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NetSuite OneWorld Services Resource Planning (SRP) Delivers Global Visibility, Resource Optimization and Integrated Financial Management Across Currencies, Subsidiaries, Projects and Geographies

SAN MATEO, Calif. - October 27, 2009 - NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), a leading vendor of cloud computing business management software, today announced the availability of NetSuite OneWorld SRP, the first end-to-end cloud business management solution for global services businesses.  NetSuite OneWorld SRP gives global services businesses comprehensive real-time visibility, integrated financials, resource optimization and services management from corporate, to subsidiaries, down to the individual project level across geographies, currencies, and tax jurisdictions.  For more details on NetSuite OneWorld SRP, please visit http://www.netsuite.com/globalsrp, or attend a live NetSuite webinar hosted by NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson, being held today at 11am EDT. To register, visit: https://netsuite.webex.com/SRP.

Services-based businesses - whose revenue is primarily derived from delivering time and project-based consulting offerings - comprise a large segment of the global economy, particularly in developed nations.  These companies face an array of complex and volatile business dynamics - widely fluctuating local demand for resources, global pricing pressure and revenue recognition management constraints of complex, locally negotiated services delivery contracts.  In this context, making bad decisions can significantly impact profitability, cash flow and customer satisfaction.

Unlike manufacturing-based industries, global services businesses have lacked the integrated business management tools necessary to truly manage corporate performance on a global basis.  Spreadsheets and homegrown systems offer an opaque view into subsidiaries and divisions, making it difficult to weed out unprofitable projects.  Finding the right resource with availability to work on a project can be like finding a needle in a haystack.  Gauging demand and backlog across geographies is a guess at best. 

These businesses also face a number of complex mult--currency billing, expense and revenue recognition management issues across tax jurisdictions that can sap time, resources and increase financial risk - all while trying to ensure ongoing prompt project delivery, billing and receivables across dispersed divisions and subsidiaries.

NetSuite OneWorld SRP uses cloud computing to address the issues of global project and financial management.  The product’s comprehensive services management functionality makes it ideal for professional services, legal, accounting, business process outsourcing management and media-agency organizations with international operations.  With its automated multi-currency management, built-in support for international tax, compliance and sophisticated revenue recognition management, NetSuite OneWorld SRP eliminates arduous manual processes and shortens the period-end close cycle.  And because NetSuite OneWorld SRP is a native cloud solution, the software enables global services businesses to unlock these benefits with anytime, anywhere access and minimum capital expenditure, while ensuring fast deployment, and lean requirements for ongoing management.

“The combination of cloud computing and Services Resource Planning provides global services businesses with a powerful solution to manage the key drivers of any services business - revenue, utilization, profitability and days-sales-outstanding,” said Michael Fauscette, GVP of Software Business Solutions at IDC. “NetSuite OneWorld SRP is the most complete, end-to-end cloud-based business management suite that provides global services businesses with real-time visibility, resource management and operational control, across subsidiaries, currencies and geographies.”

“Most services businesses today run on software designed before the World Wide Web existed,” said Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite.  “NetSuite OneWorld SRP brings services companies into the Internet Age, and in so doing massively reduces cost while improving productivity. Instead of waiting three months to find out what happened yesterday with a given project or subsidiary entity, with NetSuite OneWorld SRP services-based businesses can finally manage their operation in real-time.”

NetSuite pioneered the Services Resource Planning category with its acquisition and integration last year of OpenAir PSA, providing services businesses with the first solution to streamline the complete services lifecycle throughout their business - from sales and marketing to services delivery, expenses, billings, and revenue management. Now, with the availability of NetSuite OneWorld SRP, NetSuite and OpenAir deliver the kind of integrated line-of-sight visibility that is necessary to allocate resources efficiently, improve project profitability, and drive cash flow - from the corporate level, to subsidiary, and all the way down to individual projects.

Global services businesses are turning to NetSuite OneWorld SRP to power their worldwide growth, drive greater performance and provide global visibility into such key performance indicators as project cost, profitability and margin, and multi-currency management.  NetSuite OneWorld SRP also enables a timely close process and more accurate revenue forecasts, as well as the visibility to efficiently manage resource allocation, improve project delivery and streamline time and expense processes.

Key Features of NetSuite OneWorld SRP

  • SRP Global Real-Time Visibility: Global dashboards and reports that combine financial and operational project drivers (such as utilization, profitability) for projects, subsidiaries, geographies and at the corporate level.

  • SRP Global Resource Management: Enables matching the best resource for the project based on skills, experience and availability from a global bench, across multiple geographies to deliver the best possible client experience.
  • SRP Global Financial Management: Accelerates financial close and reduces financial risk through granular, revenue recognition management that utilizes project-based revenue recognition rules, together with automated divisional and corporate financial management and reporting.

  • SRP Global Time, Expense and Invoice Management: Improves services productivity and reduces errors across all divisions with a powerful time entry system with “Offline” capability, together with an approval management process that can be tailored by client and project.

  • Powerful Project Accounting: Easily and efficiently manage and analyze project finances from bid preparation through time and expense tracking to client billing systems and internal charge-backs.

  • Multi-Currency & Tax Management: Support for multiple currencies and international taxes enabling comprehensive management, billing and revenue recognition of projects across multiple currencies and tax jurisdictions.

  • SRP Global Accessibility: 100% web-based, on-demand solution ensuring ease of access from anywhere, enabling services teams on the road to stay connected with offline access via mobile devices enabling them to submit time and expenses, update and monitor project performance.

For more information about NetSuite Inc., please visit http://www.netsuite.com.

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are registered service marks of NetSuite Inc. 

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Discussion Forum
Seeking Opinion on When to Bill and When Not to Bill?

We are a professional services organization within a software product
company.  Our products are all large scale applications in the electronic
payments field.  Every implementation is heavily customized to suit the
business needs of the client.  We are having internal discussions on
what activities should or should not be billed to the customer; mostly
surrounding project management but the discussion extends to all PS
staff as well. 

For example, our delivery methodology specifies that we have weekly
meetings with our senior management to review the status of projects. 
Project Managers prepare for and conduct a portion of the senior
review.  Should that PM time be logged against the customer project
and billed to the customer? 

Another example:  PMs spend time preparing invoices, addressing
billing questions, entering/checking/verifying/editing data in our
Oracle financial and project accounting systems.  Do other companies
bill the customer for this administrative time logged by PMs? 

Another example:  Since our applications are customized for every
implementation, there are inevitably software bugs.  Those software
bugs lead to internal review meetings, delays in delivery, and rework.
Although we would not bill for rework, should the time the PM spends
coordinating all the internal activities be charged to the customer? 

One last example:  our delivery methodology calls out specific
activities & deliverables such as Quality Gates, Quality Audits, Post
Mortem analysis, Executive Review sessions with customer execs,
weekly status reports and many more.  Where do other companies
draw the line between when an activity is billed to a customer because
it is part of the customer project, and when the activity is not billed
because it is an internal action that the company elects to perform that
is only tangentially part of the customer project?

This may seem like a simple question but it is really quite complicated. 
We are finding that making the transition from a pure software vendor
(our old model) to a services company (the new model) is not that
easy.  Maybe you have experienced the same thing. 

People are lining up on both sides of the aisle.  On one side are the
people who think we should bill every hour of time that we think about,
do something about, talk about or work on a project.  On the other side
are those who think that some of the things we do are driven by our
own internal desire for process, methodology and data, and, if an
activity is internally driven, we should not bill the customer as it is a
‘cost of doing business’. 

I’d be interested in any opinions or examples you have on the topic.

Thanks.

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