On February 15, 130 NetSuite customers attended a Learning Lab session in New York City to grow their KPI, closing knowledge.
Hosted by NetSuite technical experts, the free event included interactive sessions and workshops focused on creating custom KPIs, building dashboards aligned with business objectives, and adopting best practices for optimizing the month-end close.
From SuiteWorld to On the Road
The Learning Lab concept originated at SuiteWorld 2022. The goal: Create an education-focused track within the annual conference. Throughout the three-day event, SuiteWorld attendees had the opportunity to attend workshops and seminars hosted by NetSuite’s Learning Cloud Support (LCS) team and connect directly with NetSuite experts.
“We came up with the idea because we saw our customers wanting to learn more and get more value out of their ERP investments,” said Reg Singh, vice president of education services and strategic initiatives at NetSuite. “And it was just such a success — customers loved it and wanted us to do more. That's how the idea started off. And we've started taking it across the globe.”
While LCS offers a variety of educational offerings online(opens in new tab) through a subscription service, the team quickly realized the value of free, in-person events.
“An in-person version is so much different,” said Singh. “Participants get to meet and interact with other customers, they get to go hands on and ask questions in a way that's not always as easily achieved in an online format.”
NYC Learning Lab Participants Focus on KPIs, Month-End Close
The NYC Learning Lab kicked off with a gathering to cover the day’s agenda and the benefits of LCS and Advanced Customer Support (ACS) before attendees broke off into their respective workshops and training sessions.
Each participant had the option to attend either two training sessions or one hands-on workshop. The classroom-based sessions focused on modifying financial statement layouts in NetSuite and using formula fields for more effective searches. The interactive workshops set participants up with a demo environment to learn more about creating unique metrics and KPIs for their businesses and optimizing the month-end close process.
“You can get used to a certain way of doing things in NetSuite,” said Singh. “And with these sessions and workshops, we're really showing you about some things that you might not even know that NetSuite does that can truly make a difference and make your life easier.”
The curriculum for the NYC Learning Lab, according to Singh, was rooted in finding effective ways to equip each attendee — regardless of industry or stage in their NetSuite journey — with knowledge and tools that they could apply immediately.
“The Learning Lab really comes down to practical advice,” said Singh. “These are not some ‘pie in the sky, I'm not sure if I'm going to use it’ takeaways. What you learn, you can go back to work tomorrow and apply it right away. I think that's the critical differentiator.”
To conclude the Learning Lab, attendees connected over lunch and open lab hours where they had the opportunity to network with like-minded innovators, get product demos, and ask any lingering questions to the NetSuite gurus on hand.
Looking Toward Future Learning Lab Sessions
By the end of the Learning Lab, participants had learned how to use NetSuite to gain more visibility into their businesses through custom KPIs, reporting, and dashboards. They also gained tips and tricks to simplify the traditionally tedious month-end close, involving NetSuite’s AP automation features(opens in new tab) in particular.
“We've heard some really great feedback about the ‘aha' moments that we've created,” said Singh. “Attendees remarked on all the new things they learned and some things that they didn't even realize were possible.”
The consensus among participants was clear: Yes to more educational opportunities. For the upcoming Learning Lab in Austin on March 23, the schedule has been expanded to a full day so attendees can participate in more sessions.
“We got such a strong feedback from customers that said, ‘We don’t want to be forced to pick from one of those three sessions — we want to do everything,’” said Singh. “So we're going to start running a repeat of those morning sessions in the afternoon. This way, we're giving more value to customers through a full-day Learning Lab.”
While response from the New York session clearly affirmed the current curriculum, Singh noted that future Learning Lab sessions would evolve based on what customers want.
Bottom Line
Participating in a NetSuite Learning Lab is an excellent way to fast-track training on all the ins-and-outs of the NetSuite solution. Ready to take your NetSuite knowledge to the next level? Learn more and register for a Learning Lab at our Learning Lab home page(opens in new tab).
Don’t see your city yet? Keep checking the home page for future programs in a city near you.
Interested in gaining NetSuite skills? Check out this video (opens in new tab)to see NetSuite MyLearn in action.