NetSuite was one of the first companies to take a truly SaaS approach to ERP. For 20 years they have been honing their features, building an enterprise infrastructure, and putting together a suite of modules that is adaptable to small, medium, and enterprise businesses.

At a certain size, volume, or complexity, a business needs to move from a mere accounting system into a more robust Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. An ERP isn't right for every business, but when your business hits that level of scale, the right software tools can really enable growth.

NetSuite is one of the leading contenders in any ERP conversation in the SMB and Enterprise markets. As a Software as a Service (SaaS) application, NetSuite has positioned their offering well for businesses with distributed operations. Netsuite's ERP product has an incredibly broad feature set, as well as an incredibly deep feature set. While the product originated as an online competitor to Quickbooks, the intervening 20 years have seen a steady and effective positioning of the platform to meet the evolving needs of everything from the small business to the large, complicated enterprise. Whether from general ledger and inventory tracking, to multi-entity consolidated financials and complex revenue recognition, NetSuite is adaptable to most business scenarios.

GRAYBOX has a long history of working in NetSuite ERP. When we are leading out an RFP process for selecting new business software, NetSuite is often in the top three contenders. Beyond the fact that NetSuite's out of the box functionality offers great ERP functionality, the platform is additionally very flexible. NetSuite offers a bevy of customization options that allow GRAYBOX to tailor NetSuite to meeting a business's unique and complex resource planning requirements. NetSuite offers user interface configurations, a scripting API, and multiple integration methods, all of which support business needs. GRAYBOX is often integrating NetSuite ERP with external Ecommerce platforms and 3PL systems, or building custom logic for reporting on inventory and demand planning needs within the company.

NetSuite has a variety of optimal scenarios in which it's the best ERP system. For businesses that are growing quickly, evolving quickly, and changing processes quickly, NetSuite is a great fit. The system is flexible to configure, and the wide range of add-on modules mean that your business can easily grow into the more complex needs as it evolves. Features like demand planning, manufacturing planning, or multi-entity consolidated financials, are great examples of tools a business may not need today, but can be added through a call to a sales rep at any time in the future. However, there is generally some critical mass of sales volume, number of users, data volumes, or other process scale that needs to be in place before NetSuite makes sense from an ROI perspective.

GRAYBOX is exceptional at leading our Client-partners through the digital transformation process, and the RFP process for selecting a new ERP system is a great example of that. NetSuite is one of several great options for consideration, but understanding the nuanced pros and cons of those options is a critical step in the process of ensuring your business has the right tools to grow for the next three, five, or ten years.