How Much Does NetSuite Implementation Cost in 2023?

Knowing your NetSuite implementation cost is vital if you want to convince your leadership team to adopt the enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. However, the cost of NetSuite depends on several different factors.

Before you embark on a project that will transform your business, you need to understand more than just the annual NetSuite licensing costs. You also need to know how much it will cost to implement NetSuite ERP solutions for your business.

Seller Universe is an experienced NetSuite solution provider. If you want to demystify Oracle NetSuite pricing, get in touch. We can evaluate your business goals and objectives and provide an estimated implementation cost based on the configuration that works for your business.

What costs are involved in a NetSuite implementation

Oracle NetSuite ERP boosts your efficiency and productivity. While improving your business processes saves money, finding accurate and up-to-date NetSuite pricing online is challenging. The primary reason is that each NetSuite implementation differs based on unique business needs and objectives.

NetSuite pricing and ERP implementation costs is a complex subject. The ERP system offers so many options and levels that finding an accurate NetSuite cost for your business is challenging.

As a general rule, NetSuite implementation costs between $25,000 and $75,000 per business. However, these implementation fees are just a guide and could be more or less depending on the specifics of your implementation, such as company size, complexity, industry requirements, modules, and more.

NetSuite Implementation and Licensing Cost

Oracle's NetSuite ERP software is a cloud-based solution that enables businesses to scale and quickly expand operations. Key functional areas like financial management, revenue management, inventory management, order management, billing, e-commerce, and CRM are integrated and automated by NetSuite.

Given its robust functions and reputation as one of the leading ERP systems on the market, it comes with a matching price tag. In this article, we will go through the price and upfront cost of NetSuite, as well as any other charges or services you may not be aware of.

Main costs involved in NetSuite implementation

You should look at your NetSuite implementation costs like any other investment. While the costs might be high, they can be offset by the savings you can make and the extra revenue you can gain through enhanced features and functions.

You can split your NetSuite implementation cost into two distinct categories:

ERP costs

The first and most obvious costs come from things like:

• NetSuite licenses
• Costs of additional hardware
• Testing
• Customization and development
• NetSuite support

Project costs

The next set of costs involved executing the project. Some of these expenses include designating an individual or an implementation team to strategize and ensure smooth implementation. Understandably, this extra work will take your team away from their regular tasks.

Depending on the complexity of the undertaking, you will need to consider overtime payments or the cost of the contractors required to fill in for your staff.

Stages of NetSuite implementation

When you work with a NetSuite partner, there are three distinct stages of a NetSuite implementation. Each phase is crucial to ensuring you get the best ROI on your investment, and follow ERP implementation best practices.

Stage 1: Discovery

Most NetSuite integrations begin with some initial research and discovery.

The discovery stage is vital for understanding your business processes, goals, and objectives.

The research and discovery phase requires the use of NetSuite consulting services. Depending on the complexity of your business and the particular NetSuite implementation, NetSuite could need something in the range of 50 to 150 hours to evaluate your needs. NetSuite solution providers typically charge something in the region of $150 to $250 per hour. Overall, a NetSuite consultant could cost between $7,500 and $35,000.

While this might seem expensive, seeking consulting advice before integrating NetSuite is vital. Without solid research and discovery, ERP implementations risk going over budget, taking too long, or failing. These consulting fees can seem like a bargain when put in that context.

What is involved in the NetSuite research and development stage?

Some of the processes involved in the discovery stage include:

• Analyzing your existing business processes and identifying areas that will benefit from increased efficiency
• Establishing which business processes you want to implement within NetSuite
• Auditing your current software and exploring various NetSuite integrations
• Examining existing workflows, establishing gaps, and recommending improvements
• Defining which NetSuite functions and modules you require
• Detailing the NetSuite customizations required to unlock your business potential
• Deciding which NetSuite licenses you to need (NetSuite Enterprise edition, NetSuite Mid-Market Edition, NetSuite Limited Edition, etc.)
• Drawing up a detailed roadmap for implementation

There is a lot of planning that goes into a successful NetSuite implementation. However, this crucial stage will ensure your project stays on track and within budget.

Stage 2: Configuration and deployment

Once you have a blueprint for your NetSuite implementation, you can move on to the next stage: setup and deployment. This stage is the most complex and time-consuming part of your project.

