Over the last 20 days or so, I have written a couple of articles as primers for my webinar about Netsuite next Tuesday. One of the articles focused on clients getting too big for QuickBooks, and the second article focused on a NetSuite focused BPO practice. In response to the second article someone wrote in asking me if they would have to give up supporting QuickBooks if they chose to support NetSuite in their BPO practice... "No way"!
So, that's why, in today’s article I want to talk about a combination of the two articles because I know a lot of my readers are loyal QuickBooks ProAdvisors who rely on QuickBooks as their primary accounting solution for their small business clients, but who may also find themselves needing a solution for their larger clients. They are also wanting to expand their BPO practices to offer more for those clients needing capabilities beyond QuickBooks.
For those of you who ‘always’ start your clients out on QuickBooks, Desktop or Online, whether you are providing their accounting support, bookkeeping review, or have a full-blown BPO practice, I understand that you know and love QuickBooks for those new clients for whom it works. It’s a great solution when a client needs just what QuickBooks can provide, whether that’s Pro, Premier, or Enterprise in the Desktop version, or Essentials, Plus or Advanced for the Online version.
In general, those are not the clients that NetSuite is right for anyway unless those clients happen to be ‘taxing the physical limitations of the software in terms of the number of clients, the number of transactions, or the number of items in their inventory, etc. It’s when clients need more than QuickBooks can offer without having to plug in Apps, or add-on third-party software, that NetSuite starts to make sense, as well as when clients are outgrowing QuickBooks.
And from a BPO practice standpoint, there is absolutely nothing that says you can’t support QuickBooks for your smaller, less complex clients, and NetSuite for your larger, more sophisticated clients. That way you have a solution available when your smaller clients are ready to take the next step because their needs have evolved, their processes have enhanced, and they have grown beyond what QuickBooks can offer on a stand-alone basis.
What this means for you is that you still are working with your QuickBooks clients from day one, supporting small businesses starting afresh, helping them meet their business expectations, keeping their finances in order, and watching them grown that idea into a prosperous company. You may even migrate them from one version of QuickBooks to a different version over the first few years to meet their growth requirements and functional needs. All the time knowing that when the day comes that this small business reaches that magical point of ‘no longer being small’, you have the right solution as part of your offering… and that solution is NetSuite by Oracle.
As a partner within the NetSuite BPO Partner Program, you will be positioned to get your client transitioned into the NetSuite BPO solution with leading practice workflows, dashboards, KPIs, permission, and applicable industry-standard specific capabilities within just a few days. And you will be surprised just how price competitive the NetSuite BPO solution is when you compare it to the alternatives of the solutions commonly used as BPO platforms while offering even greater capabilities.
So really, I’m not talking about ‘giving up QuickBooks’ in place of NetSuite, I’m talking about adding NetSuite to your options of available offerings. You can support both in your BPO practice. QuickBooks for your entry-level and smaller clients for who their programs fit the need, and NetSuite for those clients who have outgrown QuickBooks. In reality, it’s the best of both worlds.
I want to encourage you to join me, along with Michael Kulisch, the BPO Program Leader at NetSuite, next Tuesday, June 15th at 2:00 PM Eastern for our webinar titled, ‘Insightful Accountant’s Sr. Editor William Murphy Discusses QuickBooks vs. NetSuite for Outsourcing’. Michael and I will be discussing the advantages of adding NetSuite to your practice for those clients who have outgrown QuickBooks, and when it makes sense for you and your client to consider a transition in products. I hope to see you at the webinar.
Trade Name disclosures:
QuickBooks, QuickBooks (Desktop), QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, QuickBooks Enterprise, QuickBooks Online (Essentials or Plus), QBO, QuickBooks Advanced and QuickBooks ProAdvisor(s) refer to products and registered trademarks of Intuit.
NetSuite, Oracle NetSuite, NetSuite by Oracle and the NetSuite BPO Partner Program refer to registered trademarked products (or services) of Oracle.