Customizing and Integrating

(1)

NetSuite CRM

Customizing and

Integrating

(2)

What’s in this Guide

This guide is meant to help business who are using NetSuite CRM, specifically around im-plementing, customizing and integrating NetSuite.

Regardless of whether you’re a implementing NetSuite for the first time, or a business who has been using NetSuite already and is looking to integrate or just get more out of the system – this guide will help you enhance your company’s usage of NetSuite.

Some topics we’ll cover in this guide include:

System Design: How easy is the system to use for your company’s users? What are the best features of this system, how do they work and what can they do for your team?

The Data Model:How are the system’s objects setup? How will data flow between those objects? Will this setup work for your business?

Customization:We will look at custom fields and custom objects in NetSuite, as well as customizing layouts so users can actually use their data.

Integration and APIs

:

Does the system have an API and how easy is it to use? Do out of the box integrations exist?

Automation:Automation refers specifically to lead assignment and workflow rules. We’ll review these capabilities and focus on ease of use of these features.

Pricing and Scalability: We’ll review the pricing and editions of NetSuite, including the flexibility you get and the pros and cons of certain editions.

Mobile: Short review of available mobile applications on both Android and iOS platforms. Overall: Bottom line: how good of a system is this for your business.

(3)

BEDROCK’S GUIDE TO NETSUITE INTRODUCTION

N

etSuite was one of the pioneering SaaS business systems that really put cloud computing on the map. Before Larry Ellison invested in Marc Benioff and Sale-sforce.com’s success, there was NetSuite, which also received Ellison’s backing: the company was founded in 1998 by Ellison and Evan Goldberg, and had an IPO in 2007, which was highly successful.

NetSuite is an entirely cloud-based ERP system. If you’re not familiar with ERP, it’s essen-tially a CRM with many other features and data objects built in. You can use an ERP like NetSuite to manage product inventory, shipping, accounting, product management, sales (CRM), marketing and more.

If you’re considering NetSuite for your business, be warned: it’s not a simple system, and unless you happen to have a NetSuite expert on staff, you’re looking at consulting fees for implementation help. You can’t just buy NetSuite, setup users and hand it off. NetSuite is extremely customizable, and to take full advantage of NetSuite, getting some assistance customizing it is a must.

The consulting model at NetSuite was clearly evident to us when digging into this system, as easy to find and digest documentation is not NetSuite’s strength.

(4)

BEDROCK’S GUIDE TO NETSUITE EASE OF USE

Ease of Use and System Design

The first time we started playing with NetSuite, it was difficult for us to find the different areas of the product. For example, the CRM aspects of the NetSuite product are sort of hidden (“Lists > Relationships”), and opportunities aren’t located in the same section as Leads and Contacts (they’re in “Transactions”). You can change/customize this of course, as you can with essentially all aspects of the system.

NetSuite makes heavy use of user roles, and you can customize these to suit your needs. Users can have multiple roles, and switch between them in the user interface.

Focusing on the CRM aspects of NetSuite, the data model is a bit different than the traditional CRM data models that we see in the other systems in this e-book.

Leads in NetSuite can have 2 separate types: Companies and Individuals. A “company” lead has contacts as child records underneath it. An “individual” lead does not.

B2B Companies

If you’re a B2B, then the first decision that you want to make is whether to use the “Lead Conversion” feature or not. Lead Conversion will let sales reps “convert” leads into contacts and prospects (companies) once they’re qualified. We consider and recommend Lead Conver-sion for all B2B companies who want to implement and automate their lead flow. The other option is to simply create Leads as companies, with associated contacts.

B2C Companies

If you’re a B2C, then you will naturally want to create “individual” leads, which will follow the typical lead stage down your sales funnel.

(5)

The NetSuite CRM Data Model

B2B companies using NetSuite can choose to use Lead Conversion or not, based on their sales automation

and integration needs.

B2C companies will want to just use The individual lead types in NetSuite

B2C Funnel

B2B Funnel

(6)

BEDROCK’S GUIDE TO NETSUITE CUSTOMIZATION

NetSuite is an extremely customizable system. Check out the “Customization” menu for access (admin required).

Fields

You can certainly add custom fields to NetSuite. In fact, there are around 7 different types of custom fields that you can create (welcome to the land of ERP). For more information on creating custom fields in NetSuite, check out this blog post on the Bedrock Data blog.

Forms

NetSuite forms are for entering data into NetSuite. These can be for different types of records (leads, contacts,

promotions, parts, etc…). You can create custom forms to make sure that data is entered correctly into NetSuite.

Objects

NetSuite calls custom objects “records” in the system, and you can certainly create custom record types under

“Customizations > Lists, Records, Fields > Record Types.”

Scripts

NetSuite allows you to script against the system, using custom code.

You can use these scripts to perform tasks and setup integrations.

(7)

BEDROCK’S GUIDE TO NETSUITE INTEGRATIONS AND API

Integrations and APIs

(For IT and Developers)

NetSuite has a SOAP API, but the WSDL file we found to be essentially un-usable, so not very helpful unless you want to roll with your own XML.

NetSuite also provides API and integration options through “RESTlets” and SuiteScript (as well as “Suitelets”) explained here:

SuiteScript API and Suitelets

This provides a way to manipulate the NetSuite user interface (NetSuite Pages), in order to customize your internal NetSuite instance. You can use Suitelets to build custom workflows, build unique custom pages, add UI elements to existing pages and much more.

