Outgrowing Quickbooks?

As your company grows and graduates from QuickBooks, selecting the right Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is critical. Here’s why NetSuite is the best option for the long term. For every successful company, there comes a time when the decision must be made to either continue using their on-premises software solutions or upgrade to a leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform. Whether the company is pre-revenue, in the early stages of growth, or ready to move to the next level, QuickBooks or on-premises systems may hold it back from achieving any long-term goals.For organizations that started out on basic financial systems like QuickBooks, this realization arises when companies begin to expand their customer bases, open multiple subsidiaries, take on outside investment, expand globally, and/or go public. Individually, each of these steps requires a more complex technology infrastructure. Collectively, these steps all but require an ERP platform that can effectively run a growing company’s end-to end operations. Whatever the motive behind the switch, the software selection process may come down to NetSuite vs. Sage Intacct. While the two solutions may look similar from afar, they differ greatly in terms of functionality, scalability and total cost of ownership. This guide explores the key reasons why NetSuite is a better long-term solution to replace QuickBooks than Intacct and how an experienced implementation partner can help companies extract the biggest benefit from moving to a unified cloud ERP system.

The Limitations of Entry-Level Software

As organizations grow and their accounting processes become more complex, entry-level accounting software, Excel spreadsheets and manual processes all have clear limits. Initially, QuickBooks operates as an easy and affordable choice for new businesses. However, as companies scale, QuickBooks reaches a functional ceiling that can hold a company back from achieving its true potential. At that point, companies will often start comparing solutions like NetSuite and Intacct to get more out of their accounting. Most organizations start that search in the cloud, which allows them to run robust systems without the need for expensive hardware, on-premises software or extensive IT resources. As they make their way down their software criteria lists, companies should pay close attention to the scalability of the NetSuite platform and the key functionalities that it offers organizations—offerings that Intacct lacks. From multicurrency to financial planning and analysis to global accounting consolidation, NetSuite’s capabilities address all of a growing company’s needs and deliver upon those promises as the organization grows, adds more customers, opens locations in different countries and expands globally. “When companies are looking to expand beyond the US market, they need a system like NetSuite, which will account for global tax and accounting management. These are key features other entry level platforms don’t offer and businesses run into a functional ceiling rather quickly,” said Manoj Kumar, CEO, Co-founder and Principal Solution Architect at Beyond Cloud Consulting, a NetSuite Alliance Partner. By contrast, NetSuite handles all of this plus financial reporting consolidation and real-time visibility into the general ledger (GL) across the entire worldwide enterprise. NetSuite also offers human capital management,supply chain/warehouse management, manufacturing, ecommerce, professional services automation and other extended capabilities that Intacct does not. “Intacct can’t stand up to NetSuite in these key business areas,” Kumar explained, “and especially not for companies that are outgrowing QuickBooks and that need to be managed as an entity with multiple subsidiaries.” “Simply from a scalability perspective, NetSuite has always been a winner when it comes to financial reporting and other native capabilities, whereas Intacct is more ‘peripheral’ and has to go outside of its network and rely on partners to help it offer capabilities that NetSuite provides natively.”

Manoj Kumar, CEO, Co-founder and Principal Solution Architect, Beyond Cloud Consulting

