NetSuite for Advertising & Digital Marketing Agencies

NetSuite is the #1 cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) business management suite and is used by more than 31,000+ organizations and subsidiaries in over 217 countries and territories. This software suite unifies core business processes that include financials, CRM, eCommerce, inventory, HR, professional services automation, and more via a single, fully integrated system.

NetSuite helps companies manage key business processes with a single, fully integrated cloud-based system. Some of those processes include enterprise resource planning and financials, CRM, eCommerce, inventory and more. Your business data is located in one database within NetSuite, which means that you have instant access to your business reporting through point and click reports and can avoid inaccuracies that result from manual processes. 

Oracle NetSuite is the best accounting software within an ERP platform because of its robust services that can drive a business’s entire financial management needs. NetSuite cloud-based solutions streamline mission critical business processes and reduce IT costs, allowing you to easily scale and future-proof your business with an agile business platform that evolves as your needs change.

NetSuite streamlines project management, resource optimization, pitch-to-invoice and other critical advertising business processes with the industry’s first and only end-to-end cloud services resource planning (SRP) solution. By combining professional services automation (PSA), CRM and ERP/financials into a single platform, you are empowered to run end-to-end business operations for your entire agency.

With NetSuite’s cloud solutions, your advertising, digital marketing or market research agency can improve its profitability without project and financial management restricting your organization’s creative juices. Since many agency workflows are automated and information and insights are readily available, your team will be empowered to spend more time delighting clients.

Perhaps the most important difference is that NetSuite is primarily an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software with an included CRM system. On the other hand, Salesforce is only a CRM software solution with no ERP included.

NetSuite can adapt to meet the needs of diverse businesses because it has a wide array of modules dedicated to critical business functions and processes.

Finance

Financial Management: NetSuite’s financial management solution handles many bookkeeping tasks by automatically updating the general ledger, tracking accounts receivable and accounts payable and submitting invoices. This module speeds up the monthly close and simplifies the creation of key financial reports for regulatory and statutory reporting. It supports complex revenue recognition standards and easily consolidates financial statements from subsidiaries — including business units in other countries — with real-time currency conversion.

Global Business Management: NetSuite OneWorld allows multinational and multi-subsidiary companies to manage their entire enterprises in one system. It can handle the diverse needs of global businesses via support for diverse currencies, languages, tax laws and reporting requirements. OneWorld offers financial roll-ups at the regional, country and global level, so decision-makers can get as broad or as focused a view of the business as they desire.

Planning and Budgeting: NetSuite Planning and Budgeting gives business leaders everything they need to create detailed departmental or companywide budgets and forecasts. The module also provides financial analysts with access to statistical models that allow them to run what-if scenarios that project revenue, expenses and more based on different possible outcomes.

Billing: NetSuite SuiteBilling helps companies manage invoicing and billing. It supports transaction, subscription, usage-based and other billing models, reducing the complexity of managing financials for many modern businesses. SuiteBilling records revenue in compliance with current revenue recognition standards. This module helps businesses stay flexible and profitable.

Operations

Inventory Management: NetSuite Inventory Management provides a single view of inventory across all channels and locations, automatically updating levels in real time. The inventory management module can use sales data to set reorder points and alert purchasing managers when it’s time to place replenishment orders. It also manages cycle counts. All of this functionality helps businesses keep the ideal amount of stock on hand and avoid both out-of-stocks and excess inventory, boosting cash flow and profitability.

Order Management: NetSuite Order Management handles the complete order lifecycle, from receipt through delivery, at each stage — as they’re placed, released, shipped and settled with the customer. This module can automate order processing and manage fulfillment across channels based on predefined rules. All of this leads to faster, more accurate fulfillment that reduces shipping costs while increasing on-time delivery rates and customer satisfaction.

Procurement: NetSuite Procurement can improve the complete procure-to-pay process to save businesses time and money. Customers can keep a list of approved vendors, collect quotes and automate purchase orders while granularly monitoring performance and spend and enabling vendor self-service and expediting payments.

Warehouse Management System (WMS): NetSuite WMS builds on the system’s inventory management capabilities, adding functionality for putaway, order picking, barcode scanning and returns authorization. The WMS module can run on mobile devices to direct warehouse employees through receiving, picking and cycle counting. The application, which also reports on warehouse activity, boosts warehouse efficiency and helps companies fulfill and ship orders faster.

Manufacturing: NetSuite Manufacturing is built for companies that make or assemble products. The module helps with production planning and scheduling, shop-floor management and monitoring production to reveal insights and improvement opportunities. It ensures you have all the right supplies and parts in the right place at the right time and allows managers to build, release and track work orders. That visibility into the entire production process can ensure quality, reduce costs and increase on-time delivery.

Demand Planning: NetSuite Demand Planning can help plan future demand for the products and services you offer based on historical data, existing opportunities or imported sales forecasts. The module can plan using the moving average, linear regression or seasonal average methods. Demand planning also helps with supply planning, automatically creating purchase and work orders based on the demand plan.

Customers

Customer Relationship Management: NetSuite CRM presents a 360-degree view of customers. Sales force automation features help manage leads, quotes and sales to speed up the lead-to-cash process. Forecasting tools review sales data to more accurately predict future sales. The CRM application also improves customer service by combining all important data, like sales history and active support cases, in one place. Marketing automation tools in the CRM help companies manage campaigns and segment customers so they can be targeted with more relevant messaging.

