Companies generally have a requirement of building a Fixed Asset over a period of time (i.e. Building / Plant & Machinery) and therefore they want to track the billing components against a particular job and once the asset is developed completely they want to recognize it within the Property, Plant & Equipment and start recording its Depreciation.

There can be multiple ways of handling this requirement within NetSuite, I would like to demonstrate the steps that can be followed, to ease the handling and ability to manage Capital Work In Progress requirement within the Fixed Assets Management Module.

Steps to Managing Capital Work In Progress Within NetSuite

Step 1: Setting up Capital Work In Progress Account

Navigate to Lists > Accounting > Accounts > New and create an account by entering details like Account Number, Account Name, Account Type, and Subsidiary details as per below screenshot:

Step 2: Create the Non-Inventory Item / Items for components that need to be purchased for Capital Work In Progress

Navigate to Lists > Accounting > Items > New and create Non-Inventory Item for Purchase and enter details like Name, Unit of Measure, and Expense Account as ‘Capital Work In Progress’ as created in step 1, under the preferences Tab, set the checkbox for ‘Can be Fulfilled/Received’ as True as per your business need.

Step 3: The user either may directly create a Vendor Bill for the purchase of components to be used in the development of the Asset or may proceed with the Purchase Order Process, for the sake of simplicity, I would directly create Vendor Bills for it.

For creating the Vendor Bill, Navigate to Transactions > Payables > Enter Bills, and provide details like Vendor, Memo (Specifying the Job Number), and Item (as created per step 1).

Recorded Bill leading to following GL Impact:

Record all bills related to Capital Work In Progress in the same manner as mentioned in this step.

Step 4: Create the saved search report to track the Capital Work In Progress against the particular Job like below. The report will provide results for costs accumulated against a particular Job after applying the filter for the Job on it.

Step 5: When the Asset is ready, and needs to be capitalized, the user may proceed to post the following general entry in the system as per the nature of the Fixed Asset with the amount as accumulated to that Job (Refer to Step 4).

Step 6: After recording the above entry, this will be available for Asset Proposal Screen to generate Fixed Asset out of it and that entry would be linked to Fixed Assets enabling to trace back the history of components used in the development of such Asset, by searching the memo of JE to the saved search report as mentioned in Step 4.

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The post Handling of Capital Work In Progress in NetSuite appeared first on OdeBlog.

As a business owner, one of the great challenges is understanding how to best allocate and manage company assets across different departments. NetSuite Fixed Assets Management can unlock tremendous opportunities for your organization – it’s a powerful tool that allows you to track the value of intangible or tangible property owned by your business. This comprehensive guide will help you understand everything from budgeting for large-scale projects to managing depreciation costs and utilizing fixed asset management software for optimal gains. So whether you’re running an emerging startup or an established enterprise, this guide will provide actionable steps to best manage your company’s resources with NetSuite Fixed Assets Management!

What is NetSuite Fixed Assets Management?

NetSuite Fixed Assets Management is a comprehensive suite of applications designed to help businesses manage their existing and new assets. It provides a single platform for tracking, managing, and reporting asset purchases, leases, depreciation cycles, etc. This powerful tool helps business owners make informed decisions about asset allocation that can ultimately lead to higher investment returns. The end-to-end solution includes an asset register, depreciation calculation engine, and financial reports to provide a complete view of each asset’s total cost of ownership.

Features of NetSuite Fixed Assets Management

NetSuite Fixed Assets Management (FAM) is a powerful tool designed to help businesses better manage their fixed assets. With FAM, you can track and monitor your assets, accurately calculate depreciation, streamline lease accounting processes, and generate real-time reports. In this blog post, we’ll explore each of these features in more detail so that you can understand how they can benefit your business.

Asset Tracking

NetSuite FAM provides asset-tracking capabilities that enable you to find and access relevant asset information quickly. You can create custom fields to store unique data points associated with each asset, such as serial numbers, asset tags, model numbers, and other important details. This makes it easy to track assets across multiple locations or departments within your organization. Additionally, you can assign multiple users to a single asset for easier tracking and better control over user permissions.

