RSMUS.comVery often we hear about the attributes that go into choosing a new ERP system: Will it handle this or that, will it be scalable, will the user community adopt the changes? These are all great questions to ask of your future partner and solution. What they do not bring to light in many cases is your data.
When we develop a NetSuite implementation plan, much thought goes into architecting the RIGHT solution for each client. Critical to this is a focus on what data goes in and what data comes out. This means that some of our first questions are often “How clean is your data?” “Do you have all your data sources mapped out and ready?” and “What reports do you need to make operational or management decisions?”
Why do we focus on the data more than the technology? The technology is already there and can be configured to do a great deal of good. The very critical component though is the data. Because that is the very essence of your business. The data you put in is what you will use to generate your reports, your forecasts, your pipeline and your resources. Without very high quality data you’ll be like Mr. Magoo driving up telephone poles hoping for the best.
The key data elements are your customer master and item master. When you have clean customer data, including addresses and contacts, you now can use this data to generate better marketing campaigns and workflows which will ultimately lead to an increase in client profitability. By cleaning the item master you are able to really generate appropriate reports on item profitability by component type and class type. You will be able to see slow moving product and take action by either running promotions or slowing production in order to optimize your cash flow. All this information allows you to make more informed decisions and manage your business by exceptions.
Our team focuses on helping you extract that data, transform it into meaningful data in NetSuite and then load that data to provide you with the critical metrics to succeed in today’s lightning fast decision making processes. You should focus as much of your time up front on cleaning this data to ensure success as much as to help reduce the costs of your implementation. The cleansing of data needs to be done by someone who knows the product, customer and business extremely well – not an outside consultant no matter how good they may be.
Remember the old adage always holds true even in the cloud – Garbage in, Garbage out. Here’s to a clean new system!
To learn more about RSM services, Contact us at erp@rsmus.com or by phone at 855.437.7202.
By: Sheldon Watson – National NetSuite Solution Provider
