Small businesses need agile business solutions that are easy to use, cost-effective and scalable. You need to be prepared for long-term growth and innovation. One of the biggest mistakes made by small businesses is sticking with entry-level software systems that hold them back due to their lack of functionality and inability to scale up as you grow. The consequence is that your performance and profitability don’t meet their potential.
The ideal solution is to leverage enterprise software for a future-proof foundation for your operations. A software platform like NetSuite integrates everything to do with finance and your other business operations into a single system, automating those time-consuming manual tasks and bringing about a wealth of tools and resources to boost your productivity.
A Matter of Spending Power
The definition of ‘small business’ is not the same everywhere in the world. In North America or Europe, a small business may have the capability to spend £10,000+ per year on business applications like ERP software, while a small business in Asia or South Africa may be working with a smaller budget for such things.
As a small business in the UK, you are likely to be able to budget for NetSuite ERP to boost your business operations. The ROI can be incredible as you gain sophisticated automation capabilities, real-time visualisation of the health of your entire business and state-of-the-art reporting and analytics tools to give you a competitive edge.
An ERP system may feel expensive, but the cost is reasonable for the underlying infrastructure and undeniably benefits you get access to. NetSuite is originally designed for small businesses, removing the need for on-premises servers, databases and other hardware/software. As a cloud-based solution, all you need to pay for is the cost of initial implementation and the ongoing license fee. All maintenance and updates are included in the subscription price you pay.
That subscription is based on a multi-tenant architecture, as with most cloud solutions. The pricing is derived from the number of modules you utilise and the number of users that require access to the system. That way, you only pay for what you use, meaning smaller businesses will pay a lot less than large enterprises to implement NetSuite ERP.
How will small businesses benefit from NetSuite ERP?
NetSuite brings expertise across industry verticals and sub-verticals. It streamlines operations at both the front end and the back end, incorporating such disparate operations as sales, accounting, eCommerce, marketing, human resources, customer relationship management and more.
Here are some of the benefits for small businesses that implement NetSuite:
A Cloud Solution
All NetSuite applications are hosted in the cloud. This means it is an accessible and failure-proof option that is generally cheaper to implement than on-premise solutions and all maintenance and upgrades are handled centrally. You never need to worry about investing and or maintaining on-premises hardware and software.
Compliance and Reporting
NetSuite provides a comprehensive picture of your business. You will gain real-time insights, eliminate the problem of data silos, manage your compliance obligations and streamline financial closes. If you’re planning on operating in international markets, NetSuite OneWorld will handle everything, with its multi-currency, multi-tax, multilingual and compliance capabilities.
SuiteSuccess
NetSuite SuiteSuccess is specifically aimed at small businesses. It is a pre-configured version of the software developed with specific industries in mind. It helps you get an idea of how the platform can be deployed and accelerates the implementation of the new systems. SuiteSuccess provides no fewer than 95 pre-built reports, pre-configured roles and intelligent metrics so you can get up and running quickly and at less expense.
Scalability
As a fully integrated, cloud-based ERP solution, NetSuite is scalable for your business growth. It’s easy to add new users, applications, locations and subsidiaries to NetSuite ERP, helping you enter new markets or add new product lines with ease.
Tools for Productivity
NetSuite provides an executive dashboard alongside file management sharing, KPIs, customisable reporting, record import/export and remote web access. In short, you won’t find a system better geared towards improving productivity throughout your organisation.
Integration
NetSuite’s systems are optimised for integrations with other third-party, cloud-based products as well as additional modules and applications. You won’t need to invest in any hardware or go through any costly downtime to make integrations happen.
Cloud Software vs On-premises Deployments
A web-based, hosted solution saves on a wide range of costs associated with on-premises systems. If you wanted to deploy a self-hosted ERP solution, you would have to invest in:
- Hardware
- Software
- IT staff
- Software maintenance
- Security
Some of these costs would be ongoing, and whenever you needed to add new capabilities or update existing ones, you would encounter issues like incompatibility and downtime. NetSuite is far more affordable as an out-of-the-box solution with all the core software functionality. Additional modules can be added as the business grows with little hassle, and you never need to be concerned with infrastructure investments of any kind.
NetSuite automatically upgrades when software updates become available. These updates never interfere with integrations or the functioning of your software. Conversely, with on-premises solutions or cheaper, less robust solutions, the process of upgrading can cause all your carefully-configured integrations and workflows to become disrupted or completely dysfunctional. This leads to costly downtime and even more costly efforts to reconfigure and get yourself back up and running.
Because NetSuite software updates are handled by NetSuite themselves, you can also sleep sound knowing that the software is always the most secure version, ensuring your data is protected.
You can read more about NetSuite security in our informative article How secure is NetSuite?
What are the major challenges for small businesses?
Small businesses need software to help with a number of challenges they face in their daily, monthly and yearly operations. These include:
- Cash flow monitoring.
- Reporting on critical financials and business operations.
- Budgeting and forecasting.
- Adhering to governance, risk and compliance (GRC).
- Raising capital and securing investment.
- Data-based marketing.
It is common for small businesses to deploy more modest accounting software to meet some of these challenges. However, as they grow, businesses find themselves needing to integrate that software with other systems and find time-consuming workarounds to overcome limitations. All of this amounts to extra costs and wasted time.
By choosing instead to switch to NetSuite ERP, small businesses give themselves a comprehensive solution that covers everything they need and will continue to do so throughout all future growth and expansion once it is deployed. Implementation may be more expensive than the base accounting software you have been using, but the benefits will quickly pay for themselves and your employees will be more motivated, engaged and productive from the moment they get to grips with the new system.
If you’d like a more in-depth look at NetSuite and its functionality, please feel free to read our article What is NetSuite and how does it work?
Choosing the Right Implementation Partner
When making the move to NetSuite ERP, it’s important to work with a reliable implementation partner to tailor the system to your requirements. The partner will remain your point of contact beyond the initial implementation, helping to optimise the new systems and adapt to change when necessary.
You should seek a partner with an accredited implementation methodology and a demonstrable record of success. This will ensure a smooth, successful and swift implementation, with readily-available support whenever you need it. NetSuite is a fantastic solution for growing companies and can be configured to meet the unique needs of your business. But is it a large and sophisticated piece of software wherein you pay for what you use, so it’s important to only implement what you need in order to keep costs down.
The ideal implementation partner will have a comprehensive knowledge of the software and be able to quickly understand precisely what you need. They will pursue a tried-and-tested methodology, offer support at every stage and help you get the maximum ROI from your NetSuite investment.
Why choose Eventura to deliver your NetSuite ERP Project?
As an official NetSuite solution provider, we have successfully delivered countless NetSuite implementations. Our expert team of business analysts, developers, consultants, technicians and support staff can guide you through your entire project, from initial scoping through to implementation and on-going support.
We believe that NetSuite offers its customers a comprehensive suite of products that can digitally transform their businesses, replacing a range of disparate systems and softwares with one unified solution to business management.
If you would like to speak to one of our NetSuite experts, you can request a free call back here.
