It really depends on what you want to get out of it. NetSuite is infinitely customizeable, but from what I have seen businesses expect any/everything to work out of the box and then balk at the fact that it doesn't, because they don't understand how it/software in general/Oracle as a company works. For job prospects, if you are a NS Admin/Developer and you're good you will be making a VERY high salary. Even just having that you used NetSuite on your resume as say, an operations manager, will be very good. My advice to you, should you go with Netsuite is to find a third party development company, or even better, an in house admin and/or developer who won't jack you around so that you can fit the software to your needs.

It all depends on what your company needs. I evaluated sage and netsuite extensively, including functionally and quotes (implementation and licensing) . I ended up going with netsuite and it’s been an excellent decision for our company and for myself.

As others have said... Netsuite is almost infinitly customizable but along with that infinitely complicated. You can do almost anything you want as long as you are willing to pay for the people/consultants to make it happen for you. Plan to have at least 2 FTE working just on Netsuite administration/day-to-day operations. Our company's experience was that we ended up paying 1.5 - 2x what was originally quoted just to make everything work 3/4 as well as our old ERP. Our implementation partner was pretty terrible though. We had to pay a lot of consultants to customize a lot of different things. Your results may vary.

I’m a netsuite functional analyst and been using Netsuite for 12 years. I noticed those who are service oriented companies, engineering - it works extremely well. Using websites and selling - works well The inventory module and costing is more complicated The manufacturing, is prob the weakest as far as how it has been setup. It is also a newer module that was introduced Netsuite has come a very long way! So distribution companies I found struggle with it a bit more Customizations can be done with no doubt, but should be done carefully. Don’t want to customize too much and it breaks later on

Gotta figure out what your company needs first, then you'll be able to identify the gaps between what you need and what each of the platforms is able to deliver. And importantly, if you can change or adapt the system to your usage. I agree with the other poster that if you do decide to go with netsuite or any other erp for that matter, make sure you have knowledgeable people around you with dedicated time to ensure that your project will actually go live.

What industry and size of company?

It all depends on what you expect ERP to. Consider answering those questions (writing from a perspective of a NetSuite Alliance Partner) 1. Which industry are you in and is the ERP strong in that industry? NetSuite is very strong in services, software, wholesale distribution, food production, retail, e-commerce (but it cannot sell e-commerce subscription in every country, it’s a YES for USA). It’s making its way in manufacturing, but depending on how heavy it is, you may want to look at Epicor. 2. Which processes do you want to implement? Is it ERP only, or including CRM NetSuite provides CRM licenses for free, so it’s just implementation cost. MSFT recently rebranded all its products to Business Central - that’s a whole new chapter for discussion, a bit messy though. If it’s not just ERP then NetSuite’s advantage is an integrated suite. MSFT has something called Common Data Model to address variety in data models across apps - you’ll need an FTE for that. 3. Who will implement and support the product? Check available partners. Typically NetSuite demands high skill set from the partner community, but you never know. The flops happen. The most important is to have experienced consultants working with you (eg rule at my company is we engage ex-NetSuite Professional Services consultants with good track record) 4. Can you avoid customizations? If yes, do it. It will not only increase implementation size, but also support costs for the future. See how each product addresses your requirements and make a decision. I don’t know Acumatica but I’d leave Sage be at once if I were you. Sage likes underselling and adding features overtime. Also, that’s my subjective view but I haven’t heard of another vendor with so many failed implementations. Frankly, I haven’t met a single client yet who would be happy with Sage. Microsoft has many advantages, with one definitely being familiarity with Microsoft family UI and breadth of add-ons which can be integrated through CDM. IT guys and developers love Microsoft for that, so if you’re into such approach and have an IT department, you may narrow to MSFT and NetSuite. If you don’t have an IT department, it’s a no-no. NetSuite is definitely the most powerful of all, with clear vision and focus since 1998. Typically, users are very fond of look and feel, although UI is a bit outdated. The only real con, comparing to Microsoft, is integration with 3rd parties, should you want to integrate many Systems and have NetSuite as a HUB. NetSuite has been aggressively expanding into other than US markets over past two years, and it’s still catching up with localizations. If you’re in non-US then check if they sell e-commerce, POS and HR in your country.

> I haven't gotten a price yet That's gonna be a critical factor. Oracle likes to charge through the nose for its products, and Netsuite ain't an exception. Whatever you do, hire an in-house dev. If you can't, find someone smart internally (preferably someone who's done Javascript programming before) and put 'em through training (or don't; I sure didn't go through training, though I sure don't consider myself to be a better-than-average Netsuite programmer). I'm sure there are good consultants out there, but the code I've seen from even high-rated ones leaves a lot to be desired quality-wise. Investing in an in-house dev will - I hypothesize - pay off in the medium to long run.

>Is NetSuite worth it? IMO, Yes. There is so much you can do with it from customizing reports to enforcing business requirements. You can also integrate with almost every 3rd party application your business may be using. I ran the implementation of NetSuite for a not-for-profit and fell in love with it. It also makes working remotely possible. Just like other ERP systems, it does have it's limitations and even some customization is not possible without a lot of script work being required and even then the scripting that can be done is limited in various areas. I think it is the best when it comes to customization.

It's a bit clanky and not salesforce, but it gets a different job done and more often than not they have oversold their clients... which means their clients are not broke. $$$

How did it turn out?

Did you look at SAP Business One? No, this is not the big SAP products that will take 2 years to implement. From your description it sounds like you would be able to do a lot out of the box with SAP B1. Warehouses, Bin locations, Serials and Batches, Bill of Materials, UoM, barcode reading and Pick and Pack functionality. Further for inventory valuation you have real time valuation in Moving Average, FIFO and Standard which you can bring down to Serial and Batch number level. This is with fully integrated accounting on any stock movement according to the calculated cost price of the goods. Automated tax based on the zipcode of the customer. All out of the box easily configured.

We are currently evaluating the same thing as a distribution company. What did you end up going with? Right now I think we are down to Acumatica and NetSuite. I have heard NetSuite can be daunting and overly complicated from some but also the best from others. I have heard really good things about Acumatica but it seems more niche. This makes me worry about long term as the business expands.

If we had to do it all over again, Netsuite would be our LAST choice. Service is horrible, hard to understand (language barrier), and expensive. The software, while powerful, is buggy and relies too much on javascript.

Finance manager here. I've used NAV, Sage and now Netsuite for the last 6 months. I can say hands down NAV is the best, and depending how many licenses you have, probably cheaper than Netsuite. Downside to NAV is obviously you would need to host your own network vs Netsuite which is all cloud based. I will say I have not seen the production side of NAV, whereas I am pretty familiar now with Netsuites production side (Assembly builds, BOM's etc) and it does work pretty well for what we use it for, though our products arent very complicated.