Netsuite Alternatives & NetSuite Competitors - Best Ecommerce CRM and ERP

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The Cloud ERP market is a competitive one and customers have choices we asked customers why they chose Acumatica after evaluating Netsuite and they answers were interesting.

Based on their answers, here are guidelines you should remember and questions to ask when evaluating Netsuite.

NetSuite commits customers to ongoing operational expenditures forever! Acumatica allows you to switch licensing models as your needs change. If you buy a license, you can stop maintenance payments and still use the software. Acumatica allows you to switch between SaaS and an on-premise deployment so you control where you run your software and where your data is. NetSuite provides only one option in their datacenter, under their control.

Acumatica has integrated ERP and CRM modules, just like NetSuite. But Acumatica goes one step farther by providing better options to integrate with your existing on-premise systems. You can see source code and make changes using our web-based tools or standard development tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio.

NetSuite:

Customers have to be on same product version because of the nature of NetSuites shared environment.

Customers cannot upgrade any time they choose to.

Performance issues and system responsiveness fluctuations, esp. during heavy usage hours in the afternoon

Key Questions To Ask:

How do you plan to manage customizations and real time interfaces with on-premise systems

NetSuite provides a single multi-tenant environment to accommodate common business practices. If your company has unique processes that drive your competitive advantage, then customizing NetSuite may be costly or difficult. Acumatica has a published API and SDK as well as a strong VAR channel to help you change your software instead of your business.

As your business grows and needs change, could you move your ERP/CRM solution on-premise?

NetSuite does not support an on-premises model, so the only option is to move to another vendor solution and do a full migration. This could lead to complexities around data transfer and the cost of running two systems while you make the transition. Acumatica provides the option to switch your deployment as your need change.

As you add users, what happens to your costs?

Many SaaS models charge per user so your costs skyrocket as your company grows. What started as an economical solution can quickly turn into a vastly more expensive one. Acumatica is priced by computing power, so you can involve infrequent users in business processes such as expense reporting and time reporting without paying for additional user licenses. Since Acumatica is cloud-based, adding more capacity can be accomplished quickly and economically.

Do you need to control software upgrades?

NetSuites software upgrade cycle cannot accommodate the best interests of all users in a multi-tenant environment. Solution upgrades could happen at a time that is not convenient to you. Acumatica provides the option to upgrade at any time you choose.

Do you need a local partner to support your business?

Acumatica is sold exclusively through partners which can provide customization and support for your business. You can choose a partner based on expertise in your business vertical and your geography.

How critical is response time to your business?

Acumatica can be deployed on premise to guarantee connectivity, even if your connection to the Internet is interrupted. In addition, if your business involves the transfer of large files, you can easily accomplish this with Acumatica while NetSuite recommends that you limit the size of imports and do it during off hours.

What happens if your costs increase?

Former NetSuite customers who have switched to Acumatica found the costs of retrieving their data from NetSuites servers to be unreasonably high and felt they could not take control of escalating per-user costs. Acumatica allows you to buy a license or switch data centers to keep your costs competitive with the market.

Acumatica: What Really Matters Cloud ERP or Deployment Options?

There is a big movement in the ERP market these days involving Cloud ERP vs On-Premise ERP and every analyst out there is predicting big things for Cloud ERP. It seems like there are new Cloud ERP vendors popping up every day. Even the traditional ERP vendors are building Cloud products. Of course, the traditional vendors are pretending that they are moving their existing product into the Cloud, but the reality is that they have to build an entirely new product because the underlying technology framework is so different.

Most of the analysts out there sound like Buzz Lightyear: to the Cloud and beyond. There seems to be infinite expectations and grand projections about where things will be in the next 5-10 years.

But where are we today?

All the grand predictions about the Cloud are great, but, if you look at the data, the Cloud isn't taking off very rapidly...yet.

Panorama Consulting Solutions publishes the most authoritative annual report on the current world of ERP. In their 2014 report, they point out that 85% of companies are still implementing On-Premise ERP solutions. That is, 85% of brand new implementations are still On-Premise solutions.