Depreciation

When purchasing new assets for your business, it’s important to consider the depreciation costs associated with those items over time. NetSuite FAM provides automated depreciation calculations based on the asset’s price and estimated useful life. This allows you to ensure that all purchases are depreciated at an appropriate rate according to IRS regulations and other applicable standards.

Lease Accounting

NetSuite’s Fixed Assets Management Module provides organizations with a comprehensive solution to managing the complete lifecycle of their fixed asset transactions. In addition to recording, amortizing, and disposing of fixed assets, this module also offers powerful capabilities for lease accounting to help businesses meet stringent financial reporting requirements. NetSuite efficiently captures essential lease data such as start dates, cost, and discount rate and facilitates automatic postings of both lease and interest expense, updating remaining liabilities in real time. This helps businesses accurately track all their leased assets over time, giving them improved visibility into the critical components of their financial situation.

Reporting and Analysis

NetSuite FAM provides comprehensive reporting and analysis capabilities that can help you gain greater insights into the performance of your assets. You can create custom reports to track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as acquisition costs, depreciation rates, asset life cycles, etc. This gives you a better understanding of how each asset is performing and helps you identify any areas that need improvement. Additionally, the reporting and analysis capabilities make generating essential financial documents such as balance sheets and asset-related tax returns easier.

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Streamline Your Fixed Asset Management with NetSuite

If you’re looking for an efficient way to manage your fixed assets, look no further than NetSuite Fixed Asset Management. This software offers a range of features that can help streamline and simplify asset tracking, maintenance, and depreciation. Let’s explore why NetSuite is the right choice for managing your fixed assets.

Accurate Tracking and Visibility

NetSuite Fixed Asset Management helps you track all the important details about each of your assets, from serial numbers to purchase information. You can easily see which assets are used, retired, or sold. You can also easily access current values for each asset to help with budgeting decisions. With this level of visibility into your fixed asset inventory, you’ll be able to make smarter financial decisions and ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.

Flexible Depreciation Settings

NetSuite allows you to adjust depreciation settings according to the specific needs of your business. For example, if you need to switch from straight-line to accelerated depreciation mid-year due to changes in tax law or other factors, you can do so quickly and easily with this software. You can also set up complex depreciation scenarios such as declining balance or sum-of-the-years digits methods without hassle.

Effective Maintenance Tracking

NetSuite allows you to keep track of maintenance costs associated with each asset over time. You can create detailed records for each repair job performed on a particular asset, so it’s easy to review when needed. This allows you to plan for future maintenance needs and catch potential problems before they become costly repairs down the road. And because all records are stored digitally in one place, it’s easy for anyone in your organization to access them when needed.

Bottom Line:

NetSuite Fixed Asset Management provides organizations with a comprehensive and efficient solution for tracking and managing their fixed assets. It offers powerful capabilities for lease accounting, reporting and analysis, flexible depreciation settings, and effective maintenance tracking. With NetSuite, you can easily monitor your fixed asset inventory and make better

The post NetSuite Fixed Assets Management: A Complete Guide appeared first on OdeBlog.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have become the backbone of modern businesses, streamlining operations, enhancing efficiency, and facilitating informed decision-making. However, ensuring the reliability, functionality, and security of ERP systems is paramount for organizational success. ERP Testing serves as a critical process to validate system configurations, data integrity, and performance. In this comprehensive exploration, we delve into ten essential types of ERP testing conducted within Oracle NetSuite, shedding light on their significance and impact on organizational operations.

Functionality Testing:

Functionality testing focuses on evaluating the performance of individual modules or components within the ERP system. By testing functionalities such as Order to Cash in NetSuite against specified requirements, organizations can ensure that each component operates seamlessly, meeting user expectations and business objectives.

Some tools to help with automated process testing: Xcelero – Automated Testing for NetSuite, Chassi – Process Improvement Platform

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Performance Testing:

Performance testing assesses the system’s ability to handle various workloads and user interactions efficiently. By simulating real-world scenarios with multiple users performing concurrent tasks, organizations gain insights into the system’s performance capabilities, identifying bottlenecks and areas for optimization

Integration Testing:

Integration testing validates the smooth flow of data between interconnected systems, ensuring data integrity and security during transfer processes. In Oracle NetSuite, integration testing verifies the seamless exchange of data between different modules and external applications, guaranteeing interoperability and reliability.