A typical NetSuite configuration and deployment can take between 100 to 300 hours. Again, this is complex work that needs to be performed by an expert NetSuite consultant. So, the rough cost will be somewhere between $15,000 to $75,000.

Some of the tasks involved in this phase include building, configuring, and customizing your NetSuite implementation. You'll also need to factor in user testing to ensure your investment is ready to go live.

The end cost of your configuration and deployment depends mainly on the complexity of your implementation. If you need a large amount of customization and integrations to achieve your business objectives, these can add to the costs.

The cost of NetSuite development and customization

One of the most significant advantages of NetSuite is that you can tailor your implementation around your business. However, custom development requires extra investment during the configuration stage.

NetSuite comes with a range of modules you can mix and match for your business needs. These comprehensive solutions will be enough for many users. However, integrations and customizations will require an additional investment.

Factors that affect the need for customization

There are a few different factors that you need to consider when evaluating whether you need customizations.

• Automation: NetSuite is built to help you automate tasks and workflows. However, depending on your goals and objectives, you might require custom development work.
• Report and dashboard configuration: While NetSuite comes with reporting and dashboard capabilities, many teams require additional functionality to tailor these features around their particular needs.
• Integrations: Modern software stacks can contain dozens of different third-party programs. If you need to connect your apps to NetSuite, it can require extra development work to ensure data communication works seamlessly.
• Industry requirements: While NetSuite is built to support a wide range of industries out-of-the-box, tailoring it for your particular sector can take extra work. Adding these unique requirements can involve additional development and customization.

Stage 3: Support and maintenance

Once your implementation is up and running, most NetSuite customers need some support to ensure they get the most from their implementation. NetSuite partners, like Seller Universe, can provide NetSuite training, support, and ongoing maintenance. Training is critical to be able to maintain and improve your NetSuite processes

Some of the costs involved in getting your ERP platform live can include NetSuite training for employees, purchasing a NetSuite sandbox for your developers, and ongoing IT support.

Small vs Medium and Large corporations

The total NetSuite pricing for implementation cost varies depending on certain factors. One of those factors is the size of the company.

It's far more difficult to predict your NetSuite cost if your business is really large or if you're switching from another ERP. Particularly since you presumably want to transfer all operations from the old ERP to the new one in order to avoid running two distinct ERPs concurrently for an extended period of time. In that instance, you have a lot of modules that are challenging to estimate.

If your organization is smaller in scale, you presumably rely on a patchwork of disconnected systems that you've amassed over time as it developed, with a lot of the gaps being filled in manually with Excel.

This implies that you may install NetSuite gradually, adding a few core modules that will add enormous value while continuing to operate the rest of your business as usual. After that, you can keep including modules as necessary.

NetSuite Levels of Editions

NetSuite offers different levels of editions for NetSuite customers to choose from:

Light edition

The Light Edition is determined by the number of users and employees. To put it simply, businesses with a maximum of 10 users and 50 staff members may select light edition.

NetSuite mid market edition

Although the Mid-Market Edition technically has no minimum user requirement, it is designed for businesses with between 15 and 1000 employees. Additionally, mid market edition's price point would effectively prevent smaller businesses from selecting this level.

The main distinction between light edition and mid market is that at the mid market level, you can add a range of modules and capabilities, including eCommerce, Fixed Assets, and Inventory.

NetSuite enterprise edition

Companies with more than 1,000 employees should choose the Enterprise Edition level. The help you can get from NetSuite and how you interact with the firm are impacted by these tiers. However, levels have a big impact on price. On a per user per month basis, the pricing difference between light edition and mid market is not as significant. But the difference between mid market and enterprise edition is monumental.

NetSuite Implementation Cost

The NetSuite pricing for implementation will vary significantly depending on its extent, complexity, and method. However, for the ordinary SMB, the majority of NetSuite setup projects cost between $30,000 and $75,000.

If we assume you choose a fairly straightforward implementation with three modules, carried out by NetSuite, you might anticipate paying at least $35,000 to $40,000. Additionally, you probably won't be able to negotiate a discount as significant as that for the recurring service because the implementation requires paying for actual work hours.

As you may expect, the price will vary depending on how complicated your implementation is and whether you opt to have NetSuite or a Value Added Reseller install it. We'll go over how complexity and extent can affect the pricing in a bit.

