We have wrapped up another SuiteWorld, our best ever. We ask a lot of our customers – take a few days off from work, secure the travel budget for getting to San Jose, then work hard – and play hard – at all the events. That is why our customers continue to be the key to the energy and success of SuiteWorld. Three recurring themes come up when we ask our customers what they like about SuiteWorld: training, networking, and the future.
The primary business reason that nearly 5,000 people attended the conference this year is for the training. The commitment to travel on a Sunday to learn about NetSuite is truly inspiring. On top of the pre-conference training, the more than 200 break-out sessions are where we go deep into the applications and our clients’ success stories. We repeatedly hear that the people who provide the most valuable insights are our customer presenters. We at NetSuite can tell you “how to try” and use our products, but only our customers can share “this is how I succeed.” My particular favorites are the customers who teach business lessons on top of application secrets. Justin Harvey of Sirius, with our VP of Professional Services Larry Goldberg, who discussed how he keeps his organization aligned to utilization metrics, and Peter Cox of The Marketing Store focusing on the customer, both illustrate the transformational nature of our product, and demonstrate the results we try to achieve.
The secondary business reason that customers attend SuiteWorld is for the networking and with more than 5,000 attendees there was plenty of opportunity. SuiteWorld is a vivid example of how NetSuite is a company focused on vertical industries. Social events focused on allowing Services customers to interact with each other, as well as with the NetSuite employees who focus on the Services vertical, was a point of emphasis for our Services customers. Over breakfast on day 2, we were talking about utilization reporting, and over cocktails later that day, we discussed project management optimization. I had the luxury of pulling in the team from Accuvant to share their insight with the team from Real Foundations, an example of the powerful peer-to-peer communications that propel us forward.
The third business reason we hear about attending SuiteWorld is to find out what is coming up next. Customers are excited to be part of our future, and the keynotes by Zach(opens in new tab) and Evan(opens in new tab) were the highlights of the conference. We learned about new user experiences in the application, great new partners, and exciting new features. The overall theme is that the product is moving at an acceleration rate unlike any other company, and 2013 will continue to impress with product progress.
I find SuiteWorld to be very rewarding as I learn about the way that NetSuite can transform the business of our customers. It is motivating to me, and I hope it’s motivating to our customers, to know that we're part of a solution that's setting new standards for business software and operational excellence.
-Edward Marshall, SVP Product Strategy, Product at NetSuite