IT Tool Control Testing:

IT Tool Control Testing focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of security measures and controls implemented within the ERP system. Measures such as two-factor authentication (2FA), login audit trails, and security questions in NetSuite are rigorously tested to identify and mitigate potential security threats and vulnerabilities.

Regression Testing:

Regression testing is essential for ensuring the stability and reliability of the ERP system, particularly after software updates or modifications. By retesting existing functionalities and verifying the impact of changes on previously resolved issues, organizations can maintain system integrity and minimize the risk of regression errors.

Smoke Testing/Patch Testing:

Smoke testing, also known as patch testing, involves targeted testing of critical functionalities or priority areas within the ERP system. This focused approach ensures that essential features are thoroughly tested before broader implementation, minimizing the risk of system failures or disruptions. This test is mostly done after a major deployment of new changes in a production environment.

Installation Testing:

Installation testing encompasses a comprehensive evaluation of the deployment process, ensuring that all mandatory requirements are met and configurations are correctly implemented. By following a predefined checklist, organizations can verify the integrity of the installation process and mitigate potential deployment issues.

Adaptability Testing:

Adaptability testing evaluates the ERP system’s ability to adapt to evolving market trends, regulatory changes, and technological advancements. By testing features such as automatic capture of forex rates in NetSuite, organizations can ensure that the system remains aligned with current industry standards and practices.

Data Handling Testing:

Data handling testing assesses the ERP system’s capability to process and manage various forms of data inputs, including characters, images, and barcodes. By validating data integrity, accuracy, and consistency, organizations can ensure reliable data management and reporting capabilities.

User Acceptance Testing (UAT):

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is conducted by end-users to evaluate the system’s usability, functionality, and overall user experience. By involving stakeholders in the testing process, organizations can gather valuable feedback, identify usability issues, and ensure that the ERP system meets user expectations and business requirements

In conclusion, ERP testing plays a crucial role in ensuring the reliability, functionality, and security of Oracle NetSuite and other ERP systems. By adopting a comprehensive testing approach encompassing functionality, performance, integration, security, and user acceptance testing, organizations can mitigate risks, optimize system performance, and drive operational excellence. As businesses continue to evolve and embrace digital transformation, robust ERP testing methodologies will remain essential for maintaining competitive advantage and delivering value to stakeholders.

The post ERP Testing: 10 Vital Types of Testing in Oracle NetSuite appeared first on OdeBlog.

If you work or have ever worked as a NetSuite Admin, I’m willing to bet you’ve experienced this hundreds of times, where every NetSuite bug reported to you has the CIO, CTO, CFO — sometimes even the CEO — and a bunch of unrelated people added in Cc.

For the end user submitting the request, here are three major reasons why that practice could be highly ineffective:

#1 – You’ve just lost the ability to properly escalate the issue if not addressed timely

You might think the issue you are raising might cause critical damages to the business if it isn’t fixed in a timely manner, but the reality is that more often than not, the majority of your colleagues believe the exact same thing about their particular problem.

Now, imagine you were in that C-level position, getting Cc’d on every single reported bug (many of which could be the same or similar). It’s unlikely you’d have the time or willingness to properly follow up on each of those email chains.

Considering your busy agenda and long list of priorities, you’d eventually attempt to filter out the signal from the noise in your inbox.

And I can assure you that as an employee, you definitely don’t want your emails being relegated to your managers’ spam box.

I highly recommend you hold off on Cc’ing those C-level folks unless it becomes absolutely necessary to bring an issue up the ladder.

#2 – The leadership staff has probably engaged IT’s full capacity on other critical initiatives or pressing issues

I understand no end user would raise an issue to IT if wasn’t significant to their work; however, it’s also important to understand that as an employee in a company, your issue may not even be in the list of top-10 priorities your leadership staff has already given to IT.

In my past life as a NetSuite Admin, I’ll admit that I’ve had to blacklist some “troublemaker” users. It sometimes felt that their job just didn’t keep them busy enough, so they’d always find time to dig out the most improbable defect in NetSuite.