Overall, NetSuite pricing can get up to ludicrous amounts, but it can definitely be justified. And to make sure you're getting the most out of your implementation, you might want to think about starting with only a few modules and making sure you're utilizing them fully. 

Having the assistance of a Netsuite specialist or a NetSuite solution provider can be helpful if this is your first time implementing Netsuite. This is because it's challenging to provide instructions for something you've never used.

How Much Does NetSuite Cost Post-Implementation

The majority of small enterprises should budget at least $2,000 to $3,000 a month. Naturally, because NetSuite pricing is individualized for each client, there is a wide range to possibly land on. However, that provides you a general concept of what you're seeing.

In general, the modules you install, the number of users accessing the system, the type of assistance you desire, and your negotiating skills will all have an impact on your expenditures.

Price per user

Like with the majority of SAAS solutions, there will also be a NetSuite pricing element related to the number of users utilizing the system. Each normal user will pay the quoted price of $99 per month.

While that might not seem too bad, if you plan to have the entire organization on NetSuite, the cost might add up very rapidly.

Fortunately, depending on the modules you plan to add, this is typically not the case and at most you'll likely be inclined to get only a few departments on NetSuite software.

For each user who needs NetSuite licenses for full access to the system, you will need one license. A few users require restricted access, in which case these users may use the same login. However, having a single-user NetSuite license subscription agreement for each individual is generally advised from an auditing and accountability perspective.

To give you a simplified overview, there are various user types for NetSuite pricing:

• Full User License: These have full access to the system and are required to conduct transactions.
• Employee Self-Service License: For those who log and keep track of their time against projects. They can enter PTOs and make expense reports. They hardly ever use NetSuite.
• Read-only access: Management teams can access reports and dashboards within NetSuite. A complete user license is still needed for read-only access. Making static reports that management may get as a PDF, CSV, or Excel document is a workaround for this.

General access user

These are either Standard Roles or Custom Roles in NetSuite. A standard role is a pre-defined template role that cannot be altered and is most commonly related to employee occupations like sales representative or accountant. When creating an employee's role, you can select Custom Role if you want to modify it. This user license has a fixed cost of $99/month.

Employee Self-Service

The capability of the NetSuite employee self-service is constrained. Users with access to employee self-service can enter timesheets and costs. The timesheets are utilized for project work as well as daily tasks like entering and approving purchase orders and client bills.

This user is unable to alter the NetSuite environment or read reports like financial statements or employee data because they do not have wide access to CRM or ERP functions. This user license will cost you $19/month, with a 5-person bundle equating to 1 full user access.

Planning and Budgeting

The planning and budgeting user differs from the general access user in that it works with the finance, sales, and service teams to develop driver-based operational and financial predictions for all business units. This license comes at $120/month.

NetSuite Modules

Each of the seven interconnected modules that make up NetSuite uses a common database to gather its data. Users can benefit from the below-discussed module-specific capabilities thanks to this interconnectivity.

Financial module

The Financial Management module provides users with direct connections between accounting and compliance management as well as real-time access to live financial data. Accurate reporting, real-time data, and expedited closings are what users may anticipate.

Practically speaking, NetSuite's financial module is required. It would be highly inefficient to connect all the various business operations without the financial module being able to communicate with them all, which is the goal of any ERP.

Given that it serves as the system's functional center, NetSuite's financial module is exceptionally well constructed. Therefore, if you're going to install NetSuite, be sure to build this module effectively and that your staff is competent in accounting so that you can fully benefit from how powerful this incredibly robust system is.

Customer Relationship Management module

You may keep track of data about your clients and communications with them using NetSuite CRM module. In addition, build a funnel to monitor prospects' progress toward becoming clients. Additionally, it includes more features for managing orders and preparing quotes.

To better track client interactions with their purchasing behaviors, it may be worthwhile to move all of your CRM activities to NetSuite if you just have a limited number of significant customers.

Advanced Inventory

Additionally, NetSuite Advanced Inventory offers. features for more sophisticated inventory requirements. Businesses can rapidly and accurately complete orders thanks to a single, real-time view of all products, inventory, and orders across all selling channels.

Businesses can maintain low inventory costs while meeting customer delivery expectations by using systems for tracking inventory in numerous locations, figuring out reorder points, managing safety stock, and managing cycle counts.

Fixed Assets Management

You can maintain and manage the whole asset lifespan with NetSuite Fixed Assets Management, from creation to depreciation, revaluation, and retirement. 

