.0 out of 10
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NetSuite is a suite of ERP and accounting modules which is sold in various editions aimed at different size customers. The multi-country, multi-currency version is an additional module called OneWorld. Netsuite is a SaaS system and is not offered in an on-premise edition.
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Pricing
BlackLine
NetSuite ERP
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BlackLine
NetSuite ERP
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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Users subscribe to NetSuite for an annual license fee. The license is made up of three main components: core platform, optional modules and the number of users. There is also a one-time implementation fee for initial setup. New modules and users and can be added as a business grows.
At the time, FloQast did not have the tasks function, which was important to us as we maintained our close process in an excel checklist. We were not able to know timely if all steps were completed.
Better depth of product. You can have specific items in account reconciliations besides just an Excel spreadsheet. This increases the visibility of account reconciliations. You can use the reporting functionality to view each of these items, and classify them (temporary timing, …
We selected Blackline because it was recommended to us. Blackline has stacked up well against our expectations of the system. It is user friendly and has a good UI. This is more than a reporting or consolidation tool, BlackLine gets rid of a lot of the tedious and manual tasks …
With its robust financial management, global capabilities, and industry-specific features, NetSuite ERP is a complete cloud-based solution that is perfect for expanding, multi-entity enterprises. Although it provides a single platform, it necessitates more training and …
Zuora - does one thing and not that well. The best thing about it is consolidated invoicing. It's a point solution that thinks it's a platform. It's difficult to navigate, the navigation doesn't make much sense, and any customization is really just a deceptive crutch. NetSuite …
I think the most important part of Blackline is the Journal booking automation. In my previous role, I had to work overtime because at month-end closure, the Journal Vouchers had to be booked, so it was a lot of manual work, booking all the lines one by one. Now, the file is uploaded, and it is done.
NetSuite ERP is suitable for mid to large business organization. It has many in-built features that are not available in other ERP system. It is cloud based, that make it a plus. Easy to integrate with many leading application available in market. Easy to extract data from NetSuite ERP with multiple options. Performance is really good with more data volume.
Customizable Reports and Saved Searches allow much more maneuverability
Elimination Entries that are driven by advanced intercompany journal entries
Journal Entries can be entered in as basic or advanced intercompany to better represent the type of transaction occurred for reporting purposes
Training through the LCS module can help shed knowledge on a range of topics at a self paced learning basis
NetSuite ERP offers to all users a SuiteAnswers platform to pose frequently asked questions with answers generated from a combination of NetSuite ERP experts, users, and more recently AI based.
On the home page I can see Team Assignments usually first time not My assignments.
JV posting is slow.
Many error emails about failed JV with the same context.
We receive emails about task certification. Can we receive the list of reconciliations monthly?
Posted/prepared JVs cannot be deleted from the to-do list (there is only one extraordinary case, where we had a BL issue and the JV was booked but without a Document ID).
BlackLine has made our finance team more effective and accurate. Our current ERP system is unable to do any sort of financial activities currently being done with our BlackLine licenses. Prior to BlackLine everything was done manually through Excel and stored in binders. There was no option for a paperless process. We are now 100% paperless in our close process, freeing up time, space and saving money on office supplies.
NetSuite is able to cover all of our needs, spanning multiple departments and managerial levels. We use it daily for a multitude of functions, including creating promotions, estimating inventory, pulling historical reports, forecasting sales, and more. Overall, we're very satisfied with NetSuite as an ERP solution and recommend it to medium to large businesses.
BlackLine could use a little work in getting around the system. The interface is not without its issues including lots of scrolling up and down and a lack of using the entire screen. Importing of the initial setup data could be better defined and reimporting data to add additional fields could pose an issue of overwriting data in a negative way.
It's beneficial if you know what you're doing, but it can be very confusing to find what you're looking for, and many things seem overly complicated or require too many steps to accomplish a simple task - which can be overwhelming for someone accustomed to QuickBooks.
We never experienced an outage with BlackLine. The only time the system was unavailable was during planned outages for updates and upgrades usually Friday evening after 6pm pst until Saturday morning at 6am pst.