I’d think to myself: “Dude! How did you even get to that screen? You are not even supposed to be there!”

What ended up happening is I’d always deprioritize those requests to focus on the tasks I was given by my actual boss.

It wasn’t that I intentionally wanted to disregard these troublemakers’ requests; rather, it was the reality of having a great deal of work set on my plate by those higher up the chain.

See, as a company scales and evolves, being the internal expert of a core IT system (ERP) means you become the center of every interaction between departments.

You get pulled into every single project: Marketing, Sales, Procurement, Engineering, etc. Every manager is now asking if NetSuite can do this or if NetSuite can do that….

Naturally, the request that comes from the highest authority will always take the top spot on my list.

For example, I had once blacklisted a NetSuite Financial user prior to her reporting an issue concerning the mapping of a CSV import. This forced the employee to spend an entire week manually reviewing and correcting most of the transactions imported into NetSuite each month before closing.

Meanwhile, the IT staff’s highest priority was to help make monthly financial reports available sooner for the executive staff. As expected, I spent most of my time catering to the leadership team on this initiative. What I didn’t realize then was that this CSV import was meant to facilitate and accelerate the month-end closing process. Hence making monthly financial reports available sooner for the executive staff.

Right there was a week the IT staff could have gained in this leadership initiative had I not disregarded her request so hastily to focus on what I thought was a more pressing matter.

As an end user, never think the issues you are dealing with are not significant enough to raise to IT. And most importantly, just because you were trained to perform a time-consuming task manually, don’t assume that THAT is the only way it should be done.

Your ideas matter!

#3 – You will create a lot of noise, which finally ends up burying your initial request

Unlike many other Netsuite admins and consultants, I have also worked as an end user of an ERP system, which has helped shape my perspective on this matter in ways it wouldn’t have otherwise.

And just like many other end-users, I often Cc’d a whole bunch of managers — not to mention, my entire team — in an attempt to give more authority to my requests. By Cc’ing my team, I naively had assembled a pack of wolves to hunt down the poor IT guy.

Unfortunately by the time the IT admin got to seeing the request, that single email had grown out of control into a 50+ email chain, and not a single manager had commented or given any direction other than, “Please remove me from Cc. Thanks!”

At that point, what was I really supposed to expect from the IT person?

Now how do you get effective support from your IT team or NetSuite admin?

1.Find out the internal process to raise IT issues.

Does your company have a ticketing system? Is there an IT dedicated group email? If yes, this is where you start.

2. Set proper priority on your request and a realistic due date.

Setting the proper priority helps your admin better classify your request among many others he or she has to complete. But if you always set all your requests to High or Critical, you run the risk of being blacklisted. Setting a realistic due date helps your IT admin allocate the right amount of time to deliver a high quality work.

3. Always assume good intent.

Your request is not getting the traction you need? It is not always because your IT admin is slacking off. He might just be too busy.  Try to find out what is in his or her request pipeline, and see if you can help deprioritize a few things by discussing other requests from your team.

4. Escalate only if none of the above worked.

But only bring these issues up to the designated person in your organization for IT escalations, not to the entire leadership team. Most times, a one-on-one meeting, supported by proof you’ve already tried the 3 steps above, does a much better job than a convoluted email.

At OdeCloud we have built tools to help NetSuite Admins connect and stay close to end-users, and provide the proper support and solutions they need.

The post Kill Those Long Chains of Email: How to Properly Request IT Support appeared first on OdeBlog.

And I completely understand his doubts.

You’d hear about the concept of Release mostly in the App or software development world, but rarely in ERP implementations.

And without going into too much detail, I’d say there should be more thought put into methodologies that involve project implementation before immediately choosing to implement Agile or stick to the more traditional Waterfall model.

But when it comes to ERP implementations, there is one thing you simply CANNOT skip over: DEFINING YOUR IMPLEMENTATION METHODOLOGY!!!

But guess what?

You don’t have to chose and stick to one specific methodology. You can mix them up to build the optimal approach for your implementation. Agile is now the most prominent methodology in the software world, but this doesn’t mean it’s the perfect fit for all types of IT projects.

