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SuiteImpact Team Singapore Gives Back, One Laugh at a Time

We have all heard the old adage “laughter is the best medicine” and you have to admit, a single funny joke can indeed cheer up the saddest of faces. But for NetSuite.org, the corporate citizenship arm of the company, that adage was exactly what our recent SuiteImpact Team charity event in Singapore was all about – to help heal people with cancer one laugh at a time.

Through the SuiteImpact Team, an initiative connecting NetSuite employees with local causes and volunteer opportunities, the Singapore office came together to embark on its first Annual NetSuite Charity Comedy Night on March 25 at The Basement@SMU. It was not only a night of hysterical comic acts, but the beginning of countless sharing of blessings with the less-fortunate members of the society.

Hosted by NetSuite Singapore’s very own comic Liam McDonald, the comedy night featured a roster of top Asian comics like Joanna Sio, Jing Jinx, Fakkah Fuzz, Fin Carew, Wayne Cheong and many others. Tickets were sold for SG$10, but the team was able to gather a whopping SG$1,500 after receiving generous donations from NetSuite partners and employees.

All the proceeds from the show were given to the Singapore Cancer Society, a voluntary health organization that depends on public donations to fund all its services and programs, such as cancer treatment subsidies, financial welfare and aid, hospice and palliative home care services, community oncology home care services, free transportation to/from cancer treatment, rehabilitative support, cancer screening, cancer research and public education.

If there is one thing this event has proven, it’s that the opportunities to help and give back are endless—even just sharing a few good laughs with the right people can go very far.

And it doesn’t stop there, anyone who would like to join the campaign and donate can still join us by going to http://www.simplygiving.com/NetSuiteComedy.

Check out the photos to see what went on during the show!

For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.com.sg

-Mark Troselj, NetSuite Managing Director for APAC

Time to Get Your Multi-Channel Strategy Right

With the rise of online shopping, pressure on traditional retailers to compete with cheaper prices and greater variety available online provides both risk and opportunity. This continues to be heightened by the strong Australian dollar, which increases consumers’ purchasing power on overseas sites.

An estimated $6 billion of sales from Australia in 2011 were purchases on overseas websites, which equates to around 40 percent of overall online sales, according to Frost & Sullivan. It is becoming increasingly obvious that if many traditional retailers don’t start consolidating their physical store presence and migrating some sales to the online channel, they are both ignoring a very large opportunity and adding additional pressure to stores.

Surprisingly, Frost & Sullivan’s research also found that only around 50 percent of Australian retailers in 2011 offered online sales capabilities, with the proportion of sales via the Internet still fairly low. Many other retailers use their websites only for marketing and customer support. This just goes to show that many retailers are still missing out on market opportunities from the booming online retail sector in Australia.

The slow adoption of online retailing by large department stores and retail chains in Australia is a key reason for the lag in local ecommerce activity overall. This is showing signs of changing, however, as many are being forced to walk a new path. Leading Australian retailer David Jones, for example, is one of the most high profile recent cases, launching a new and improved web storefront last fall after a succession of poor earnings reports.

Despite a shift in focus, however, it became clear during the failed “Click Frenzy” online sales event in Australia late last year just how unprepared retailers are to cope with online channels, despite the hunger for it from Australian consumers. The heavily marketed Click Frenzy sale involving over 200 Australian retailers failed to perform at launch time because the site couldn’t handle two million hopeful shoppers looking for a bargain. Also unprepared were a number of major participating retailers, including David Jones and Myer, whose websites crashed under the high traffic volumes as well.

The lesson learned is that the sheer number of consumers wanting to find a bargain online should be a wake-up call to Australian retailers to take notice and get the right multi-channel strategy in place now—otherwise they will continue to lose out to overseas online sites. The major challenge for retailers is the increasing range of digital channels that customers use to access the Internet. This fragmentation creates a number of hurdles, particularly when it comes to implementing a common customer experience across all channels.

Ecommerce is not a standalone system—customers want stock availability, discount tiers, payment options and specifications, and retailers need to offer these in real time from the back end, along with invoicing, margins, analytics, etc.

