A few weeks ago, I attended the NetSuite SuiteWorld conference in Las Vegas. This was an exciting event given the new relationship between Oracle and NetSuite.
On day 1, we learned about NetSuite’s future plans, and a bit more about their newfound relationship with Oracle. You can read my previous post on the subject here.
Day 2 was just as educational, if not more so. In addition, NetSuite took this portion of the conference to chat more about the actual software.
In trying to keep up with all the new features and functions NetSuite announced at SuiteWord 2017, the following blog is a combination of two different sessions. The first was a session on Wholesale Distribution/Manufacturing (WD/M), and the second an Executive Session with Evan Goldberg, NetSuite founder.
What’s Next for NetSuite
R. “Ray” Wang, Principal Analyst and Founder of Constellation Research, Inc., had the major role of setting the stage for what’s next for NetSuite during the WD/M session by providing some interesting research:
- 55% of Fortune 500 lost money in 2015
- 61% of the Global 2,000 engaged in digital transformation
- 57% of the Global 2,000 direct to consumer
- 81% of the Global 2,000 are using B2B commerce
- 78% of the Global 2,000 are focused on post-sale revenue
From this information, Wang’s firm identified nine trends. These trends led to a couple of statements, which basically paraphrased:
WD/M businesses are moving from selling an experience to selling an outcome. Where we used to sell a product, we are now selling guaranteed uptime.”
Wang also provided data that demonstrated technological capabilities are growing faster than our ability to consume them via best practices. This implies that if you are not functioning on cloud ERP software, then you will not be able to keep up, because you cannot wait 5-10 years for the next upgrade your business is willing to take on.
Paul Farrell, VP Product Marketing at NetSuite, Oracle’s new Global Business Unit, said the world is changing, and that we need to be able to react to that change more quickly than ever before. NetSuite provides two software releases per year, which don’t require a major upgrade as with on-premise solutions.
Solution Improvements
What’s next for NetSuite? Well, their focus at the moment is to make the solution work even better and more efficient right out-of-the-box. Configuration of industry, roles, and global solutions are what allow this to happen. The screens are designed for the individual role, including several embedded charts. This makes for a very good looking and powerful Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Major New Features
The first pillar is the Build. In the manufacturing area, NetSuite had some ground to make up, and they came through. The following is a list of the major new features mentioned during this session:
- Location-Specific Bill of Materials (BOMs)
- Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
- Barcode Scanning
- Tablet Experience
- Advanced Routings
- Rough Cut Capacity Planning
- Resource Requirements Planning
- Quality Control
- Batch Control & Management
- Recipe/Formula Management
- Dynamic Reporting
- Release Management
- Phantoms
Wholesale & Distribution Additions
In Wholesale and Distribution, NetSuite did not rest on their laurels. They continue to develop an already strong product by announcing the following:
- Inbound Shipment Management
- Wireless RF/Mobile
- Advanced Wave Management
- System Directed Pick and Putaway
- Order, Cluster, Bulk and Zone Picking
- Dynamic Forward Pick
- Replenishment
- Cycle Counting
- FIFO/FEFO
- Request for Quotation (RFQ)
- Blanket Purchase Orders
- Advanced Order Management
- Rebate Management
- Vendor Dashboard
Underlying these new capabilities enforces NetSuite’s commitment to NetSuite SuiteSuccess, a new implementation methodology that offers a stair step of functionality vs. a big bang approach, along with their Supply Chain Operational Excellence (SCOPE) initiative.
They will be advancing the software further with Re-Engineering Product Data Management, which will have multiple Bill of Material (BOM) types by location, each with Revision Control, and Time Phased Supply Chain, which will provide the ability to look at projected inventory levels into the future.
NetSuite Goes Global
In the keynote on day two led by Evan Goldberg, NetSuite continued their multi-company, global theme by announcing:
- Global Customer Employee and Projects
- Global Business Process Configurator
- Automated Inter-company Accounting
- SuiteTax Globally
- Cash Management
- Bank Reconciliation
- Business Process Localizations (e.g. languages)
In addition, many improvements to SuiteCommerce Advanced, NetSuite’s eCommerce development platform, was mentioned, including in-store-pickup. Evan had fun discussing exploding Bill of Materials (BOMs) and new enterprise project management features.
But the most applause from the very animated SuiteWorld audience occurred when Goldberg mentioned the support of sub-lists in SuiteFlow, one of their development tools, which is interesting given it is a cloud solution.
NetSuite SuiteCloud
However, the most important NetSuite improvement announced was that SuiteCloud will come to use multiple processors, reducing both the average and median wait times by 98%. This is a huge improvement in response time for the end-user, effectively eliminating the need for IT to thread or prioritize applications.
To keep up with what’s happening at NetSuite, visit their website here.
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