ERP implementation is THE MOST CRITICAL IT transformation for an organization, and the bigger the organization, the greater risk of failure.

Unlike traditional Software development, the customers may not grant you multiple chances to get it right. A little bug in an interface, an hour of system failure can result in millions of dollars lost in revenue, so think twice before fully committing to Agile!

True consultant life story: I remember a mandate I had in a paper mill factory a few years ago. There was an error in the SAP Transportation module setup, which resulted in a mismatch of batch numbers assigned to trucks delivering tons of paper rolls.

Long story short, New York Times was on the other end as the customer, and my client had 5 business days to figure out the issue and solve it. Failure in this task would have likely resulted in the loss of a 5-year, multi-million dollar contract.

My team spent 16 hours a day — including a 12-hour night shift — to find and fix the bug, then manually reprocess hundreds of shipments. Then we spent the next 3 weeks — 12 hours each night — helping the factory workers find the missing rolls and directing the truck lifts to the right trucks.

So when is full Agile Methodology appropriate for a project?

I think we will all agree that in a B2B or large B2C organization, AGILE is NOT ERP friendly, but that doesn’t mean we cannot take inspiration from that concept. The key success driver of my ERP implementations is my ability to mix the Agile and Waterfall concepts together whenever it made sense.

This could be characterized as a hybrid implementation methodology. To describe it in few words, it is the ability to design, prototype, test, deploy and repeat this sequence of events in a short time frame while running a waterfall project.

If you’d like to hear more about my hybrid methodology, I’d be happy to hold a much more detailed discussion with you to see if this concept would make sense in your current or future NetSuite implementation.

Talk to you soon,

Osar

The post Agile vs. Waterfall: Which is Best for Your ERP Implementation? appeared first on OdeBlog.

I often ask OdeCloud’s community members what makes OdeCloud’s Netsuite service platform different from other managed service providers.

The usual response follows along these lines: OdeCloud combines the scale, breadth and depth of a Freelancing platform with the guarantee of getting our assignments done efficiently and effectively — the latter of which is normally provided by most managed service vendors.

In other words, the one thing that makes the OdeCloud model different is its ability to leverage an on-demand, “Information Technology” workforce while eliminating many of the common issues customers deal with when working with freelancers:

• Fear that the freelancer lacks a certain level of expertise and cannot deliver on their own
• Uncertainty with what exact level of expertise is needed to complete the task at hand
• The constant onboarding and provisioning of external resource

There is a tremendous opportunity for businesses — especially midsize businesses — to gain more agility by leveraging IT freelancers. According to a recent study by Mavenlink, “79% of business leaders state that leveraging contractors is a competitive advantage, and as a result, plan to increase their use of contractors in next 12 months.”

That said, effectively leveraging the on-demand workforce is a not an easy task. As the level of expertise increases within the IT domain, so will the level of complexity in vetting and orchestrating this workforce.

Just a few years ago, companies with limited internal bandwidth were constantly hiring IT freelancers to offload some menial, low-level tasks.

Nowadays, companies expect the freelancer to be an expert in solving every complex, technological challenge known to man, or they expect the freelancer to assist in constructing an improved business strategy by leveraging whatever the market deems to be the best technological opportunities currently out there.

Managed service providers play a critical role in providing cutting-edge technology services to their clients, especially for midsize businesses with limited IT budgets; but at the end of the day, it all comes down to the personnel and the technical skills they have available.

With more IT workers transitioning to freelancing, the business model of managed services and consulting firms is facing an unprecedented crisis: What happens when the majority of IT workers completely transition to the gig economy?

However, the rise of the gig economy also presents a great opportunity to overcome significant issues found on both ends of the client-freelancer relationship.

We already mentioned a few on the customer side, such as the uncertainty surrounding what level of expertise is actually needed to complete a specific task and whether the freelancer in question has the necessary level of expertise.

