If you’re looking for some new business management software, one of the options that you’re sure to come across during your search is FinancialForce ERP. Here we go through some of the key differences between FinancialForce and NetSuite.
FinancialForce.com is a set of business applications that run in the cloud. The company was founded in 2009 with an investment from UNIT4, and salesforce.com. The resulting cloud accounting system was a single-ledger design that enables real-time financial management and is built on salesforce.com’s cloud technology platform, Force.com.
Following various acquisitions, FinancialForce.com unveiled FinancialForce ERP in February 2014. The solution supplies accounting, billing, professional services automation (PSA), revenue recognition, human capital management (HCM), and supply chain management (SCM) applications.
Closely coupled with Salesforce’s CRM applications, FinancialForce leverages the salesforce.com data model, reporting, workflow, and user interface (UI) components.
With integration with salesforce.com, customers can create an order from an opportunity or quote and generate invoices automatically from approved orders.
The solution is available on a subscription basis with a minimum commitment of 1 year.
NetSuite is a cloud-based business management software suite built for the cloud in 1998. It supports Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and eCommerce.
The solution offers comprehensive functionality including accounting, CRM, HR & payroll, inventory & supply chain management, professional services automation, project management, and more. It also has industry-specific modules for a broad range of industries.
As with FinancialForce, customers can create an order from an opportunity or quote and generate invoices automatically from approved orders.
Customers pay for the solution annually on a subscription basis with a minimum commitment of 1 year.
With FinancialForce, you don’t get as much functionality out-of-the-box as you do with NetSuite. For additional functionality, FinancialForce users must utilise “AppExchange” apps which are built for the platform by partners.
A standard NetSuite deployment has more available functionality out-of-the-box with its range of industry-specific modules. If further customisation is still required, then this can be achieved using SuiteApps that have been developed by NetSuite partners.
Whilst FinancialForce is an easy to use ERP software solution out-of-the-box, it is not easily geared to a business’ individual needs and structure. The software was built using Apex, which is a proprietary language making it more difficult to customise.
FincancialForce users who wish to customise the software must rely on partner-developed apps.
NetSuite can be customised more easily because it has a more modern web architecture and expert help can therefore be found by anyone who is proficient in JavaScript (internally referred to as SuiteScript). The solution is modular, with many industry-specific modules available – you simply ‘turn on’ the functionality you need in order to tailor it to your business.
Partner developed “SuiteApps” allow the platform to be customised further.
Outside of Force.com applications, FinancialForce.com does not support integration with other enterprise applications you may already have in place (i.e. SAP, Oracle). Due to the way it has been built, it would require integration tools for anything other than Salesforce.
NetSuite is built to be integrated with other applications; there are already standardised integrations available for a large number of business applications and the “Built for NetSuite” network provides a source of NetSuite developers that can build applications and integrations that may not already exist.
These “SuiteCloud” developers have been verified in a way that proves that their applications and integrations, built using the NetSuite SuiteCloud Computing Platform, meet NetSuite standards and best practices.
NetSuite, and in particular NetSuite OneWorld, makes a strong offering to multinational organisations. The solution is localised for more countries, better supports local accounting standards, and provides stronger multi-currency support.
NetSuite is proven to manage, bill, and recognise revenue for products and projects across multiple currencies, tax jurisdictions, languages, and time zones. In fact, NetSuite OneWorld was chosen as the ‘ERP Product of the Year’ at the 2015 UK Cloud Awards.
FinancialForce also offers a multi-currency, multi-national structure with an expandable chart of accounts. The main difference for FinancialForce is that concurrent licences are required for the ERP and CRM side, where NetSuite offers ERP with an integral CRM across all areas.
FinancialForce does not include a large number of packaged financial reports. P & L statements, for example, are not out-of-the-box. The reporting engine tends to be somewhat cumbersome and beyond your average user.
NetSuite users benefit here because the solution provides a full range of reporting and analytics tools to help ensure all users have strong insight into their business. Key data is available as standard through the software’s easy-to-use dashboards, and a vast array of packaged reports allow you to analyse your data as required. It is also possible to bring up tailored real-time reports for further insight.
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If you would like to discuss further how NetSuite compares to FinancialForce ERP or any other ERP software, please get in touch with us!
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