Of course, you can get snarky about that 85% and call the decision-makers at those companies backwards, old-fashioned, inside-the-box thinking, follow the crowd, do it the way we have always done it, cave-dwelling, obtuse, stuck-in-a-rut old-timers who should just leave the workforce and retire. You could also call it a generational thing and say that Generation X just isn't going to embrace the Cloud like Millennials will (click here).

But the fact is that there are legitimate reasons why decision-makers don't currently choose Cloud ERP. One of the big reasons is that they don't want to get permanently locked into a monthly payment subscription model where the company data is held hostage by a Cloud ERP vendor unless the company stays current on their Cloud ERP payments.

Mid-Market On-Premise ERP vs Cloud ERP

So, we currently have a tug-of-war between the traditional mid-market On-Premise vendors (eg. Microsoft and Sage) and the Cloud ERP vendors (eg. NetSuite and Intacct).

Acumatica has entered the game and picked a side, deciding to market Acumatica primarily as a Cloud ERP product.

What doesn't get as much attention though is the fact that Acumatica allows customers to deploy On-Premise as well. Deployment options are a big differentiator for Acumatica because they allow Acumatica to be involved in both On-Premise AND Cloud conversations with customers.

The problem with NetSuite is that it only offers a one-way ticket. Once you go to the Cloud with NetSuite, you can't come back. You are stuck in a monthly payment subscription model forever.

In addition, NetSuite only offers a SaaS subscription so they can only talk to 4% of potential ERP customers (according the Panorama Consulting Solutions survey mentioned above).

Acumatica: To the Cloud (and back again)

Acumatica, on the other hand, is a two-way street. It can take you to the Cloud (and back again). This is a very unique offering. Not only can you deploy Acumatica on a monthly subscription basis, but you also have the option to buy the software and deploy On-Premise or with a third-party hosting service.

In my opinion, this directly addresses the concern that many companies have with the Cloud. This is appealing to companies who want to start On-Premise, but maybe move to the Cloud in the future (once all the old-timers have retired Smile), and also appealing to the start-ups who want to deploy a low IT infrastructure Cloud solution now with the option to bring it On-Premise once their size and the law of economies of scale make it cost effective.

From a technology standpoint, Acumatica is designed for this. I have become familiar with the Acumatica technology over the past 1.5 years and, although I have not personally done it, I can see how it would be extremely easy to simply backup your Cloud environment and restore it On-Premise, or vice versa. The On-Premise product and the Cloud product are the SAME PRODUCT, not two different products like you get with the legacy vendors version of Cloud ERP.

So, Acumatica does not have to pick a side, they can talk to 100% of potential customers! Do you want On-Premise? Acumatica is an option. Do you want Cloud? Acumatica is also an option. Do you want 3rd party hosted? Acumatica is STILL an option.

Nice for implementation partners too

The On-Premise deployment option not only addresses the Cloud concerns of potential customers, but also of potential implementation partners. The implementation partner consultants are the Marines of mid-market ERP, the boots on the ground force who actually makes ERP work for customers. Like the Marines, implementation partners could care less about glossy marketing rhetoric; they want what will actually work for their clients.

Most implementation consulting firms out there are still dedicated to On-Premise products and are grappling with a major internal culture shock as they consider whether or not to pick up a Cloud product. With the Acumatica On-Premise deployment option, this doesn't have to be a huge shift in thinking. Partners can copy and paste their current On-Premise thinking into Acumatica On-Premise deployments, then make the shift to Cloud deployments later. Think of it as a two stage adoption path, or one stage if they never even want to do Cloud.

In Conclusion

• The vast majority of new ERP customers (85%) still prefer On-Premise ERP solutions.
• NetSuite can only appeal to 4% of ERP customers.
• Acumatica, on the other hand, is in a unique position in the market to appeal to 100% of ERP customers.
• Acumatica is also in a unique position to appeal to partners who want a modern ERP product in their portfolio, but aren't ready to adopt the Cloud and the culture that comes with it.

Bottom line, with Acumatica your deployment options are a two-way street. You can go to the Cloud and beyond, or easily come back to the comfort and stability of earth again.

Isn't it nice to have options?