Retailers need a single system with a built-in webstore that adapts to any consumer- facing device in real time, links online systems to central business systems, from ERP and CRM to POS, and addresses Internet latency and reliability issues across all channels. For many retailers though, the complexity and cost of running a single transactional system optimised across all digital channels and integrated into internal business systems is overwhelming.

This is where cloud computing really opens doors, by unifying separate retail channels to provide a single view of the customer, sales and revenue. Cloud computing changes the game by offering the opportunity for a lower cost and much lower risk rollout of the ecommerce software needed to support multi-channel retailing, which is particularly attractive for smaller businesses with limited resources. 

The cloud can give you real-time visibility into your entire retail operation, accessibility from anywhere at any time, as well as a single view of a customer across all channels. You can also ensure that your order, inventory and financial information are always up to date. Its infinitely scalable nature can give you the confidence that your site will stay open no matter how many customers cross its digital threshold.

For further information about NetSuite for Retail visit - http://www.netsuite.com.au/portal/au/industries/retail/main.shtml

-Mark Troselj, Managing Director of Asia Pacific for NetSuite

10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of SuiteWorld 2013

With a new location, a new slate of sessions and a wealth of new NetSuite partners and customers, SuiteWorld 2013 promises to be the best one yet.

The NetSuite conference is moving from San Francisco to the San Jose Convention Center this year to accommodate the roughly 5,000 attendees expected to be at the show May 13-16. And a show with that kind of turnout with more than 180 breakout sessions requires a little preparation. Here are 10 ways SuiteWorld attendees can ensure they get the most out of the conference.

1. Research.  SuiteWorld offers a wealth of information for getting the most out of your NetSuite deployment with sessions that cover every facet of the suite. Factor in some free time, but be sure to spend the time up front figuring out your business needs and the schedule that makes the most sense for you. Then you’ll be better positioned to come home with actionable information.
2. Go Early. SuiteWorld’s preconference in-depth training workshops offer a deep dive into all areas of the solution for intermediate to advanced NetSuite users, spanning reporting, OneWorld, workflows and more.
3. Take Note of the Keynotes. NetSuite leadership (CEO Zach Nelson, CTO and founder Evan Goldberg, and COO Jim McGeever) will open each day with a keynote session providing entertaining, informative insight into NetSuite’s progress, product roadmap and vision for the future of the cloud.
4. Learn at Lunch. SuiteWorld has three ways to make your lunch more than just a break from the show to scarf down some food.  Tuesday offers a chance to sit down with show sponsors to get answers to your questions about the cloud, integration or simply network. Wednesday offers the chance to meet with the user group community and share best practices across multiple roles. Wednesday also presents the chance to have lunch with SuiteWorld bloggers and NetSuite product experts. Just sit down at the table with the topic you’re interested in.
5. Brainstorm. If the excitement of the show and the energy of progressive companies executing on their vision has you inspired, wander over to the SUITEideas area to whiteboard your ideas and get insight from NetSuite product experts on how to execute on your own vision.
6. Network. There’s perhaps no better way to learn and grow at SuiteWorld than by talking and sharing with fellow customers and partners. In the session rooms, the hallways, the coffee area, it’s a chance not only to learn how to get the most out of your NetSuite implementation, but potentially find the right partner or business opportunity. Better yet, chill out in the SuiteLife lounge where you can rest, recharge and network in comfort.
7. Meet the SuiteGuru. Sit down with our technical experts and get your specific questions about CRM, Ecommerce, ERP, OneWorld, OpenAir, the SuiteCloud platform or Web design answered in 30-minute meetings. But be sure to schedule them, pre-registration is required and seating is limited.
8. Tour the Floor. Wander the show floor, pick up some schwag and find the solution your business needs to accomplish its vision. It’s all on display. When you’re done, wander over to the SuiteStore to pick up your official SuiteWorld gift from customers such as Incipio (iPhone 4 or 5 case), Nakajima (Hello Kitty swag), Philz Coffee (lb of coffee), Liberty Water Bottle (official SW water bottle) or School of Rock (t-shirt). 
9. Get Out. You’ve traveled to San Jose, now take some time to get outside. Take a walk, go out to eat at one of the area’s signature restaurants, soak up Silicon Valley.
10. Get Down.  After all the contacts are made, the questions answered and your mission accomplished, be sure to grab a cold drink and have a suite time at Wednesday night’s SuiteCelebration Gala.

