Regardless of the type of business you are operating, NetSuite implementation is an important project, which must be taken very seriously. From all concerns about demonstrating ROI and cost, to all practical considerations in regard to who will manage the entire process at the company, these implementation efforts need support by business leaders and commitment by project professionals to ensure success.
For this kind of implementation, regardless of how small or big your business is, these great tips will always keep you on the right track, creating a better path and transition into NetSuite for the current and future development and growth of your organization.
6 Killer NetSuite Implementation Tips
1. Understand the Requirements
It is important and necessary to understand what is required to integrate a new solution for business management, especially before deciding to use NetSuite cloud ERP. The process isn’t quite easy just like a plug and play solution. It is very critical to initiate your implementation process with the right team.
Often, most companies don’t use the right people when they’re searching for which business requirements need and must be met with a NetSuite cloud ERP solution. Your project team should be ready and dedicated to spend more time on the implementation project. This is to ensure that the final solution is integrated and fine-tuned to your business’ particular processes.
2. NetSuite Isn’t a Transition, But an Opportunity
It is important to establish and realize what NetSuite implementation can and can’t do for your business. For instance, it can improve various process of your business, and even get rid of systemic problems. Identify areas in your business where you can possibly enable something better, instead of just to cram what you actually did in your old business system into NetSuite. From ecommerce, to ERP to CRM and many more, NetSuite comes with the ability of integrating just about all aspects of your business operations, creating more efficiency, and helping save time.
As the business continues to grow, NetSuite adapts, giving a solution, which keeps you moving forward. Implementing it to improve how your employees communicate and methods in which to easily track data is very fundamental and significant to how great NetSuite is for your business. Basically, you can leverage such implementation from NetSuite to improve how your business operates, and you will find yourself in a better position.
3. Establish Strategic Goals In Advance
What really made you choose NetSuite in the first place? Looking just beyond such implementation will eventually allow you to focus on what your priorities are a business organization, defining which business processes are most vital. NetSuite can be customized or configured in several ways to enable your objectives as a company, but if you are not clear on your objectives are before you begin, then you may find yourself struggling to offer enough support to competing interests, or chasing a highly moving target.
4. Assign a Professional Implementation Team
Assigning a professional implementation team can greatly help commit everyone and support executive sponsor. It is therefore important to ensure that you assign the right people – young employees might lack the best understanding of all their details and functions of their jobs to fully understand the requirements for NetSuite. On the other hand, old employees can sometimes get stuck in for many hours of details, hence hampering progress.
You will need people who understand what business needs must be achieved during the process of NetSuite implementation while understanding strategic goals for your company. The implementation team should include employees who can represent various departments, especially if the implementation is company-wide. For example, you should not have your accountant discussing about the requests of the sales team. Subsequently, your team can offer training for future professionals and serve as the go-to individuals for NetSuite, especially during and after the process of implantation.
5. Get Your Business Operations in Order
As the best cloud based solution, NetSuite can really do a lot to offer great visibility into your business operations and highly help sustain key business processes, but remember they are certain things that it can’t do for you. Generally, you have to be willing and ready to manage the change, which it will eventually bring. It is also important to recognize that no any amount of automation will amend or repair a process, which was broken to start with.
Bad data is just bad data, period. If you are already operating your business within an environment, which encourages poor data integrity, silos of communication, or “one-off” procedures, then you are just sacrificing optimal outcomes out of NetSuite, or maybe, at very least, you are setting the table for a very painful NetSuite implementation experience.
Before starting to discuss your CRM or ERP needs, evaluate data and process of your company, and if it’s necessary, clear your data up, organizing it so the location, relationships, and hierarchy makes are consistent. It is important to start with a strong, solid foundation, even if it needs more of your time effort to accomplish.
6. Hire an Executive Sponsor
Ensuring that your project team comprises of an executive sponsor is very vital to the success and progress of your implementation and this individual will become the advocate for your project. Designating a competent leader will keep the project on the right track, serving as the touch-point, as well as helping to prevent the characteristic delays that are associated with teams that lack management.
More importantly, the project leader or executive sponsor should be a person who carries adequate weight to effectuate any organizational change. Most often, teams are left wondering and scrambling what the next step really is since there wasn’t anyone to leverage power in order to activate change and also to warrant buyoff. NetSuite implementation does not just happen. It must be propelled by professional leaders who are ready to energize and guarantee every individual is onboard, right from entry stage to top executive employees.
Conclusively, these great NetSuite implementation tips can go a long way to help you manage your business operations. Remember, to get the best results, you must always plan in advance and give the entire process enough time to streamline your operations.