NetSuite OneWorld 2010 Integrates Google Apps

The latest edition of NetSuite’s OneWorld on-demand Enterprise Resource Management package is integrated with Google Apps giving customers the option of running all their essential business processes in the cloud.

NetSuite OneWorld 2010, released on 30 September, is designed for midsize companies that own multiple subsidiaries, including divisions that operate in one or more nations overseas, said Mini Peiris, NetSuite vice president of product marketing.

The OneWorld suite includes accounting, customer relationship management, eCommerce, business intelligence and services resource planning, The package is designed to allow multinational midsize companies to manage all their essential business operations, sales, marketing,  quotes, orders, invoicing, revenue, finance and tax accounting in the cloud.

Google Apps integration

With the Google Apps integration “not only can you run your major business processes in the cloud, but you can also have your productivity suite that you are using in the cloud” tied in with you ERP application, Peiris said. This includes Google Calendars, Gmail and Docs.

NetSuite already has one development partner that has created a way to integrate NetSuite and Gmail that enables users to share information in context between the two applications, Peiris said. This integration, for example, would enable a Gmail message about a pending sales deal to automatically update the status of a sales opportunity in the NetSuite CRM application “without ever having to go back and forth between the two applications, Peiris said.

NetSuite has also streamlined the user interface for the Software-as-a-Service ERP package to simplify navigation and make it easier to perform common tasks, Peiris said. “We’re using the latest in Ajax technology,” and other web application development tools to make OneWorld interface far richer than aging on-premise ERP applications that many companies are still using, Peiris said.

The new version also has new global inventory management capabilities that allow companies with complex multinational subsidiaries to transfer inventory between any subsidiary, anytime anywhere, with just a few clicks in a web browser, Peiris said. This feature makes it easier for companies to “manage all of the associated cost of goods and the financial implications” of moving product inventory between multinational subsidiaries, she said.

Tax engine

The tax engine in NetSuite OneWorld 2010 has been enhanced so it can handle simplified tax reporting in more countries around the world, she said. This Includes expanded support for different types of taxes for Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada and the Philippines. The OneWorld tax engine has built in support for the tax codes of nine different countries.“

Furthermore the tax engine is customisable so that customers can add tax code information for virtually any country in the world, Peiris said. More customers are demanding support for a wide range of currencies and national tax codes, she said. “Though a company might be headquartered let’s say in the UK or the US, they have operations around the globe. So we need to be able to support all those different countries that they’re doing business in,” said Peiris.

“Another beauty of cloud computing in that we’re able to make sure that we have updated our product to see that our customers” automatically get updated national tax code information as the governments make changes. For example New Zealand happened to be changing one of its taxes on 30 September, the same day that NetSuite released OneWorld 2010. The updated New Zealand tax code is already accounted for in the new release, Peiris said.

There were also recent tax code changes in the United Kingdom and in Canada this year, both countries for which NetSuite provides native tax code support directly in the OneWorld tax engine, Peiris said.  When these codes change, NetSuite customers get those updates seamlessly overnight and they’re ready to transact business the next day with the code changes in effect.

With the new version, NetSuite is gaining certification for complying with national accounting standards in Austria and Switzerland. NetSuite also has existing accounting standard certifications from Germany, from the UK’s Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales along with support for Japan’s accounting standards.

NetSuite is competing with a crowded field of on-demand and on-premise ERP software vendors including giant software vendors as Oracle, SAP AG, Microsoft and Lawson Software. It also competes with Salesforce.com in the on demand CRM market.