Cloud Computing Journal

NetSuite announced that COMMCO LLC, a Kansas City-based distribution and light manufacturing company and a leading home improvement millwork distributor, is the latest company to successfully switch from SAP R/3 to NetSuite OneWorld, going live on time and on budget, and providing the Kansas City-based company substantial savings.

In an effort to modernize its business operations and eliminate the high cost of maintaining and upgrading SAP's complex, on-premise software, COMMCO transitioned to NetSuite and now relies on NetSuite's cloud computing platform for its core operational needs, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) functionality such as inventory management, ordering, fulfillment, EDI communications, corporate financials, and reporting; and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) functionality such as sales and customer service management.

Franklin Christopher, President and CEO of COMMCO, provides an insightful overview of his company's move from SAP R/3 to the NetSuite Cloud in a recently recorded webinar accessible here: www.netsuite.com/commco.

According to Christopher, SAP's offerings fell far short of the NetSuite cloud solution and Christopher calculated it had only 30 percent the functionality of NetSuite. "NetSuite Professional Services provided us with a smooth transition that included teaching us how to create our own reporting so that the average employee could customize their own role-based dashboards and reports going forward," Christopher said. "SAP wanted our business, but our knowing that NetSuite's entire focus is on SaaS and the depth of functionality they offered compared to SAP Business ByDesign made the choice easy."

COMMCO, based in Kansas City, Missouri, distributes moulding to the home improvement market, including high-profile nationwide retailers such as Lowe's. The eight-year-old company's 120 employees account for $45 million in annual revenue. Previously, COMMCO was owned by another company, which ran its business on SAP R/3. After being sold to new owners some years back, COMMCO was grandfathered in to its former parent's instance of the SAP operating system. But with COMMCO's prior parent company considering new options, COMMCO was forced to choose between continuing its own instance of SAP and managing it with a smaller staff, or selecting a next-generation enterprise solution.

NetSuite OneWorld proved to be the right choice for COMMCO. The company could not justify continuing to use SAP R/3 which would have cost in excess of $1 million, so COMMCO looked for SaaS options which could be implemented quickly, allowing a prompt transition off of its former ERP system. COMMCO considered SAP's SaaS product Business ByDesign, but declared NetSuite OneWorld the superior solution and the one more easily tailored for a remotely located, growing business like COMMCO.

NetSuite OneWorld provides COMMCO management with instant access to customizable analytics, with no need for consulting fees to prepare new reports. Because NetSuite OneWorld is cloud-based, COMMCO does not need to manage and maintain complex software on desktops and laptops, nor does it need to build a server room with all the associated costs and resources. NetSuite helps COMMCO maintain its critical customer relationships with home improvement powerhouses such as Lowe's, at a cost far less than that of a new SAP implementation.

As a SaaS pioneer, NetSuite has perfected the delivery model for today's always-on, business-anywhere enterprise. Anytime, anywhere access enables companies to run lean, without a need for centralized facilities, while providing instant scalability for enterprises expanding into new markets and opportunities.

Unlike an SAP implementation, which can drag on for months or even years and cost millions up-front, NetSuite solutions can be deployed worldwide in a matter of weeks. Because upgrades are carefully and centrally managed, business no longer need be disrupted while technologists try to adapt yesterday's customizations to today's feature patch. And for those companies already deeply reliant on SAP solutions looking to embrace the advantages offered by SaaS, NetSuite OneWorld for SAP offers seamless integration for subsidiaries and corporate divisions which need their own enterprise-grade capabilities while maintaining transparency with the central system of record. For more information about NetSuite OneWorld for SAP, please visit www.netsuite.com/oneworld.