We look forward to seeing you. Be sure to follow @NetSuite and #NSW13 on Twitter to keep up to date on the show. If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out the scene
from last year:

 

For more information on SuiteWorld 2013, please visit: http://www.netsuite.com/portal/press/events/nsw2013/main.shtml

NetSuite OneWorld Helps Eco-Friendly Packaging Company Manage Growth While Maintaining Corporate Goals

Starting a business isn’t always just about money. Sometimes, more than just making profit, someone comes along with a business plan that genuinely makes a difference. This is exactly what BioPak is all about. In the words of BioPak’sRichard Fine, “BioPak is about doing something that has a positive impact on the planet and in people’s lives.”

That focus on making a positive impact didn’t stop BioPak from growing though.

Sydney-based BioPak designs, produces and distributes plant-based, biodegradable and compostable packaging solutions across Australia and New Zealand. Coffee cups are its best-selling product. The company was founded in 2006 and it wasn’t long before it found a significant market for its eco-friendly products. The company now ships out 25 to 30 million total items per month. BioPak’s 176 percent year-on-year growth for the past four years led to a FY2012 turnover of $11.2 million, and a ranking as the eighth-fastest growing company in the BRW Fast 100 in 2012.

That growth was becoming too hard to handle using disparate systems and applications, and the company knew it needed an integrated solution to more efficiently manage its core business processes and its growth.

After reviewing ERP solutions from SAP and Microsoft, BioPak decided that NetSuite’s cloud-based ERP suite was the perfect solution to support its growing business. The company implemented NetSuite OneWorld in 2011 and has seen an increase in its average daily orders from around 40 to more than 90 a day without needing additional headcount.

“I am confident knowing that NetSuite will scale as the business scales,” Fine said. “I don’t see any issue with having to worry about our ERP platform keeping pace with the growth of the business. I see it as customizing it, tweaking it, so that we become more and more efficient, and eventually scale into a large multinational company.”

Watch the video to learn more:

 

For more information about NetSuite cloud ERP solutions, please visit www.netsuite.com.au

Mark Troselj, NetSuite Managing Director for APAC

SuiteImpact Team Manila Runs for a Cause

The New Year always brings with it a lot of new possibilities; and for the NetSuite Manila office, 2013 brings new opportunities for the the SuiteImpact team to give back to the community. As part of the company’s NetSuite.org corporate citizenship efforts, the SuiteImpact Team Manila, led by employee Ambassadors EA Raymundo, Louie Baltazar, and Mel Vargas, sponsored 50 employees to join the Ten Moves Run for 10, a fun run in Manila organized by the organization The Entire Nation (TEN) Moves!

TEN Moves! is a social mobilization campaign that aims to raise resources to help build 10,000 classrooms in public schools all over the Philippines. With the country recently being hit by Typhoon Bopha, the proceeds of the charity run were directed to building classrooms in locations affected. The run was organized simultaneously in six other provinces in the Philippines. Our employee volunteers were thrilled to be a part of this movement to help support education in their country.

Our Manila employees were so excited about the race that sign-ups for the team of 50 runners filled up in record time! Each employee signed up for one of three available distances – 2.5km, 5km and 10km and had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to join hundreds in the race.  Employees felt the adrenaline of the race and the camaraderie of being able to make a huge difference for a worthy cause. What a great way to combine physical fitness and social impact!

Check out the great photos from the run!

Keep in touch with us online to hear about all of the SuiteImpact activities around the world! @NetSuiteOrg.

-Erin Dieterich, Global Employee Engagement Manager, NetSuite.org

The Gateway to Asia, the New Economic Powerhouse, is Through the Cloud

With the spotlight heavily on Asia following the launch of the Australian Government’s “Australia in the Asian Century” whitepaper, Australians are being encouraged to seize the opportunities of the Asian century, as the region transforms into the economic powerhouse of the world.

