Controller at Non-Profit Legal Service Provider

We have used NetSuite for two years now. The Software saves us lots of time and makes our job easier.

Pros

User friendly software!!! Great for custom reporting and searches, able to import payroll in a few minutes, drill down feature, web-based you can use anywhere and open multiple windows at the same time. The ability to scan in AP backup which saves space and time on billing and audits, recent activity allows you to find what you did last quickly, dashboard can be customized to specific users - shows key performance indicators such as bank balances, sales & expense versus other periods. There are workflows to automate task such as vendor approvals, customer service and all NetSuite employees are very friendly and extremely helpful. Also being a non-profit, NetSuite employees volunteer their time with through Pro Bono projects - we have used this three times with great results.

Cons

Any hurdles or issues that i have had were solved by reaching out to NetSuite. One year I was having difficulty printing 1099's but customer service helped get me on track.

Pros and Cons - Don't fall for their sale pitch

- The implementation has been extremely frustrating and disappointing. The sales team pushes for a sale that does not include all the client's needs, resulting in the need for change orders which causes delays. -The implementation team is friendly and proactive but inexperienced/ with little supervision - I can tell they are working hard to find solutions for me, but they seem to be scrambling to figure things out without proper help/ and experienced person in the team. - They have a tendency to promise things they are not able to deliver - for example, they sold me a 3-way match solution that they were not able to deliver it. Their excuse is that it wasn't working because of the partial receipt feature we need. Still, to me it is a very serious issue if they are selling things they can't deliver. - Lastly, as it relates to reviews that you can't customize NetSuites, the truth is, you might be able to, but it will most likely be out of your scope. Although the change order may not be extremely pricey, the delays on the project may be extensive. And I'm not talking about 'unique customization' - I would think blanket POs/ partial receipts, 3-way match would be included in the original sales of a client that made extremely clear that the Procure to Pay module was the most important module to them.

Pros

- The software allows for some visual customization of the home page based on each role that is easy to do without the help of a programmer. For example, customize the views for each roles, set up alerts, etc. - The search bar within the software works extremely well, which makes it easier to navigate; - The use of the software is intuitive and easy to follow/ learn; - The SuiteAnswers articles are very helpful in answering questions/ showing how to do anything one may need in the system.

Cons

Before selecting this software, I read several reviews saying the biggest issue was the how difficult it was to customize the software. Here are some actual examples: 1. If you want a new field (which they call segment) to be tracked for reporting purposes, you need to create a costume segment, which wont be part of the basic product the sales team sells to you. Also, just found out that it can not created as a mandatory field. 2. All NetSuite modules are standard/ out of the box. Even though we emphasized that Procure to Pay was the absolutely most important module to us, the sales team pushed the basic procure to pay module, which did not include Blanket POs or 3-way match. The thing is the sales team pushes the basic solutions to close the sale, but then later you are stuck having to process change orders, which although are not very expensive, each take about 2 weeks to process, delaying the project. 3. After delaying our project to include 3-way match and blanket POs (2-week delay), the implementation issues begun. It turns out that the 3-way match that they sold to us does NOT work. What the system was able to do is a 2-way match. Also, the system does not allow for an approval flow for releases of blanked POs. Lastly, the costume segment can not be a mandatory field as it doesn't work on blanket PO releases. In Summary - The sales team will push their most simple out of the box version, upgrades result in delays.

Don't Use NetSuite

Implementation was a nightmare. During Go Live, they lost us tens of thousands of dollars by deleting dozens of sales by accident. Every aspect of it is not user friendly and requires extensive coding knowledge. It is completely the wrong choice for smaller businesses.

Pros

They sold it really well and their sales team was very enthusiastic and engaging.

Cons

It is absolutely a nightmare to implement. It is way too complicated to function well. You need to be a developer to be able to do even the most basic augmentations. You might as well just build your own system from the ground up and save yourself the expensive NetSuite bill. The cost is huge and you can't make adjustments to licenses without long contracts. Despite their claims they don't know anything about integrating with other systems like Shopify via connectors like Celigo or FarApp. The integration team will not help you avoid even common pitfalls. The user interface is, despite their claims, woefully not intuitive or easy to use for average computer savvy individuals. You cannot easily make or adjust print or email templates and their WYSIWYG editor is garbage. The shipping component of it is far less powerful and customizable than many other shipping softwares like ShipStation. Their manufacturing processes are not customizable enough and don't account for realistic manufacturing challenges. You will absolutely end up doing way more steps for not much gain, making it very inefficient to operate. Their "support" is very limited and after you are past your support phase, help is non-existent unless your entire system is down. They are not appropriate at all for small to medium size businesses (despite their claims) and should only be used if you have an entire IT team that could probably just code a custom system for you anyway. Absolutely would not recommend!

Extremely robust and customizable, yet archaic, poor interface, and too expensive.

Pros

The ability to customize just about anything your organization wants is rewarding. And if you are willing to spend, you can have your system fit your business processes like a glove. Integration apps, along with native functionality of workflows can put your business in a “semi-autopilot mode.” Practically limitless reporting capabilities. You can manage almost every aspect of the your organization while enforcing internal controls and monitoring employees with full visibility. I would recommend for enterprises with no less than 8M in sales and with at least 8 or more users to leverage the full functionality of this role-based system. Netsuite is built to fit the needs of each role within your organization, from the sales rep and warehouse manager to the A/R clerk and controller.

Cons

Nasty corporate culture. No accountability for system issues, error, or outages. Sneaky contracts that will hook you with discounts and raise fees exorbitantly after your are stuck with your data and huge conversion costs. Nightmarish implementation that Netsuite outsources to foreign “professional” services that know pretty much the same as you would do from the get go. They barely speak English—incorrect setup caused us much lost revenues and frustrated, burned-out employees. Never believe Netsuite reps who say implementation can be done in 3 months. Be prepared to spend a hundreds of hours to understand the software - it is not always intuitive. Plan comprehensive employee training. You will most likelly need a full time administrator to support users due to the high learning curve. As a retail and distribution company that grew out of Quick Books Desktop, Netsuite was apparently the the next solution. Although I still believe the software has much to offer, user interface is about 10 years behind time. My dream is that super user-friendly QuickBooks Online launches an Enterprise version one day.

Great Cloud Based System

It just made everything faster and more efficient. Purchase Orders, Invoices, reports could all be done electronically and without much effort. There was a system log to hold people accountable. Anything late, altered, changed, etc could be seen and noted(date, person, and time down to the second). Departments no longer had to wait for a meeting to know their budgets. They could log in and see the numbers in real time. The customer service team always responded fast and helped me with the problems I had. We could also store invoices and check copies onto their secured server. So basically this helped the office become more efficient while going green.

Pros

That it is cloud based. This helped me solve a lot of problems when I was not physically in my office. If I was sick, on vacation, or away from the office at night I could still answer questions. I didn't need to drive in and log into the software that was on the company server.

Cons

There is a lot to the system. While it can most likely do everything you need it to, there is also a learning curb that comes with it. Some of it can be self taught, while others can be covered via a youtube video. For other issues you need help on you would need to contact the customer service team. So basically the thing I liked least was that there is so much that sometimes it is hard to find what you need.