Be an Educated Consumer Before Signing with Netsuite
August 31, 2017

Be an Educated Consumer Before Signing with Netsuite

Howie Friedman, CPA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

NetSuite Mid-Market edition

Modules Used

  • AdvancedFinancials
  • Advanced Inventory
  • E-Commerce
  • WMS

Overall Satisfaction with NetSuite

We use Netsuite to run our Order to Cash processes, from running our website, processing orders, all the way to all the backend accounting. Every employee in every department uses Netsuite for at least some of their core tasks.
  • Financials - Our core financials are maintained in Netsuite, and it does a great job of accurately and intuitively doing this.
  • Order Management - Our sales order to invoice to payment is smooth and highly customized for what we need.
  • Inventory Management - Inventory is managed smoothly and accurately. We have many options and customizations, all handled well
  • Customer Support - We use 3rd party consultants for first level support. Only when the issue is proven to be a defect do we report it to Gold Support, in which case the majority of time they inform us (after much time) that they filed a defect and the issue cannot be resolved. We never use support for how to questions, as they are usually poorly trained, have no familiarity with our business at all, and take a long time to respond. 27% of our fees are for support so this is a huge waste of money.
  • WMS - I do not think they are selling it anymore, but we it has proven to be very buggy, inaccurate, and ultimately a bad decision.
  • SuiteCommerce Advanced/Website - The SCA platform has a very strong "My Account" page in terms of how tightly integrated it is with the backend (assuming it is set up properly). But every other aspect of the site is nowhere near the capabilities of the functionality and flexibility you would get from a Shopify or WooCommerce site (for midmarket companies).
  • Account Management & Pricing - I have a long and storied history dealing with account managers at Netsuite. Suffice it to say that you need to make sure you lock down pricing whenever possible to avoid being gouged at renewal. And expect them to sell you any module possible with promises of functionality that you will never be able to take advantage of.
  • Speed - Page load times are ridiculously slow at times. We are not given the proper access or tools to diagnose the cause and fix it as this is SAAS and that end of the things is locked down to a certain degree.
  • Netsuite has allowed us, through native functionality along with customizations, to create sophisticated rules that apply to our business. Things like approvals, order routing, alerts, and custom workflows have dramatically improved our business.
For the core financials and other modules that are native to Netsuite, I think it would be a great fit for many midmarket companies. Make sure you partner with with a third party firm to assist in the implementation. Do not purchase any upgrades for support. Basic free support coupled with outside help, would suffice. Be sure to lock down price increases for the expected licensing period, so that, once you are implemented they do not do a bait and switch. For additional functionality, like ecommerce, professional services, project management or WMS, look into third party platforms and integrating them rather then the Netsuite module.

NetSuite ERP Feature Ratings

Accounts payable
9
Accounts receivable
9
Global Financial Support
Not Rated
Primary and Secondary Ledgers
9
Journals and Reconciliations
9
Configurable Accounting
9
Standardized Processes
9
Billing Management
Not Rated
Cash and Asset Management
4
Travel & Expense Management
4
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting
Not Rated
Period Close
Not Rated
Inventory tracking
9
Automatic reordering
3
Location management
4
Pricing
5
Order entry
5
Credit card processing
7
Cost of goods sold
7
Order Orchestration
Not Rated
Pay calculation
Not Rated
Benefit plan administration
Not Rated
Direct deposit files
Not Rated
Dashboards
8
Standard reports
5
Custom reports
8
API for custom integration
5
Plug-ins
1
Role-based user permissions
6
Single sign-on capability
Not Rated
Award Lifecycle Management
Not Rated
Budgeting and Forecasting
Not Rated
Project Costing
Not Rated
Cost Capture
Not Rated
Capital Project Management
Not Rated
Customer Contract Compliance
Not Rated
Project Revenue Recognition
Not Rated
Project Planning and Scheduling
Not Rated
Task Insight for Project Managers
Not Rated
Project Mobile Functionality
Not Rated
Definable Resource Pools
Not Rated
Not Rated
Bids Analyzed and Compared
Not Rated
Contract Authoring
Not Rated
Contract Repository
Not Rated
Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated
Not Rated
Supplier Management
Not Rated
Risk Repository
Not Rated
Control Management
Not Rated
Control Efficiency Assessments
Not Rated
Issue Detection
Not Rated
Remediation and Certification
Not Rated
Transportation Planning and Optimization
Not Rated
Transportation Execution Management
Not Rated
Trade and Customs Management
Not Rated
Fulfillment Management
1
Warehouse Workforce Management
1
Not Rated
Production Process Design
Not Rated
Production Management
Not Rated
Configuration Management
Not Rated
Work Execution
Not Rated
Manufacturing Costs
Not Rated
Forecasting
3
Inventory Planning
3
Performance Monitoring
Not Rated
Proposal Management
Not Rated
Product Master Data Management
Not Rated

NetSuite Support

We avoid using them at all costs, literally, I spend upwards fo $250/hr to have professionals review my concerns. Only when a product defect is uncovered to we report it to support.
ProsCons
None
Slow Resolution
Less knowledgeable
Problems left unsolved
Escalation required
Difficult to get immediate help
Need to explain problems multiple times
Support doesn't seem to care
Yes - I pay for it because it is bundled as part of the overall package. If I could remove it entirely from my invoice without causing anything else to then be increased, I would.
Yes - No. "Defects" get "filed" and ultimately end up in some sort of black
Netsuite has never, to my recollection, offered "exceptional" support.