In recent years, Asia has become the key hub in the global supply chain as many multinational corporations move manufacturing operations to lower cost locations, such as China.

The manufacturing, distribution and logistics market is growing at a significant rate in the region as a result. Research firm Frost and Sullivan estimates that the transportation and logistics market in Asia Pacific will grow at a compound annual growth rate of over seven percent from 2011-2016, to reach over $4 trillion by 2016.

Expansion increasingly by necessity

Many Australian manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors have been expanding into Asia for years, driven by desire for growth and global success. This has enabled them to source the best materials for the best price from any global market, and to reach new markets, distributors and customers wherever they are.

For others, however, increasing global pressures are forcing them to expand beyond Australia’s borders not by choice, but for survival. This is largely driven by factors beyond their control, particularly the strong Australian dollar, Australia’s industrial relations and regulatory framework, higher direct costs, a relatively small domestic market, weak private sector spending, the impact of cheap imports and goods into Australia and fierce manufacturing competition, particularly from Asia.

Over the past two years, many high profile cases of iconic Australian brands, such as Bonds, King Gee, Hard Yakka, Mortein, Dettol and Streets, have offshored various manufacturing and distribution operations to Asia in order to survive. Despite being strong local brands with the latest state of the art manufacturing technology and efficient processes in place, these businesses have needed to embrace Asia to stay relative and competitive.

Significant job cuts show how increasingly vulnerable we are to international economic conditions. The manufacturing sector employed 16 percent of Australia's workforce 30 years ago; today it is half that, with 4,400 jobs lost in the past year alone.

Global expansion is never easy

While many foresee their business future in Asia, just as many hesitate on the doorstep of this economic powerhouse, wondering how to break into a diverse market where languages, currencies, regulations, and cultural morays are not only so different from Australia, but also significantly different within the region.

How do you best set up a functional business quickly and affordably in Asia with the lowest level of risk possible? What’s the easiest way to move a business or open a subsidiary there, while maintaining control from an Australian headquarters? How can you minimize the cost of IT systems choking growth plans, while still managing multi-currency, multi-language, multiple reporting requirements and financial consolidation of all subsidiaries?

These are complex business questions that require case-by-case market analysis. Regardless of the differences, the key is to not allow a great business decision to become derailed by a costly and time consuming IT decision.

Cloud speeds up new market entry

Cloud computing is playing a crucial role in helping Australian companies expand into Asia more easily and cost effectively, by giving them the agility and flexibility to set up new businesses operations. It provides the ability to operate in global markets in real-time and establish a core platform for manufacturing, distribution, customers and supply chain. In addition, the speed of implementing cloud solutions gives businesses rapid entry into foreign markets that legacy on-premise software would not offer.

Now you can establish a comprehensive core platform for business management, particularly for key back-office operations and financial business processes, without the huge costs and manpower required to install, operate and maintain hardware and software systems.

By understanding the benefits of cloud computing, your business stands to gain a real competitive advantage as Asia continues its economic transformation.

By Mark Troselj, managing director of Asia Pacific for NetSuite

NetSuite Employees Give Back For the Holidays

Last week, in the first installment of our SuiteImpact Holiday blog, we told you about the incredible spirit of giving back in our Manila office, and their long-term commitment to the Philippine Christian Foundation. Today, I wanted to share a few more stories of the unique ways that our spirited NetSuite employees have decided to give back this year.

In NetSuite’s Brno, Czech Republic office, employees were able to get some of their Christmas shopping done while supporting an amazing local organization. The office hosted a fair for the V Ruzovem Sadu organization, a therapeutic workshop for people with disabilities. V Ruzovem Sadu provides them with the opportunity to work as craftsmen and earn money by selling their wares.

The team from Brno had the opportunity to listen to a presentation about how the workshop runs, and then invited the crafts people to set-up a holiday fair with the toys and decorations they had created. Employees relished the opportunity to meet these talented individuals and purchase the items they’d created – in fact, the staff broke a record for the organization, purchasing over CZK 36,000 in goods!

