Microsoft Dynamics AX (Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations), discontinued vs. NetSuite ERP

It integrates fully with the other Microsoft software we use daily, and this coordination speeds up our work and gives us the agility to run easily. For example, in a purchase inquiry, the customer, after submitting a request, identifies the teams that should work on the project, and if they need further review by other people, they are added to the process, and everything is managed seamlessly rather than the sales process. Get the result as fast as possible.

Incentivized

In my experience, it is well-suited to basic small low-level accounting. I think if you are a very small business with some basic accounting needs and do not need both cash and accrual reporting this would work. However, I think the price point is well above what a company should pay for basic accounting. If you need more advanced accounting, in my experience it can't keep up well, and it will not provide you with both cash and accrual reports. In my opinion, it is priced for a much more advanced software than what it needs, perhaps because they focus on non-essential upgrades and areas that don't pertain to core financial activities, such as advanced inventory management, Amazon shipping label sync, multiple foreign (non-us) taxes, manufacturing updates - for businesses needing strong financial software that do not need ten country tax rates, manufacturing processes, and advanced inventory tracking, this provides no value while leaving standard accounting functions pretty basic and lacking.

Incentivized

• Microsoft Dynamics AX's scalability to meet our regional office needs provide flexibility to the team's requirements.
• Combined with Citrix Xenapp, the application offers seamless access for users on high latency unreliable network connection to the application.
• Application maintenance and updates are easy which makes it possible for us to manage remotely considering the servers are located in a remote Asia site.

Incentivized

• Inventory control - I find it great to lookup an item and see our current inventory, what we purchased for last time, etc.
• Account management - I find it very easy to see where my accounts stand in regards to debt collection down to production time frames.
• Reporting - the reporting is very straight forward and easy to use.

Incentivized

• MRP can be slow to adapt to changes in actual production or supply chain transactions.
• Setting up number sequences seems a trivial matter, but these numbers ID transactions once they are in the ledger and are key--easy to miss this point in the implementation process.
• Bank rec being easily automated and able to quickly plug into a bank back end to get data is not the best.
• Payment processing can be 'clunky' based on checks, ACH, Wires...as some of these items are not triggered out of the box in AX, bur are easily added --talking ACH and Wires specifically.

Incentivized

• In my experience, when you get beyond the simple reporting it’s fairly cumbersome, too many fields with the same name.
• When you get beyond simple steps you run into needing professional development quickly.
• I think roles and workflow are needlessly complex and unintuitive
• Pricing, since they’re owned by Oracle Larry needs a new yacht and they’ll gouge you once you’re sucked in and stuck

Incentivized

Microsoft Dynamics continues to evolve by bringing more functionality to the customer. Also there are several independent software providers that offer a wide range of solutions for vertical markets.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

Overall the product does what we need it to do in order for us to function as a company. While there are some concerns over ongoing costs, the belief is, once we have it fully acclimated to our business the cost should settle into alignment with our original expectations. The new features that are consistently being added do add value to the product as they are usually customer request directed.

Incentivized

I would rate the overall usability as a 9. We can perform almost all functions that we need to as a baseball organization. The only areas that are lacking are the reporting and budgeting functions. There was a steep learning curve for some users in the beginning, but once we figured out how to utilize the system and improve our processes within NetSuite most users were happy with the switch to NetSuite.

Incentivized

Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.

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

Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.

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.

Incentivized

We use a 3rd-party Microsoft Partner for the system. They are responsive and very knowledgeable. While costs have been mentioned several times in this review they are very aware of costs and have developers who are more economical they use to help offset the level of work required to meet our changes and fix our issues.

Incentivized

NetSuite offers two levels of support Basic (included with the subscription and for bug-fix questions only) and Premium (an additional add-on that allows for the asking of anything at any time). Support is well versed and quickly moves to higher levels when needed. Tickets are always address promptly, and are never abandoned.

Incentivized

It took a lot of work, but Microsoft ultimately did a good job with in-person training, including being onsite in multiple global locations for extended periods.

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

Our solution deviated from a number of key out-of-the-box standards that were included in Online training. We just used that for introduction to the general functionality.

Online training is quite strong. I have used for specific pieces of functionality.However it is not sufficient in all areas.

Some rough spots, but ultimately worked out. The contract didn't appear to be structured to support the level of overlapping facility deployments required to meet timeline commitments. Merging cultures on the program was also challenging. Overall, not an easy implementation by any stretch. Everyone did the best they could.

Executive involvement is critical. Make sure you have a good handle on the metrics you would like to ultimately manage. Work as a team to document your business requirements. Whiteboard often. Understand NetSuite's best practice capabilities.

Have a central person identified to handle all report and analysis requests (ie - don't allow multiple people to create reports; have one person create reports and distribute them to decision makers via the NS dashboard or whatever form). Make sure you understand critical dates and develop the project plan accordingly

I was not part of the decision making process to select Microsoft Dynamics AX, however, I do know that an exhaustive search was done and many options were considered alongside Microsoft Dynamics AX and I feel that the right decision was made in choosing this solution.

Incentivized

NetSuite was the obvious choice in our case because of the enterprise backing of Oracle and the support available for the platform from both the Oracle side as well as on the open market through Consultants and Partner firms. While it's price point is vastly different, considering ERPNext has a completely free community offering, and Odoo's very entry-level price point... it was a clear choice for us due to our need for a tried and true solution.

Incentivized

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.

• With the robust built-in reporting we were able to drop an external reporting platform that costed about $40,000.
• API integrations have saved manual entry and reduced having to hire 2-3 people to manage data.
• Several administrators and developers are required for this which costs about 200-300 thousand in employee costs.

Incentivized

• Through the automation of business processes, NetSuite has allowed the business to focus on other projects in addition to the day to day system administration tasks. As such, the system is providing excellent value in terms of the time saved by the administrative arm of the company.
• Access to data. The platform has great flexibility in it's "Saved Search" feature, that allows the business to report on pretty much any and all data stored in the database. These can drive user dashboards and make it extremely easy for users to get the information that they need in a matter of seconds. Instead of the CFO requesting a report from the Controller, the CFO can simply refresh their dashboard with a single click and they have the information they require.
• Transparency. NetSuite allows collaboration across the entire business and maintains an excellent audit trail. Transparency is often lost where business use multiple systems across departments, so having everyone housed within the same financial system allows for greater collaboration and trust in the data.

Incentivized