For Less Than the Cost of Maintaining Existing Software, NetSuite Enables Companies to Integrate Front-Office and Back-Office Operations
SAN MATEO, CA. October 15, 2002 - NetLedger, Inc., makers of Oracle(r) Small Business Suite, today announced NetSuite, the first online business software solution to automate front and back office operations for companies with fewer than 500 employees. Built on the ease of use and technology found in Version 8 of Oracle Small Business Suite (see accompanying release). The Oracle Small Business Suite name is used under license from Oracle Corporation (ORCL).
NetSuite adds the advanced accounting, warehousing, CRM, and customization functionality of stand-alone mid-market software applications at a fraction of the cost.
"NetSuite is an important offering reflecting two trends," said Mary Wardley, an analyst at International Data Corp. (IDC). "First, there are gaps between the low-end software packages and high-end enterprise applications in terms of functionality and price. NetSuite is positioned to bridge that gap. Second, the NetSuite offering reflects the important need among mid-range organizations to have certain back-office processes, such as accounting integrated with CRM functionality in a single offering."
The software infrastructure utilized by most companies with up to 500 employees does not allow business processes to run seamlessly across front and back office functions. These companies have to buy separate, expensive software packages to run their business - one for accounting, one for warehousing, one for sales force management and one for customer support. Additionally, the cost historically associated with running software and integrating data from those incompatible systems for these companies has been high.
NetSuite enables companies to manage all key business operations in a single, integrated system, including customer relationship management; sales and marketing; customer support; accounting and payroll; warehousing and product assembly; Web store and Web presence; and employee productivity.
And, NetSuite is delivered as an online service, so there is no hardware to procure, no large, up-front license fee, and no complex set-ups. Companies can be up and running on NetSuite in a matter of minutes.
NetSuite has also been designed to be easy to use. Additionally, users can access it anywhere and anytime, further increasing ROI. It provides graphical portal views to the application called "dashboards" that are customizable depending on the user accessing the system. A warehouse person`s view would concentrate on products to be shipped and received. A sales person`s view would focus on the leads to be called that day, and performance against quota for the quarter. A manager`s view would graphically aggregate data summarizing the performance of his or her group.
"In a business like ours where one hundred plus orders are drop shipped every day, the need for a powerful back-office and front-office system working together is a must," said Marilyn Leslie, CFO of MiniCo, a provider of self-storage products for retail and facility operations in Phoenix, Ariz. "NetLedger has provided us that integration and more. Our salespeople have enjoyed the Internet-based access, because they can see their daily product sales in real time. Our accounting department has been able to generate the same reports we did with our previous enterprise software system, but at a fraction of the cost with minimum effort. We feel an integrated system is a must-have system for a mid-size business like ours and we`re excited about the additional features of NetSuite, particularly the multiple currency feature."
"A company`s employees work together and it is time that software applications easily and cost-effectively support their efforts," said Zach Nelson, president of NetLedger. "For less than what companies are paying to maintain their outdated, ineffective software systems, they can use NetSuite and quickly achieve their goal of business process integration."
NetSuite Feature Details
NetSuite layers a common, but customizable, portal user interface over three integrated functional areas - advanced back-office accounting/ERP, advanced CRM, and advanced Web presence - to enable businesses to streamline their business processes. In addition, the suite includes technologies to allow businesses to easily migrate and integrate existing legacy data into NetSuite. And NetSuite allows many levels of customization, from simple form customization to advanced business process customization using JavaScript.
NETSUITE USER INTERFACE AND EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY
Role-based Centers and Dashboards - Because NetSuite is several applications rolled into one, it includes customizable "centers," portal views of the application tailored to meet the needs of every type of user in a company. NetSuite includes several preconfigured centers, including Support Center, Sales Center, Accounting Center, etc. The centers are navigated via graphical "dashboards" that provide summary data important to the user and easy navigation and workflow within a center. Both the centers and dashboards are customizable so that users and administrators can control the data seen by the users, and how that data is represented. Employee Productivity - NetSuite`s Employee Center provides self-service capabilities for all the employees of a business including expense reporting, purchase request management, and time tracking and billing.
Forms submitted through the Employee Center are routed to the employee`s supervisor for approval and then automatically on to accounting for processing.
Also available from within the Employee Center are integrated calendar and task management functions. The features provide users the ability to schedule appointments with each other and with customers, vendors or partners, to schedule resources such as conference rooms, and to set reminders.
With NetSuite`s audience-based publishing architecture, businesses can also publish company information to individuals, teams or to all employees that they can access from their Employee Center, ensuring that all the information they need to do their jobs is at their fingertips anytime and anywhere.
NETSUITE ADVANCED ACCOUNTING/ERP CAPABILITY
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