The purchase also helps with the overhead of the organization, providing salaries for the assistants and running the workshop programs. Of the 120 employees in Brno, nearly all of them participated in the event!

NetSuite also has two Australia offices, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney, whose employees overwhelmingly voted to support the Barnardos Children’s charity as their SuiteImpact Team holiday event for the second year in a row. This charity is very dear to the hearts of many Australians, and for over 120 years, they have been at the forefront of child welfare services, striving to find permanent solutions for the needy children across Australia.

Employees selected gifts for the children at Barnardos and brought them into the office to put under the tree until the drop-off. The lion’s share of gifts went to the older/adolescent children who are often forgotten during the holidays. The drive was incredibly successful, with nearly all of our employees getting into the holiday spirit. After the drop-off, the office received a note from the charity thanking them for the gifts and sharing that this year they were in especially desperate need, and the donation went a long way. Hearing this need, the employees decided to get competitive between the teams in the office, and aimed to double the number of gifts already raised. From the picture below, you can see that the competition was a success -- our hats are off to NetSuite Australia for having not one, but TWO charity drives for Barnardos this year.

The team at NetSuite’s newest office, in New York City, is just getting back to business after Hurricane Sandy’s devastation impacted many of their towns. Realizing how much help is still needed by those impacted by the storms, the team decided to make their holiday activity about giving back to those still needing help. Five of our team members traveled down to Manasquan, NJ, which was particularly hard hit by Sandy to help out with sand removal and clean-up of a home.  As we can see from the photos, it’s overwhelming to see the power of the storm, and the wreckage it left behind. Joe, Chris, Pratap, Chris and Jeff brought their work gloves, shovels, brute strength and humor to the job, and were able to make a difference for one family this holiday season.

Looking at the photos from all three of these SuiteImpact Team events reminds us how many different ways there are to give back during the holiday season. Whether it’s by supporting an organization like V Ruzovem Sadu, buying gifts for children in need, or helping those impacted by natural disasters, there a thousands of ways to help those less fortunate than we are, and the holiday season is a great time to reach out to your local community and see how you can help.

If you’re looking for a volunteer opportunity near you, reach out to your local community or check online, where there are dozens of great resources online, including our partners at Volunteermatch.

We’ll be sharing additional stories from some of our other NetSuite offices later this week, so stay tuned.

Don’t forget, you can always keep in touch with us on twitter @NetSuiteOrg!

-Erin Dieterich, Global Employee Engagement Manager, NetSuite.org

Relying on the Cloud to Succeed in Multichannel Sales

If the packed ballroom at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore during NetSuite’s recent stopover to officially launch its new SuiteCommerce platform is any indication, it is safe to assume that Singapore is indeed a strategic market for cloud adoption. A recentwhite paper by Frost & Sullivan established that Singapore is behind only Australia and New Zealand in the adoption of the cloud, and is ahead of most other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Furthermore, ecommerce has been an increasingly important factor in Singapore’s economic activity. The Frost & Sullivan white paper suggests that the use of Internet to sell is already more advanced in Singapore than in Australia. Accounting for an estimated 28% of all customer interactions in Singapore, the Internet has overtaken other channels such as the telephone and mail. And although it trails traditional brick-and-mortar stores and field sales forces, the Internet is the fastest growing channel for customer and business interactions.

But given the continuously changing technology landscape, ecommerce adoption is bound to run into some complexities. Case in point—the growing range of digital channels customers use to access the Internet and to interact with suppliers (smart TV, smartphones, tablets, machine-to-machine, etc.) requires businesses to deliver an optimized customer experience regardless of channel, maintain security across all channels, create seamless and real-time integration of all customer touchpoints and link channels to internal systems such as ERP and CRM.

Running ecommerce in such a multichannel world creates opportunities for businesses to reach a wider market, but also introduces significant challenges that need to be faced head-on. And this is where Singaporean organizations’ fondness of cloud computing plays a big role. According to Frost & Sullivan, using the cloud to host ecommerce systems offers key solutions to such challenges.

The cloud provides the agility organizations need to power whatever channels their businesses require, as well as access to these channels wherever business needs to happen. The cloud also provides high levels of security and reliability, while reducing capital and operational expenses.