Multiple depreciation calculation types, handling of depreciating and non-depreciating assets, maintenance schedules, leasing accounting, and insurance are all supported by its comprehensive asset management capability.

NetSuite Module Price

NetSuite is a modular system, as mentioned earlier, and the cost of each module varies. Having said that, if you're considering an implementation that includes Financials, CRM, and another module, you should expect to pay at least $15,000 for it, with an additional minimum of $5,000 for each new module. However, depending on how sophisticated the module is, that NetSuite pricing can change.

You can utilize a NetSuite pricing calculator to get an idea of module pricing within the NetSuite pricing model.

To get a better understanding of module prices and NetSuite ERP pricing, you may contact us here and also get a quotation on NetSuite implementation cost.

Cost of Support and Adjustments

There are numerous support tiers available from NetSuite, and they differ in terms of, among other things, the hours during which assistance will be available to you, the methods of communication you can use, and whether you'll have a dedicated support agent.

If you have a skilled NetSuite administrator, you can avoid needing help for many problems, which is why many organizations can get by with one of the lesser tiers of support.

But if you don't have an administrator, support and service will probably cost you about $7,000 a year added to your overall NetSuite pricing.

Every customer who has a NetSuite subscription is eligible for Basic Support. Access to the NetSuite Support User Group and the SuiteAnswers Customer Access Portal for online ticketing of product issues are included in Basic Support.

Additionally, you can anticipate 24/7 essential access and online case filing with 2 authorized support contacts.

Premium support

All of the basic support functions mentioned above, as well as 24/7 services for issues of high severity, are available to subscribers of NetSuite's Premium Support. Additionally, it offers call routing according to product category, severity priority with online case responses, and access to NetSuite's Toll-free Technical Center.

Beyond Premium, there is a third level of service available. NetSuite's Advanced Customer Support (ACS), a managed service that proactively optimizes NetSuite solutions, is available to Premium Support customers. A dedicated solution team in ACS that handles the three layers of ACS assistance is led by a designated customer success manager.

Oracle also provides a range of professional services that are chargeable, one-time tailored solutions for exceptionally special problems.

Can I Self-Implement NetSuite?

There are dozens chances for mistakes to be made during a NetSuite self-implementation, some of which can be expensive. As discussed earlier, NetSuite pricing can be costly but the increase in company efficiency will return your investment overtime.

Additionally, the cost for any mistakes made during self-implementation process may be much more than the initial NetSuite pricing to begin with.

Ideally, it is always better to approach NetSuite solution providers for NetSuite ERP implementation and NetSuite licensing. We can't recommend NetSuite implemented in-house without significant experience on the platform. You may reduce implementation fees, but with all the obstacles in a NetSuite implementation, you will likely increase the NetSuite ERP costs through issues with implementation.

Negotiating for NetSuite Cost

Except for the licenses, which were mentioned at list price, the majority of the NetSuite ERP cost mentioned up to this point assumes a reasonable pricing reduction was negotiated.

We won't delve into negotiation strategies here, but suffice it to say that you can get freebies tossed in since they frequently have a negligible actual cost to NetSuite. If you are seeking to buy close to their financial term end, you can also obtain substantially higher discounts.

Overall, a discount of 20–30% is very doable, and strong negotiators have succeeded in getting even bigger discounts.

If you have a long-time NetSuite partner or NetSuite consultants, this would be even better as it gives you an avenue to negotiate better deals.

Running costs: What is the NetSuite eCommerce pricing model?

While it is outside the scope of this article, other implementation fees and costs you need to consider are things like the NetSuite license price. NetSuite licenses and module costs are paid annually and influence the overall Netsuite costs and should be included in your ERP budget. The NetSuite ERP costs depend on which NetSuite Edition you choose, the number of users, and whether you add extra modules. There are many factors contributing to ERP implementation cost. Contact Seller Universe for more detailed information.

Conclusion

NetSuite pricing depends on several different factors, such as company size, the number of licenses you need, which modules you require, and the overall scope of your NetSuite implementation.

NetSuite solution providers like Seller Universe are here to help you navigate the complexities involved with implementing NetSuite. By closely working with your business to determine your needs and requirements, we can provide you with a rough estimate of the cost of NetSuite implementation.

As an experienced NetSuite partner, we've seen and done it all. So get in touch today for a NetSuite implementation cost estimate.

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