The Benefits of Integrated Business Management

Software for Wholesale Distributors

Overcoming the Barriers of Standalone Business Applications
 Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3

The Advantages of an Integrated Suite for Wholesale Distributors ..............................................3

Key Characteristics of Wholesale Distribution ERP...........................................................................4

The Emergence of Cloud Computing for Wholesale Distribution ...................................................6

Key Benefits of Cloud Computing to WD SMBs ...............................................................................7

The NetSuite Wholesale Distribution Edition....................................................................................7

Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................................9

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 2
 Introduction
Wholesale distributors (WD) are the lifeblood of the economy in all regions of the world. Often small and mid-size
businesses (SMBs), many wholesale distributors have grown rapidly and, as a result, require an operational boost
to drive revenue, expand into new markets, cultivate stronger customer relationships and improve business agility
and speed.

The problem is that many expanding wholesale distributors have hit the ceiling of their legacy business tools. As
they grew, most wholesale distributors automated various parts of their businesssometimes through manila
folders and filing cabinets, in other cases by buying and installing standalone business software for finance and
accounting, warehouse and inventory management, ecommerce, customer relationship management (CRM)
and more.

Growth and complexity inevitably outstrip the capabilities of standalone applications and ad hoc IT personnel.
These disjointed, siloed systems turn into a proverbial hairball that is costly, brittle (due to jury-rigged point-to-
point connections) and complex to use and manage. The result of this growth by accident typically includes:
Lost productivity from manual data re-entry and reconciliation
Costly mistakes in business execution from error-prone data entry
Inability to scale to business demands with legacy tools
Poor visibility into business information needed to make decisions.

Financial packages running on a standalone PC are likely to be the first to cause problems as they cannot
accommodate growth in the number of transactions or users and are usually disconnected from other
applications. The impact of unintegration tends to cascade across the business and invariably compromises the
wholesale distributors business performance and ability to grow revenue.

Ironically, the wholesale distributor ends up trapped by the limits of the very technology that was intended to help
the company grow and thrive.

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 3
 The Advantages of an Integrated Suite for
Wholesale Distributors
SMB wholesale distributors may be smaller and employ fewer people than large corporations, but they have
equally demanding and complex business processes and face the same challengestight budgets and IT
resources, competitive pressures, low tolerance for risk, and the need to improve efficiency and profitability to
survive and thrive.

Addressing the hairball of disconnected applications is an essential first step for wholesale distributors to
tighten control over operations, improve business speed and efficiency and capitalize on new customer and
market opportunities. A single, integrated, industry-appropriate enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite can
accommodate the wholesale distributors breadth of business processes while providing flexibility to tailor the
solution to its specific business needs.

Wholesale distributors recognize the value of an integrated suite that supports the range of WD business
processes. A NetSuite survey of WD leaders in North America in 2010 found that support for all business
processes was the most important characteristic in considering WD business software1.

Figure 1. Which is the most important software requirement to run your business?

The best business solutions will provide strong out-of-the-box functionality expressly engineered for wholesale
distributors. Modularity and customizability will enable the wholesale distributor to use any or all of the
functionality its business needs, including:
Automated order management Customer relationship management (CRM)
Integrated shipping and fulfillment. Web-based customer self-service
Demand-based inventory replenishment General ledger/financial accounting
Warehouse and logistics management Invoicing and cash collection
Ecommerce storefront with front- and Management dashboard reporting and
back-office integration metrics.
1
NetSuite, The State of Wholesale Distribution, August 2010.

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 4
 Key Characteristics of Wholesale Distribution ERP
Compared to standalone applications, integration of these processes slashes manual labor, reduces errors,
improves customer satisfaction and allows managers to focus on growing the business. Streamlined workflow
enables WD companies to manage customer orders, inventory, order shipment process, invoicing, cash collection,
and more. The best ERP solutions take a step beyond basic processes to enable wholesale distributors profitable
growth through integrated financials, reporting, management, inventory tracking, and asset utilization.

Ideally, an integrated solution will incorporate industry best practices and enable the WD company to build on
those to meet its own strategic objectives. It will also promote a 360-degree view of the customer and ensure that
customer orders and buying patterns are intelligently propagated throughout the business, including inventory
management, pricing and promotions. Finally, the very best ERP will ensure clear alignment between strategy and
execution, with continuous monitoring and measurement of performance. The solution should enable and/or deliver:

1. Scalability for growth. Legacy, standalone tools generally top out without transition paths to other
solutions, leaving you to start over from scratch. An integrated suite is designed to scale with your
WD company by allowing flexibility to add users and modules, support more numerous and complex
transactions and expand into new markets either domestically or internationally (with multi-currency support).

2. Improved productivity. The lack of integration among standalone applications means that connections
must be hand-coded by IT personnel at substantial time and cost, or personnel simply re-enter data into
multiple systems with sizable risk of error. An integrated suite provides easy access to a common, reliable
data set, automates key processes and enables WD managers to focus on growthnot grunt work.