RESTlets

RESTlets are pieces of JavaScript code that allow you to interface with the SuiteScript API using REST-ful methods (GET, POST, DELETE, etc…). You can load RESTlets into Net-Suite and then deploy them in order for the code to be executed via a URL.

If you’re looking for a NetSuite integration, or a straight REST-ful NetSuite API for your own internal use, talk to us!

(8)

BEDROCK’S GUIDE TO NETSUITE AUTOMATION

Automation

Workflows

NetSuite Workflows are located under “Customization > Scripting > Workflows.” You can use NetSuite Workflows to automate certain processes in NetSuite, such as lead

assignment to sales reps, sending marketing emails, creating new opportunities, and much more. NetSuite workflows work a lot like workflows in other systems, where you have triggers and actions. The workflow will fire when the conditions are met, and the actions will be executed thereafter.

Here’s a screenshot of a NetSuite workflow that is assigning a lead to a user based on their geographic location:

Lead Assignment

Like with any other CRM system, automated lead assignment is an essential part of automation for your sales team. In NetSuite, you can assign leads using Sales Territories, which will assign records based on their geographic region. You can also do this with a Workflow, if you want to use other fields besides state/region to assign leads.

(9)

BEDROCK’S GUIDE TO NETSUITE PRICING

Price and Scalability

NetSuite’s pricing is not readily available on their website, in fact they have pretty strict rules about not advertising their pricing (they forbid their partners from advertising it also). Luckily, some kind soul added a NetSuite pricing table on Wikipedia – it’s from 2007, so probably not accurate, but does provide a guide for what you’re looking at

(essentially $99/user/month):

So the good news is that NetSuite is fairly cheap for its base pricing, but they make their money on all of the little add-ons in the system that you may need as your company scales over time.

For what you get though and all you can do with NetSuite once it’s implemented and rolled out, NetSuite is a great value. It will scale with however big your growth plans are: you won’t need to switch systems once you have NetSuite implemented.

NETSUITE

Monthly Base Price

$499

month

month

$0

(10)

BEDROCK’S GUIDE TO NETSUITE MOBILE APPS

NetSuite Mobile App

NetSuite’s iOS mobile app is pretty robust and easy to use. There is a lot of functionality built into the app, which is a great thing for any user.

You can add new records (of essentially any record type), edit records (including all related fields, like Addresses, Companies, Marketing Campaigns, etc… on a particular record). You can also view dashboard reports (KPIs and such) on the mobile app dashboard.

Another unique thing about the NetSuite app, is that you can customize the layout of the data, right from within the app, which is ahead

of the curve for business mobile apps, but fits NetSuite’s overall “customize anything and everything” mantra.

The Android app by NetSuite is called “Ope-nAir” and only appears to support Timesheets and Expense Reports – look for a new version more along the lines of the iPhone app in the near future.

2 / 5 S TA R S

I P H O N E

A P P S T O R E S R AT I N G S

A N D R O I D 2 / 5 S TA R S

NOTE - These iPhone app reviews appear to be

based on an older version of the app. Note that there are many other 3rd party Android apps that we didn’t test with some higher reviews.

(11)

BEDROCK’S GUIDE TO NETSUITE OVERALL

Overall Takeaways

NetSuite isn’t a CRM, it’s an ERP - be clear

about that distinction.

Many companies use NetSuite for CRM, but also use lots of other features around their ERP as well. If you’re considering NetSuite for your CRM needs, make sure that you can make use of it’s other features as well (finance for instance), before you purchase the system. NetSuite’s CRM features specifically are adequate, though the UI is a little clunky (there is a new UI release coming out right around the time of this writing, so that will hopefully chan-ge). The old UI feels a bit like a web application from 1999.

As I’ve mentioned throughout this guide, NetSuite’s best feature is its flexibility and custo-mization. Just know that this comes with a pretty steep learning curve, which means im-plementation fees and potential training and consulting for your users – it’s not an easy or intuitive system to understand right out of the box.

Overall, our experience with NetSuite, as well as working with many NetSuite clients over the years have been positive.

The general feeling we get is that sales and marketing reps don’t love using NetSuite, finan-ce, IT and Ops reps love it.

(12)

In Conclusion

Bedrock Data is a data management platform that allows businesses to synchronize and manage their data quickly and easily.

Bedrock connects to a lot of different bussiness systems, including CRMs, ERPs, Marketing Email, Suppot, Finance and E-commerce systems. Connect with us to learn more, or just get started with an integration today.

745 Atlantic Ave. 3rd Floor • Boston, MA. 02111 • 1-877-588-2671 • [email protected] • www.bedrockdata.com745 Atlantic Ave. 3rd Floor • Boston, MA. 02111 • 1-877-588-2671 • [email protected] • www.bedrockdata.com

Hopefully we’ve provided you with helpful information that you can use to make educated decisions about implementing, customizing and integrating NetSuite. Should you have any questions about anything that may not have been covered in this guide, feel free to contact us at any time. We will be more than happy to get you started.

TRY BEDROCK FOR FREE

Easily Integrate Your Business Data

You can use Bedrock to sync between your cloud business systems and keep a running backup

of your critical business data