Finding the Right ERP System the First Time Around

Some companies go through several major technology implementations before finding the ERP software that’s right for their operations. Those starting on QuickBooks and later moving to Intacct, for example, usually upgrade the latter within two to three years of installing it. Those that implement NetSuite either right out of the gate or after outgrowing QuickBooks can avoid an additional ERP implementation with Intacct and gain all the benefits of NetSuite’s scalable, cloud-based solution. Picking enterprise software that does not need to be replaced every two to three years also significantly reduces overall IT costs and avoids the needing to shift employee resources over to an entirely new solution. “The fact that most companies outgrow Intacct within a few years definitely makes it the more expensive option overall,” said Ahmed.NetSuite has a lower total cost of ownership because the ERP system provides holistic business management versus just tackling a company’s accounting or financial management needs. Take Customer Relationship Management (CRM), for example. Where Intacct relies on an integration with Salesforce to be able to deliver CRM capabilities,NetSuite CRM generates a single view of prospects, customers, partners and vendors; it also gives sales, marketing and support teams real-time data for delivering exceptional customer experiences.NetSuite also provides a direct integration with Salesforce, should the company opt for this route instead. With its open Application Provider Interface (API) tools, NetSuite can connect to almost any application. That means no more transferring data between systems using Excel spreadsheets and no more siloed systems that can’t “talk” to one another.The entire business is managed on a single ERP system that scales as the company grows. Because all of the data is housed in NetSuite, turning on additional functionalities is a seamless process.“As your company matures, you can subscribe to many different additional modules within NetSuite,” said Ahmed, “including SuiteCommerce,SuitePeople, warehouse management and many others, as you deem them necessary.” “What we’ve seen is that most companies initially move to Intacct due to the initial cost of getting onto the platform. They find themselves outgrowing Intacct pretty quickly and paying more to upgrade in the long run.

Mustafa Ahmed, CEO and Principal Solutions Architect, Beyond Cloud Consulting

Short, Successful Implementations

NetSuite has more than 28,000 customers around the globe. Using the SuiteSuccess implementation methodology, which is based on 20 years of industry-leading practices and extensive business optimization methods, NetSuite can be up and running in less than 100 days on average. While most ERP implementations can take anywhere between six to 12 months, SuiteSuccess greatly accelerates this timeline and helps companies achieve faster, more predictable results.“Based on the individual customer’s industry, SuiteSuccess consolidates multiple roles, dashboards, workflows and other elements that are ‘bundled’ together and ready to install,” Kumar explains. “As soon as a customer gets its NetSuite instance, we deploy the SuiteSuccess methodology, install the bundles and are able to start the implementation from the 80% mark, making the process easier for the customer.”With deep expertise in multiple sectors, Beyond Cloud Consulting has even whittled that go-live timeframe down to under 30 days, depending on the customer’s individual needs. It manages the entire project based on its customers’ priorities and goals, builds out integrations, develops quotation tools and creates custom scripts. In helping companies move off their entry-level software and onto NetSuite, Beyond Cloud Consulting challenges those organizations to make their processes better, change the ways they’ve “always done things” and take steps that will improve their overall operations. “We’ve done this across many different microvertical sectors,” said Kumar, “and have accumulated industry-specific expertise as a result. We then take that knowledge and parlay it into the next successful customer implementation.”

The Last ERP You’ll Ever Need

Beyond Cloud Consulting has implemented NetSuite from pre-revenue organizations to those with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue—and all points in between. Ultimately, according to Ahmed, those that started on QuickBooks typically outgrew the solution once they hit the $5-$10 million revenue mark. At that point, Beyond Cloud Consulting steps in to help the company select and implement an ERP system that will carry it through its many future stages of growth.This is particularly true for companies that want to break out of their domestic boundaries and begin operating their global subsidiaries from a single, unified technology platform. Even those organizations that may have implemented Intacct can quickly see that their software of choice isn’t able to stand up to the rigors of running a multisubsidiary, multi-country business.“We’ve worked with many companies that have migrated off of Intacct—or that picked NetSuite over Intacct—mainly due to their multi-subsidiary operations in the US, Canada, Asia and the European Union,” Ahmed explained. “As soon as they have to deal with multi-currency global tax management and other requirements, the gaps in their existing financial management software begin to surface.”Whether they’ve outgrown QuickBooks and are seeking an enterprise-wide solution or ready to replace Intacct, companies should put NetSuite first on their list of ERP options. Those that ignore this advice may risk kicking off yet another ERP search within two to three years, or less.“If you go with Intacct, it’s probably not going to be the end of the line because the software has a definite glass ceiling, whereas NetSuite will probably be the last ERP that they’ll ever need.”

Manoj Kumar, CEO, Co-founder and Principal Solution Architect, Beyond Cloud Consulting