As for the other end of that relationship, there are a number of prominent issues that constantly plague freelancers:

• Fear of being isolated
• Fear of not being able to deliver the work on time without assistance
• Inability to efficiently scale in expertise
• Lacking the capacity to take on and deliver more complex projects

This is often where the journey stalls for most experts in traditional freelancing platforms. They have maxed-out the number of hours they could bill in a day, week or month. They are unable to keep up with the new changes in their domain of expertise. They are unwilling to take the risk of building a team that they would have to financially support until client payment comes in.

So what is next?

Well, this is exactly the question that led me to developing OdeCloud. After 2 years of freelancing, I had reached that point where I could not scale myself.

Due to my limited support network of other IT professionals (and, by extension, lack of ability to crowdsource ideas and solutions), I could no longer provide my clients with leading practices or deliver on incredibly complex jobs without having to ask for assistance.

I technically designed OdeCloud to scale myself to better service the clients I was working for at that time. The concept truly took off when 2 other NetSuite freelancers combined their expertise with mine to create a top-notch service for our clients.

Our collaboration led to more creative solutions, and we successfully developed a service bundle, delivering high-quality consulting at a lower cost to clients. Eventually, other experienced NetSuite freelancers joined our fast-growing OdeCloud community, helping us build to where we are today.

Now, if you ask what the difference is between OdeCloud and a traditional freelancing platform like Upwork, Fiverr or Freelancing.com, it is truly the power of collaboration and crowdsourcing.

Allow me to show you the latest example of the OdeCloud concept in action.

Ahad is stuck with a Netsuite problem, so he reached out for help from the community

I saw his message before going to bed and quickly dropped a few names of folks I knew could help.

Up early on the east coast, TJ responded to Ahad, adding a link to a post he had previously wrote on the subject.

On the other side of the globe, Lea also saw Ahad’s question, and forwarded a very detailed blog post she had written on her professional NetSuite blog.

Just a few hours into his morning on the next day, Ahad had read the suggested solution, implemented it and tested it successfully.

This is but one example of how OdeCloud leverages the agility and expertise of a global network of on-demand Netsuite freelancers to help crowdsource solutions and provide best-in-class NetSuite services.

Keep on the lookout for more examples as we dive further into the year with our growing community.

The post OdeCloud NetSuite Services: What Crowdsourcing Means to Us appeared first on OdeBlog.

A brief overview of OdeCloud’s platform processes.

When utilizing traditional freelancing platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr, companies are able to post a project/job description for gigs, along with a statement of work. These are meant to be used as tools to not just attract potential freelancers, but to provide a basic framework or checklist for the task at hand.

Now the more freelance-savvy companies might know exactly the kind of expertise they are looking for, thoroughly specifying the qualifications required to complete the gig. Qualified freelancers are then able to successfully finish the project on time (and on par) with the respective company’s original vision.

Unfortunately, that’s almost always not the case.

It can be incredibly difficult to precisely communicate the qualifications needed to complete a complex NetSuite job, not to mention the company’s original vision for the project. As a result, the experience level and skillset of the freelancer they hire may not meet the qualifications required for the job.

Without a doubt, this back-and-forth in trying to source the right talent almost always results in both a waste of money and a waste of time.

OdeCloud aims to eliminate these issues by prioritizing the perfect union between client and consultant.

Unlike traditional freelancing platforms that primarily focus on offering the limited bandwidth of an individual freelancer, OdeCloud’s crowdsourced consulting platform offers customers the knowledge of an entire community of experts, as well as a fully managed NetSuite service with guaranteed results.

Customers subscribe via an affordable monthly service plan, providing said customers with dedicated freelance resource(s), as well as unlimited access to OdeCloud’s expert consultant community. This essentially translates to clients having access to more than enough resources to successfully complete a project.

After a customer subscribes to the OdeCloud — regardless of the level at which they start their subscription — they are assigned a NetSuite Solution Architect and NetSuite Application Administrator.

The Solution Architect is there to help the customer realize its technological roadmap by providing guidance in project management and assigning the right technical resource at the right time.

The primary role of the Application Administrator is to provide immediate end user support and to execute on optimization projects, all while utilizing OdeCloud platform to generate suggestions concerning who in the community is the best skill-to-project match.

Because of OdeCloud’s focus on community-based, crowdsourced consulting, the Solution Architect and Application Administrator are encouraged to reach out to the rest of the community for assistance, which results in better technology solutions for customers and faster delivery of IT projects.