3. Company-wide performance visibility. As WD companies grow, so grows the need to monitor metrics
on financial and operational performance, as well as sales, customers and suppliers. Data scattered
among disconnected applications is difficult to consolidate, prone to misinterpretation and problematic
if, for instance, a customer is called IBM in one application and International Business Machines
in another. An integrated suite supplies a single version of the truth that can be tracked via key
performance indicators (KPIs) in a visual dashboard and explored with analytic tools.

4. Business process customization and automation. Wholesale distribution personnel spend countless
hours customizing and executing business processes that could be automated (for instance, replenishing
inventory and arranging FedEx or UPS shipments). An integrated suite provides automated workflow
across the entire businessnot just fragments of itwith user-friendly tools to customize the solution to
meet unique business needs.

5. Single-vendor management and support. Managing a plethora of vendors with multiple 800
numbers for customer service is not easy. An integrated suite gives you one solution supplier to work
with. The ability to access affordable service and support is also critical. It is easier to support an
integrated ERP environment than a hodgepodge of different applications.

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 5
 The Emergence of Cloud Computing for
Wholesale Distribution
Years ago, a wholesale distributor that decided to upgrade from standalone applications to an integrated suite
faced a significant IT challenge. The implementation of an on-premise ERP software solution meant a large
up-front capital investment for software licensing, servers, backup systems and specialized IT developers and
architects. Deployment times could extend more than a year, and operational risk was substantial.

And once the solution was deployed, the WD company faced the high cost of employing IT professionals to
manage, patch and maintain both infrastructure and desktop applicationswithout disrupting critical business processes.

Thats changed. The emergence of cloud computing solutions for wholesale

Cloud services are well distribution has given WD companies a compelling option to fast track their
positioned as a cost- growth versus an expensive on-premise system overengineered with excess
functionality the distributor will never use. Also called Software as a Service
effective strategy that not
(SaaS), cloud computing allows businesses to subscribe to a service rather
only reduces costs, but also than purchase, install and maintain in-house software. The SaaS model is
enables greater SMB agility. growing rapidly among SMBs in a range of industries as companies embrace
the affordability and flexibility that it offers. With SaaS, you use as much as
AMI-Partners you need, pay for what you use, focus on business and let the SaaS vendor
worry about managing the infrastructure.

The adoption of SaaS among WD companies is transforming the industry. The analyst firm Gartner predicts that
SaaS solutions will grow at a 17.7% compound annual rate through 20132, the fastest-growing area of enterprise
software spend. Another study by AMI-Partners puts the compound growth rate at 13%, with worldwide SaaS
spending among SMBs increasing from $52 billion in 2009 to $95 billion in 20143. As AMI put it, Cloud services
are well positioned as a cost-effective strategy that not only reduces costs, but also enables greater SMB agility.

The lack of up-front capital investment and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) are proving attractive to SMBs
that want to channel their resources into new markets and customer acquisition rather than unproductive and
complex on-premise software installation. A study by Hurwitz & Associates found that TCO of NetSuite for SMBs
was 50% lower over four years than a comparable on-premise implementation of Microsoft Dynamics GP/CRM4.

WD companies exploring SaaS options and TCO should recognize that TCO can be complex and may be
comprised of recurring costs and savings other than licensing, for instance:
The time and of expense of IT staff to integrate, patch and upgrade components in an on-premise
solution
Optional costs of data backup, high availability and/or disaster recovery with on-premise solutions
The risk of costly disruption or downtime from an in-house systems failure or during application
maintenance.

2
Gartner, Market Trends: Software as a Service, Worldwide, 2008-2013, November 2009.
3
AMI-Partners, Cloud Services Momentum on Track among SMBs, August 2010.
4
Hurwitz & Associates, The Compelling TCO Case for Cloud Computing in SMB and Mid-Market Enterprises, 2009.

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 6
 Key Benefits of Cloud Computing to WD SMBs
Ultimately, SaaS is increasingly recognized as better suited to enabling companies to more closely manage and
forecast costs, and eliminate high internal IT support costs. Web-based delivery of business solutions proves the
most economical in the long run as business needs grow and change. The Hurwitz & Associates study identified
the following cloud computing features and benefits for SMBs:

Feature SaaS/Cloud Benefits

No up-front capital costs SMBs access solutions through the web
Pay for usage on per month or user basis
Faster deployment and productivity Up and running weeks or months faster than on-premise solutions
Anywhere, anytime web access to solutions
Ease of management and use Vendor manages and upgrades infrastructure and applications
SMBs focus on strategic growth, not IT maintenance
Modular flexibility Low barrier to entrystart small and scale to demands
Add or remove solutions or users as needs dictates
Better reliability and performance Enterprise-class IT infrastructure affordable for SMBs
Vendor provides backup, high availability, and support

The NetSuite Wholesale Distribution Edition

The NetSuite Wholesale Distribution Edition is the first and leading on-demand cloud-based business management
suite that allows wholesale distributors to manage all front- and back-office operations in one single system. It
includes everything from inventory and warehouse management to shipping automation, accounting, CRM, sales
force automation, customer support, ecommerce, employee productivity tools, and much more. (See Figure 2).