Commerce: NetSuite SuiteCommerce allows retailers, distributors and manufacturers to create outstanding omnichannel shopping experiences. The application allows companies to launch and manage mobile-friendly eCommerce sites with user-friendly tools. Multi-channel, multi-location businesses can connect all transactions and visits by unifying SuiteCommerce with the SuiteCommerce InStore point-of-sale application. The result is better customer experiences on the front end and a seamless order flow on the back end, with all payment and customer information automatically flowing into the ERP.

Additional Capabilities

SuiteApps: SuiteApps are a vast catalog of applications developed by Oracle NetSuite and partners that extend the capabilities of your NetSuite instance, whether through additional functionality or integrations with other SaaS solutions. There are SuiteApps for all types of industries and business needs, and most of them run within NetSuite.

Payroll: NetSuite Payroll automates calculations of earnings, deductions, taxes, bonuses and paid time off, accounting for variations in taxes across the United States. With the module, businesses can pay employees via direct deposit or print checks, file payroll taxes and create tax forms (like W-2s and 1099s) for employees. The payroll solution reduces the time spent processing payroll and ensures compliance with oft-changing employment laws and regulations.

Human Resources: As NetSuite’s HR system, SuitePeople weaves human resources data throughout the suite. This solution stores personnel information, guides new hires through onboarding and tracks promotions and compensation changes. It gives employees self-service tools to request time off, view directories and org charts and publicly congratulate colleagues, while allowing managers to conduct and track performance reviews. SuitePeople lets employees handle more tasks on their own and helps organizations retain top performers.

Professional Services Automation: NetSuite PSA solutions are designed for services companies or services divisions within product companies. This system provides project and resource management, billing, time and expense management and project accounting capabilities. OpenAir can track time and expenses in detail, then automate customer billing based on project milestones or a set schedule. The module delivers better resource utilization, a higher rate of on-time projects and increased profitability.

Analytics: SuiteAnalytics harnesses all the data in the NetSuite platform to provide deeper insights, from summary to transaction levels. The SuiteAnalytics workbook enables users to build on saved searches and reports with custom filters and visualizations. Employees can get answers to pressing questions with simple drag-and-drop tools — there’s no need for coding or complex queries.

All NetSuite solutions are delivered through the cloud in a subscription model. NetSuite was a cloud pioneer and remains fully committed to that deployment model — it does not offer any on-premises options.

It’s a multi-tenant cloud solution, meaning all customers run on the same version of the software and its back-end infrastructure and regularly receive updated versions, automatically. Each customers’ data is stored and secured separately. This creates economies of scale because everything runs on the same code.

Users access the platform securely through a browser from any device, whether a laptop, smartphone or tablet. This flexibility empowers decision-makers to track the performance of their business and be alerted to any problems regardless of where they are, so long as they have an internet connection. Role-based access gives authorized employees the information they need to excel in their roles without viewing data not relevant to their jobs.

NetSuite users access all ERP modules, and the functionality within them, through a single sign-on portal — all the key information and tools needed to run your business are in one place. Customers can use simple drag-and-drop tools to personalize their home dashboard with the metrics, charts, graphs, reminders and shortcuts that are most critical to their roles.

The same is true for all real-time dashboards throughout the suite.

NetSuite’s SuiteCloud platform allows customers and partners to extend the system’s capabilities and tailor it to their exact business needs. This gives customers the flexibility to meet the shifting business challenges of today and tomorrow. There’s no threat of version lock, as all customizations automatically carry over with platform upgrades.

Here’s a quick breakdown of SuiteCloud applications and developer tools:

Customizations: This tool makes it easier for developers to create custom fields, forms, records and roles. With SuiteBuilder, companies can tweak the system to reflect their organizational structure and terminology.

Process Automation: Developers can build custom workflows for different business processes with SuiteFlow. They can use an intuitive user interface to automate processes like lead nurturing and approvals for purchase orders and sales discounts.

Platform Development: Developers and NetSuite administrators can build almost any new application or process they can dream up with this tool. They do this through JavaScript application scripting, and SuiteScript can debug their code.

Integration: SuiteTalk enables developers to build custom integrations so data flows smoothly from NetSuite to outside software applications. It does this through a few different integration tools.

Application Distribution: This tool helps both customers and partners bundle customizations and applications they develop for faster, easier deployment. SuiteBundler makes it easier for partners to send out new versions of these applications and for customers to apply customizations to different accounts.

Internationalization: Create an environment for end-users and administrators that feels completely natural no matter which local language, currency, or tax and accounting rules apply to your global company or offshore subsidiary.

Performance Monitoring: Performance health dashboards provide visibility into systems health to maintain optimal performance and stability of your NetSuite account to ensure business continuity and keep users productive, and include integrated tools to rapidly identify root cause issues affecting product experience.

Companies subscribe to NetSuite for an annual license fee. That license is made up of three main components: core platform, optional modules and number of users. That annual license fee stands in contrast to the large, one-time payment businesses are charged for a perpetual license to use on-premises systems as well as ongoing maintenance and support.

Accounting, inventory management, order management and tax management capabilities are included with the core NetSuite platform. NetSuite’s modular pricing design means customers pay only for what they need, when they need it. As a business grows, it can easily activate new modules and add users — that’s a key upside of cloud software. 

Because every module is different and delivers unique capabilities, license costs vary. There is also a one-time implementation fee for initial set up. To receive a more detailed quote specific to your business needs or to simply learn more about NetSuite, schedule a free consultation.

There’s a reason so many business owners and leaders trust NetSuite to manage their most critical processes and information. It’s a proven, reliable platform that helps organizations of all kinds grow and reach their goals. Having all key business information in a single system leads to more informed decision-making and allows leaders to resolve problems before they cause major disruptions.

Simply put, there is no replacement for drawing insights into your operations and running your entire company from one source of data, in one interface