Increasingly, manufacturers are looking toward their ERP systems, more specifically cloud ERP systems, to help spur efficiency.
This was clearly on display recently at the IMPACT Manufacturing Summit in San Antonio, Texas where NetSuite was both a sponsor and presenter. I had the chance to share how manufacturers around the globe are transforming their operations and winning new business with cloud ERP. I presented along with one of NetSuite’s many manufacturing customers, TrueBlue Production and the company’s CEO Chuck Bowen.
TrueBlue is a uniquely interesting manufacturing customer for NetSuite as it’s not a traditional manufacturer, but a contract manufacturer of high-end leather goods for multiple brands. Operating primarily out of Mexico, TrueBlue Production produces goods for other companies including another NetSuite customer, Saddleback Leather, as well as companies like J. Peterman. TrueBlue Production innovates by delivering on the promise of creating and manufacturing remarkable products that require a personal/custom touch. Because they operate in Mexico, they are able to produce a reasonable alternative to Asia for products that require a fair amount of labor. Leveraging NetSuite, TrueBlue is able to focus on what they know best—delivering high quality, repeatable products instead of focusing on the systems to run their business. NetSuite delivers the infrastructure and foundation all managed securely in the cloud, so that TrueBlue can focus on serving their customers.
TrueBlue and Saddleback are not alone. Industry analyst firm Gartner Inc. has predicted that 47 percent of manufacturers worldwide will be using or piloting Software as a Service (SaaS) applications by 2015, up from just 2 percent in 2012, a growth of 2250% (yep, over two thousand percent growth). Despite this growth, there is still skepticism that exists among manufacturers. According to research from industry analyst firm Mint Jutras, one of the biggest concerns about cloud-based systems is downtime risk. Indeed, attendees at the Summit had some serious questions about security, risk and downtime operating their ERP system in the cloud.
However, this is an area where NetSuite is focused on delivering and willing to publicly showcase its success. Unlike most vendors that claim to be committed to the cloud—NetSuite is the only ERP vendor that provides its uptime statistics publically. NetSuite’s very business depends upon providing a stable system with minimal disruptions and we have staff focused on keeping the system up and running around the clock. The same is true for security. In fact, the resources that the company puts toward uptime and security are far more than most manufacturers could devote on their own.
Manufacturers can rest assured that their data in NetSuite is secure, accessible and ready to fuel the kind of growth that TrueBlue Production is already seeing.
-Ranga Bodla, Director, Industry Marketing, Wholesale Distribution and Manufacturing at NetSuite
