NetSuite began life as a company called NetLedger back in 1998 in near San Francisco. The company was founded by Evan Goldberg and the initial startup was financed by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. The design of the product was that it would be entirely designed to operate over the internet and not be a product that required companies to install software.
The initial targeted customer was the small business who was running PC based accounting packages like Quickbooks, Sage and Peachtree. The cost of NetLedger was very competitive with its original price being only $4.95 per month per user. Since then NetLedger has changed it name to Oracle Small Business Suite, and then to NetSuite. Along with the name changes there was an increase in functionality and also in price. But with approximately 1000 employees and more than 6,500 customers, NetSuite is the top web-based business software suite available.
NetSuite offers four main software-as-a-service (SaaS) products; NetSuite Financials, which includes ERP, NetSuite CRM+, NetSuite Ecommerce and SuiteAnalytics.
NetSuite Financials
The financials and ERP functionality has the same features that you would expect to find in traditional ERP software such as SAP or Oracle. The accounting functions are well developed as this was the original direction for the company. NetSuite Financials includes accounts payable and receivables, budgeting and multi-currency, but as this was designed originally for the small and medium business user the complexities required by larger corporations is lacking. The NetSuite Financials function includes an order management and fulfillment process as well as integrated FedEx and UPS shipping tools and drop shipment capabilities. The functionality includes a basic purchasing system and a simple inventory and warehouse function. There is limited manufacturing function, but does include manufacturing functionality, including bill of materials and an assembly process.
NetSuite CRM+
Netsuite CRM+ is a powerful customer relationship management (CRM) product that competes against any of the leading CRM systems such as Salesforce.com or SAP CRM. The functionality includes a sales force automation (SFA) component that offers; team selling, territory tracking, quote generation and incentive management. The CRM+ function includes a marketing automation module that allows users to participate in e-mail marketing, keyword marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and campaign tracking. The customer support and service function gives customers the opportunity to have case assignment, management & escalation, an online self-service customer center and a support knowledge base.
NetSuite Ecommerce
The Ecommerce functionality gives clients the ability to produce an online shopping experience for their customers. NetSuite Ecommerce provides web store capabilities to help clients create a personalized online store. The functionality allows the web store to integrate with inventory, accounting and sales functions. NetSuite clients can create as many separate web stores as required, but they are managed by one back office system which is a more efficient method. Some of the other functions offered in the NetSuite Ecommerce module are gift certificates, discount coupons, Google checkout support, Paypal support and automated upsell recommendations.
SuiteAnalytics
The SuiteAnalytics module provides built-in business intelligence which allows easier reporting for more efficient decision making. NetSuite acts as a data repository so there is no need for a data warehouse. The functionality includes NetSuite Dashboards which includes key performance indicators (KPI), trend graphs and KPI Meters which are available to all employees. The functionality includes configurable performance scorecards, which include sales performance scorecards for sales professionals. The NetSuite Reporting gives users the ability to use standard, custom built, and saved search reports.