With NetSuite’s successful launch of SuiteCommerce in Singapore, it surely is safe to say that Singaporean companies are seeing the importance of the cloud in effectively running their ecommerce efforts, and that NetSuite has the ideal platform for such an important task.

Read more about NetSuite SuiteCommerce and download the Frost & Sullivan white paper to find out more about how the cloud answers the challenges of running ecommerce in a multichannel world.

-Andy Lloyd - GM of Commerce Products

 

Bet Your Future in the Cloud

The global marketplace is transforming the way Australian manufacturers and distributors need to operate as their future survival is being determined by global influences that cannot be ignored. The hard truth is that we operate in a truly global marketplace and if Australian businesses don’t make necessary changes to their business models to join this marketplace, they risk disappearing all together.

Factors out of the control of these businesses have provided the greatest threats, particularly the strong Australian dollar, government policies, union power, higher direct costs, a relatively small domestic market, the impact of cheap imports and goods into Australia and the fact that Asia competes so fiercely for manufacturing opportunities.

Australian manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors that want to survive essentially have two choices. They can seriously think that they have something very unique that will enable them to survive in the Australian market for a long time, or they can say that their business needs to look beyond their traditional borders. If businesses continue to do nothing different and solely source and distribute within Australia, they will most certainly be faced with eventually going out of business.

How can a globally-minded company grow their business by distributing to different markets beyond Australia? How can they diversify into new markets or even simply outsource a part of their business, such as their manufacturing operation?

These are complex business questions that require a case-by-case market analysis. However, what is increasingly universal is the way that leading Australian manufacturers and distributors re-engineer their supply chain to achieve the greatest efficiency and competitiveness.

Simply putting in an efficient manufacturing or supply chain system isn’t going to save a business. To keep up with the global marketplace, businesses need to be able operate in real time with complete visibility into the entire business. That’s only possible when you operate your entire supply chain from one system on the internet—giving you deep and up-to-the-minute visibility of every interaction, transaction and relationship occurring in your business in every market, anywhere in the world.

This is exactly what cloud computing does—it provides businesses the ability to operate in global markets in real time and establish a core platform for manufacturing, wholesale distribution, customers and supply chain, with built-in support for multiple currencies and foreign exchange. A business can have all of these components in a single system that they can replicate for whichever supplier, distributor, retailer or wholesaler they forge a relationship with.

Cloud computing gives you a way to enter new markets without being encumbered by IT infrastructure and huge costs, and provides the agility and flexibility to grow and expand your business globally. Additionally, you can dictate to your suppliers and distributors the system that you need them to use to operate with you effectively. This will give you a key differentiator, not to mention greater power and control over your business.

At a minimum, you need to look globally at how you expand your business and opportunities around that. Everyone is looking at Australia and Asia as a market for growth. If you are going to be a part of that growth story, you need to pick the best technology to make that possible.

- Mark Troselj, Managing Director for Asia Pacific

Join Frost & Sullivan and NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson in Singapore for the 2012 Cloud Tour!

We’re heading to Singapore for NetSuite’s 2012 Cloud Tour! Join us on Tuesday, October 16, at the Raffles Hotel for an exclusive forum featuring Frost & Sullivan and a panel of industry leaders who will share insights into the future of cloud computing.

Frost & Sullivan will unveil new C-level research that investigates the key challenges facing Singapore organizations and examines why the consumerization of IT is making multichannel operations an imperative for businesses.

To top it off, NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson will share valuable insights on the current approaches, findings and real-world experiences of cloud adoption. He will also speak about the advancement of the next generation of cloud computing—Commerce as a Service.

NetSuite’s Cloud Tour will let you in on how leading B2B and B2C Asian companies use cloud technology to transform operations, simplify the commerce experience across all touch points and increase profitability. The event is also a great way to connect with fellow executives over free cocktails!

Whether you are transitioning to the cloud or advancing to the next level, this forum offers strategic insights that can help you make the most of your cloud investment.

Don’t miss this special event — register now as places are filling up fast!

See you at the Cloud Tour!