Using NetSuite, every element of your WD business is integrated, accessible, and directly relevant to your business
successaccounting, sales management, customer service, employee and partner management, ecommerce
and more so you can improve productivity by streamlining operations and automating processes across the
company. And because NetSuite is an on-demand solution, available only as SaaS-based application, you have no
costly hardware or software fees, no expensive integration of standalone products and no difficult upgrades to
contend with.

Some of the key benefits you can gain from NetSuite are:

1. Flexibility for Fast-Growing SMB Wholesale Distributors

Wholesale distributors need software functionality for different stages in their lifecycle. NetSuite supplies
you with all the base functionality you need, along with capabilities for more advanced demand-based
inventory replenishment, complete ecommerce and back-end integration, managing multi-location and
multi-ship environments, light manufacturing, multi-currency global transactions, and more.

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 7
 2. Greater Productivity with Unified Business Processes
With a single, integrated platform for CRM, accounting/ERP and ecommerce, you can automate key
business functions across all departments, including sales, marketing, service, finance, inventory, order
fulfillment, purchasing, and employee management. Your employees no longer have to re-enter data
in different systems, rectify inconsistent or inaccurate data, or wait for batch updates. Instead, all
your employees view and share accurate data in real time, leading to greater collaboration among
departments and increased productivity across your business.

3. Seamless Ecommerce with Front- and Back-Office Integration

NetSuite supplies all the tools you need to build, manage and extend a robust ecommerce storefront
and extend it to customers, suppliers and partners. NetSuite ecommerce systems integrate fully with
front- and back-office systems for accounting, fulfillment, CRM and more, helping your WD company to
improve operational efficiencies while driving web-based business.

4. Increased Visibility for Better Decision-Making

Customizable dashboards offer real-time access to key performance metrics, supporting intelligent,
timely business decisions. NetSuite allows you to manage by exception and be proactive in your decision-
making with dashboard metrics and alerting tools. In addition, full visibility into unified customer records
results in more efficient and highly personalized sales, fulfillment, and service processes. NetSuite
dashboards are role-based, providing out-of-the-box relevance to employees individual job functions.

Figure 2. The NetSuite Wholesale Distribution Edition integrates all front- and back-office functions.

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 8
 5. Self-Service for Customers, Suppliers and Partners
Given todays need to work closely with partners through an extended enterprise, NetSuite offers self-
service portals that enhance business-to-business collaboration. In addition, proactive notification of
partner-specific events accelerates process cycles and improves responsiveness, ensuring your position as
a preferred partner. NetSuite self-service portals have helped hundreds of SMBs to reduce support costs
and improve customer and supplier satisfaction.

6. Customization to Address Specific Business Needs

NetSuite is the worlds most customizable SaaS application. Click, not code configuration and modular
implementations jumpstart your business on NetSuite. Advanced customization with simple, industry-
standard tools allows you to tailor business practices and processes to meet your specific company and
industry requirements. Because our customization carries forward seamlessly with upgrades, we actually
encourage you to highly customize NetSuite to create your one-of-a-kind software application.

7. Superior Value with an Affordable Solution

Built from the ground up for growing and midsize businesses, NetSuite offers affordable pricing,
accelerated implementation and comprehensive support packages that result in unbeatable TCO.
Plus, you eliminate the costly and time-consuming integration often associated with a patchwork
of disconnected systems. NetSuite also provides leading-edge professional services and educational
programs that ensure efficient implementation and continued, long-term success.

Cartridge World
Global printer supplies distributor Cartridge World turned to
NetSuite after outgrowing QuickBooks for accounting, and
quickly took advantage of NetSuites modularity to extend the solution to support other critical business
processes as the company expanded to 1,650 stores in 60 countries.

NetSuite allows us to think, act, and work as a single company worldwide, says Steven L. Yeffa, CFO. It
is certainly enabling the senior management team to have a consistent view of everything going on in
our worldwide network. And with NetSuite, Cartridge World is saving about $200,000 a year in IT and
administrative costs.

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 9
 Elcometer Excels with NetSuite
Elcometer, a maker and distributor of paint and surface
inspection instruments, was bogged down with on-premise
Microsoft Dynamics GP accounting software. The problem was that Microsoft Great Plains wasnt
integrated well with CRM and shipping systems, says Joe Walker, Elcometer VP of North America.

The Detroit-based Elcometer saved more than $130,000 by switching from Microsoft to NetSuite. I want
to more than double my business over the next five years, and the only cost-effective way to this is with
NetSuite, Walker says.

Conclusion
If your wholesale distribution company is hitting the wall of its standalone applications, its time to explore options
of how an integrated business management suite can help you drive revenue, win new customers in new markets,
and empower your personnel with data-driven tools for informed decision-making.

After a close examination of options, many savvy wholesale distributors have made the transition with a cloud-
based solution that allowed them to avoid the high up-front costs of on-premise solution, as well as ongoing
maintenance. Todays best SaaS solutions for wholesale distribution deliver a powerful range of industry-specific
functionality and front- and back-office integration that can enable your business to scale, with an affordable and
predictable cost of ownership.

Find out more: contact NetSuite Inc. at 1-877 NETSUITE or visit www.netsuite.com/wholesale

R0910 The Benefits of Integrated Business Management Software for Wholesale Distributors 10