Always curious as to how the NetSuite job market is trending, I recently took a look at Dice.com (opens in new tab) to get a quick sense of what’s hot these days. I found thousands of openings for NetSuite professionals of course, and when I clicked on a sampling, I noticed with increasing frequency the requirements for applicants to be “NetSuite certified.”
As CIOs continue to prioritize cloud investments, the NetSuite ecosystem is ever increasing in depth and breadth – and NetSuite certification is becoming increasingly important, both with our enterprise customers and small and mid-sized firms. It’s for this reason that we have decided to introduce a base certification in NetSuite fundamentals – the SuiteFoundation Certification – to ensure that our technical consultants have the functional knowledge necessary to complete successful implementations, and that our power users have the confidence to lead their firms in leveraging NetSuite for greater efficiencies and innovation.
NetSuite pioneered cloud ERP certifications – so I think it’s only fitting that we would introduce the first-of-its-kind opportunity to shore up the credentials not only of consultants advancing careers as developers or administrators, but those who are looking to provide more value to their companies as NetSuite power users as well.
NetSuite Certification Important for SMBs
As NetSuite continues to attract the attention of more and more SMBs, they carry one expectation with them – that the professionals working with their business critical systems be certified.
At small and midsized customers, the desire to continue to find deeper and richer functionality in their NetSuite applications is paramount. Gaining increased efficiencies and continuing to innovate on their business processes helps them compete with much larger companies. To that end, power users with deep NetSuite expertise are in high demand.
The new SuiteFoundation certification is the first step along the path to a successful NetSuite career. For power users, certification validates that they are NetSuite experts, and positions them to find the increased value from NetSuite that is a top priority for so many NetSuite shops today. For developers and administrators, the exam will be a requirement for pushing onto subsequent NetSuite certifications (Administrator, ERP Consultant and SuiteCloud Developer) as it ensures the functional knowledge of the NetSuite system that is absolutely crucial to successful engagements.
NetSuite prospects and established customers alike are coming to expect certification– and professionals with these credentials will be among the most demanded in the cloud IT marketplace.
The Exam Basics
Test takers must have at least six months experience administering or using NetSuite, and ideally should have taken the NetSuite Essentials course. Candidates will need a basic understanding of NetSuite features and standard modules, company and user preferences, roles and permissions, UI customization, as well as dashboards, reports and searches. The NetSuite product release process will also be covered. The exam is 80 minutes long, consists of 66 multiple choice and matching questions, and costs $250.
At SuiteWorld this year, we launched a SuiteFoundation Exam Prep Course to ensure success on the test. This course provides lecture, study materials and a NetSuite demo account, as well as one certification exam voucher. Guided by a NetSuite expert, you can examine frequently missed subject areas from the SuiteFoundation exam, while reviewing NetSuite features and capabilities. You begin by studying key setup tasks; reviewing standard process flows; and exploring web store functionality while building an intranet in a demo account. You will also compare audit and search functions, as well as data manipulation options. The prep course is two days long, and costs $1,600. Live virtual training and self-study versions of the course are also available. Check the course schedule for dates and times of upcoming classes.
Being born in the cloud means NetSuite products are continuously updated with new functionality. For those who have a NetSuite certification already, there is an annual New Release Quiz to prove your knowledge is current with the newest features.
Consider getting certified – and putting yourself in the best position to pass the test. Certification validates your knowledge and indicates you have core NetSuite skills – making you invaluable in a cloud ecosystem that continues to grow. IDC recently predicted that more than half of enterprise IT infrastructure and software investments will be cloud-based by 2018. It’s a great time to have your head in the clouds – and to fill it with the knowledge of a leading cloud ERP system.