It has been very reliable. I can only think of 1-2 times in 4.5 years that we have had issues getting in, and in each case were able to get back in within 1 hour. There has not been a major downtime
Most of the time the performance is very good. Pages load in a few seconds; financial reports take less than 5 seconds; basic searches take a few seconds. But performance can be sporadic throughout the day and cause the run time to triple.
In my experience, the support team is beyond exceptional. They are incredibly knowledgeable and dedicated to the customer. You can expect prompt, professional and succinct responses. I have been working with the support team for BlackLine for more than ten years where I have been a customer four times. If anyone does Support right, it is definitely BlackLine. Not only can you trust your financials, but you can trust the team to support you through all your objectives!
I would like to give 8 rating for NetSuite support and reason for that is below: Whenever we faced any technical or functional issues we tried to reach out to NEtSuite support but response was not immediate. We told them about the urgency of the issue but still we were not getting response on time. Then, we have to reach out to AE to get things resolved.
I had in person training for a day when first got the software. The training was good. The challenge was that there was a large gap between training and when we went live so we forgot quite a lot
Trainings are available for all topics on the BlackLine U portal. These were incredibly helpful when first starting with BlackLine to get the hang of it. Trainings are useful for any module. I have personally used this to teach myself how to use the tasks and variance modules, which are now fully utilized by my organization. The support team is also very helpful in training our team on anything additional we have needed.
You will have to meet up with your final users, approver, internal auditor and accounting policy holder. Everyone has to agree. When you have a well written process, workflow, policy, approval requirement, and control, your implementation process will be much easier
I felt NetSuite Professional Services did an excellent job of guiding us in the implementation. I also felt our internal teams were a little resistant to the change and engagement of new software. Had we performed better engaging and buying into the new software, I would be able to rate the implementation better. Therefore, the lower number should not be viewed as a deficiency with the software or the professional services teams, but as an reminder of how important complete buy-in from the local users is.
I have not used any of the other products, but we did evaluate them during our discovery phase. BlackLine was the "Cadillac" of the product offerings. You could get a similar product, and maybe even at a lower cost, but we wanted the best of the best, and that's what BlackLine is. We wanted a product that we could grow into, rather than a product we would outgrow over time as our organization grows. We have only touched the surface with BlackLine so far, and we've already reaped the benefits.
In the past I always had a puzzle to assemble, with regards to data and management & ad-hoc reporting. With NetSuite ERP, as mentioned previously, everything is in one easy to retrieve place, and all the systems are there and cohesive. Although Workday Adaptive Planning and HFM are useful EPM systems, they lack the added functionality of being able to drill directly down into the details as they are not simultaneously, an ERP system. With those systems it is very often necessary to sign into the ERP (or whichever system, respectively). SAP Business Warehouse in my experience, was not at all user friendly in so many ways, in comparison. Creating dashboards, templates for predefined reports, as well as ad hoc reporting and analysis, are all very straightforward and very automatable in Netsuite, saving my team, as well as clients to whom we have deployed NetSuite ERP, so much time, effort, frustration, and in the end - money. From what I have learned collaborating with other departments, I believe they all would say the same. Perhaps not necessary to re-emphasize, but as mentioned before, it's not a one size fits all situation. I wouldn't recommend it for smaller businesses, such as fewer locations, departments, product lines, etc. to handle. The value for the money there, might not be as easily realized. Then again, it's all relative. There's no such thing as perfection. But my bias definitely leans towards NetSuite ERP in most cases (as well as the other Oracle products I have used in the past).
After implementing BlackLine our company acquired another large company with multiple operations. We were able to use the COVID shutdown to bring them on board with BlackLine with little effort in the setup and training of the users.
We have been able to scale our business 25X without any major overhaul with Netsuite. Its dashboard setup makes onboarding new employees very easy and allows data to be shared across multiple offices. Its cloud setup does not put any pressure on IT to scale servers or other infrastructure. We have been able to become much more efficient in all aspects of the business.
Talent retention by creating roles with value-add work and reducing the mundane.
Promotion opportunities for those that have embraced BlackLine and have taken on more complex and more rewarding work as a result of the automation achieved.
Time savings which allowed teams to take on new projects without increasing headcount and without employee burnout.
