Alliance Partners Help Their Customers Automate and Grow with NetSuite

Hayley Null, Manager of Partner Marketing

February 23, 2024

At NetSuite, we’re extremely proud of all our Alliance Partners and the effort they put into implementing and supporting our leading cloud-based ERP system. This year’s Alliance Partner Spotlight Awards highlight the companies that have demonstrated commitment and success in implementing NetSuite. These partners have also developed industry-leading expertise, customizations, and/or intellectual property across many different microverticals.

In this blog series, we put the spotlight on the specific customer projects that earned the associated Alliance Partner a Summer 2023 Spotlight Award.

A cloud ERP that supports global growth

Boatsetter is a boat-sharing marketplace that makes boating accessible to consumers regardless of their experience piloting boats. The company unlocks the 95% idle capacity of privately-owned vessels, which in turn helps boat owners realize returns on their investments.

Started in 2012, Boatsetter had used QuickBooks for years, but that system struggled to handle the complex nature of managing rentals. For example, Boatsetter must collect funds from customers, provide payments to boat owners, and manage a complex deferred revenue schedule.

The complexity and growth of the business presented a clear need for a more scalable, flexible system. The company also looked at Sage Intacct, but selected NetSuite to support its current and future growth. Working with AppWrap(opens in new tab), Boatsetter implemented NetSuite SuiteSuccess for Software.

AppWrap set up the firm’s intercompany transaction management, provided a seamless integration with BILL and Stripe, and developed a customization to properly account for revenue and payouts from Stripe transactions.

The implementation went very well, with the project delivered on time without significant changes to the initial implementation plan. Boatsetter now has simple intercompany functionality and a scalable system that will support its growth in both existing and new geographies.

Automating and simplifying business operations

Circular Technology offers vital supply chain support and IT asset disposition services to global technology firms and data centers. Leveraging a vast network of suppliers, the company can quickly source diverse components, from semiconductors to computer peripherals such as keyboards and monitors. The company is young—established in 2021—but was already grappling with operational inefficiencies and poor inventory visibility due to disparate systems.

Circular Technology decided NetSuite was the right technology to help resolve these issues and partnered with Beyond Cloud(opens in new tab) to implement NetSuite SuiteSuccess for Wholesale Distribution. Beyond Cloud also developed a consignment solution that includes a commission system based on all purchase and sales orders and provides inventory visibility for Circular Technology’s network of consignment vendors. This helped bolster the accuracy of Circular Technology’s data and its operational efficiency by removing the bottlenecks that came with a disjointed tech stack.

Using NetSuite, Circular Technology has enjoyed significant time savings, improved serial number traceability, faster and easier calculations of complex commissions for both sellers and buyers, seamless integration with its electronic payment system, and better visibility into its business operations. In the future, the company wants to incorporate credit-card processing capabilities into NetSuite for additional automation. 

NetSuite sets up software company for sustainable growth

Since its inception in 1993, Event Capture Systems (ECS) has provided machine vision solutions with one goal: to increase the realized capacity of their customers’ manufacturing processes. The company’s camera-based quality control systems help increase the speed and quality of manufacturing processes while decreasing waste and downtime.

The company relied on an old AS/400-based system, with internally developed software patches, that would soon reach end of life. Wanting to transition to a modern ERP and CRM system that would receive frequent and automatic updates, the company needed a cloud-based system that could handle warranty tracking. After evaluating competing solutions including Infor, ECS selected NetSuite due to its flexibility, industry-specific functionality, and ability to add features over time. It chose Beyond Cloud to implement the new system.

The implementation was a success thanks to close coordination and execution between the ECS and Beyond Cloud teams that kept everyone focused on key objectives and helped the company go live ahead of schedule. With the new technology, ECS gained comprehensive insights into its business and improved accountability across financial reporting and project management.

NetSuite helped ECS increase the efficiency of its operations by introducing automation across financials, sales, project management, customer communication, and order management processes. It also positioned the company for long-term, sustainable growth and adaptability.

Automating 1,500 customer payments per month

Sterling Capital Brokers provides consulting services and customized plan management technology that helps small and medium-sized businesses choose cost-effective and compliant group benefits plans for their employees. Based in Canada, the company has a team of experienced and knowledgeable consultants dedicated to helping businesses find the right group benefits plans for their organizations.

Previously, Sterling relied on a system it built in-house for accounting and finance. It used another homegrown system, SCB Connect, to manage investments in group insurance plans and to generate invoices. The company was unable to link subsidiaries to its legacy system, forcing employees to maintain data in multiple locations and then consolidate it manually. Additionally, the company had no direct integrations to banks and processed all customer EFT payments manually.

Working with Folio3(opens in new tab), Sterling implemented SuiteSuccess Financials First, NetSuite Advanced Revenue Management, and NetSuite Dunning Letters. Folio3 also fully automated electronic vendor bank payments and customer payments through an integration with Bank of Montreal.

With NetSuite, Sterling has consolidated financial reporting for its six subsidiaries and improved management of its fixed assets. It has also fully automated roughly 1,500 customer payments per month, which staff previously spent hours processing manually. 

Delivering a five-star self-storage experience

Founded in 2007, Trojan Storage’s mission is to deliver a five-star self-storage experience to its customers across the West Coast and in the greater Chicago area with a clean and simple storage solution. Trojan Storage wanted to consolidate its financial processes in one platform and improve data analytics and reporting.

The storage business implemented NetSuite OneWorld(opens in new tab) along with modules for inventory management, purchase order management, and CRM(opens in new tab) with the assistance of NetSuite implementation partner Appficiency(opens in new tab). The fixed-bid project was delivered under budget.

Since going live on NetSuite, Trojan Storage has seen major benefits, including seamless intercompany management and better reporting for its 75-plus subsidiaries.

Meeting an aggressive ERP implementation timeline

Founded in 1999, this life sciences venture capital firm invests in biotechnology, life sciences, health, and sustainability companies. To achieve its mission of transforming human health and sustainability, the company uses an integrated approach that combines pioneering science, world-class talent, and bold entrepreneurship.

After previously handling financial planning and analysis (FP&A) with a tool that had limited capabilities, the organization went searching for a new system that could better meet its reporting needs. It chose NetSuite Planning and Budgeting(opens in new tab) and primarily leverages its SmartView feature to manage templates that match its specific input and reporting needs. The company also required custom dimensions that MindStream Analytics(opens in new tab) built, plus numerous customizations used to maintain multiple iterations of forecasts—all while keeping actual and forecast data up to date.

The company laid out an aggressive timeline to go live on NetSuite because the license for its previous solution was expiring. MindStream met that timeline and onboarded all employees who needed access to NetSuite Planning and Budgeting in just a couple months.

MindStream focused on customizing and optimizing the system to meet the company’s specific needs. The partner provided comprehensive training on efficient forecasting and budgeting and maintenance. Additionally, MindStream configured dimension- and cell-level security to meet complex access requirements. After a successful migration, the firm manages all forecasting in NetSuite Planning and Budgeting.

Next, MindStream will continue to work with the customer on phase two initiatives for NetSuite Planning and Budgeting to further enhance out-of-the-box capabilities, update dimensionality, add calculations to the workforce module, and start using other NetSuite forecasting tools.

Find out how the unique skills of NetSuite Alliance Partners can help your business get the most out of NetSuite(opens in new tab).

NetSuite has packaged the experience gained from tens of thousands of worldwide deployments over two decades into a set of leading practices that pave a clear path to success and are proven to deliver rapid business value. With NetSuite, you go live in a predictable timeframe — smart, stepped implementations begin with sales and span the entire customer lifecycle, so there's continuity from sales to services to support.