And following the completion of the project, OdeCloud goes above and beyond the usual requirements of a freelance gig by providing clients with detailed documentation of all system and process changes implemented by the team assigned to the project, allowing clients to stay fully informed of their NetSuite account setup and train other end users.

Finally, at all times OdeCloud is responsible for the work to be provided to the customer under the service plan they have selected. We vet, onboard the freelance resource(s) and guarantee work done.

And there you have it!

Is there anything you would like to know more about in our next post? Let us know in the comment section, or send us a message using one of our social buttons.

And please, subscribe to our blog!

Cheers,

Osar

The post The Perfect Match: The Process of Pairing Clients with the Right Consultant appeared first on OdeBlog.

Two heads are better than one.

Building a brand is easier than ever. All it really takes is a click of a button.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen fast-growing brands such as Glossier, Groupon, and Copyblogger go from small-time online communities to renowned worldwide companies.

Following the path of online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, a number of these companies now provide features for their members to distribute products or services as merchants, influencers, or consultants.

In the same manner, social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Discord have given individuals the tools to potentially further those communities, blurring our borders and redefining communal proximity.

But what if the community as a whole WAS the product? What if the community’s collective expertise was the brainpower behind the actual service?

This is the idea behind OdeCloud’s community of freelance NetSuite experts. We serve the global demand for NetSuite admin services by providing a community of experts that act as a single entity.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfNUz2qlQkY[/embedyt]

As opposed to traditional freelancing platforms, OdeCloud eliminates the stress related to finding that one perfect contractor for a single Netsuite gig. In addition, companies working with OdeCloud would no longer have to worry about an individual freelancer lacking the bandwidth or expertise to support a fast-growing organization.

Essentially, the availability of a large pool of talent within the community provides the opportunity to offer a one-stop technology service. Companies could potentially outsource all technical functions to OdeCloud, preserving an internal business analyst role for facilitating team collaboration.

On the consultants’ end, gone are the days of freelancers having to look for gigs on their own. No more having to lower pay rates to better compete in the freelancing market. No more having to forcefully extend his or her bandwidth for the sole purpose of completing a single gig.

When choosing OdeCloud, companies essentially contract with OdeCloud’s community of consultants, who, in turn, are encouraged to assist each other to find the perfect solution to whatever issues may arise.

This focus on communal knowledge and assistance is not only there to help serve the customer, but it also helps create the environment freelancers need in order to promote healthy, long-term relationships and higher learning.

Generally, we at OdeCloud refer to this as community-based, crowdsourced consulting.

In conclusion, traditional freelancing platforms will always fall short in delivering quick and effective solutions to complex technological problems.

There’s a critical need for an on-demand expertise platform, but one that is designed and built to benefit fast-growing organizations and the long-term growth of the Freelance Economy.

This is where community-based, crowdsourced consulting has the advantage over a lone wolf contractor.

This is where OdeCloud comes in.

Hope you liked this one!

In our blog next post, let’s take this discussion a tad further and expand on how exactly the OdeCloud platform will go about pairing companies with their own “dedicated team” of consultants.

And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to our blog! We update every Monday with fresh content.

Cheers,

Osar

The post The Difference Between a Freelancing Community and a Freelancing Platform appeared first on OdeBlog.

OdeCloud’s Founder and CEO, Osar Iyamu, shares how the OdeCloud platform aims to alleviate this issue.

With regards to the Freelance Economy and its new generation of workers, the OdeCloud platform is on a mission to truly deliver on the promises of being one’s own boss. As it stands right now, current platforms are unable to deliver on that promise due to one simple truth:

The market they’ve created is primarily determined by who is willing to do a single job for the least amount of money.

Far too often do freelancers lower their rates to remain competitive in their respective fields, sometimes choosing to drop their individual value far below minimum wage. For some, they have little choice other than to face unemployment, so they drop their rates in hopes of attracting a company that can afford to take a long-term chance on them in the future.

In many other cases, some jobs are just too complex to be paid by the hour. Say, for example, a client is offering $100 per hour to build a high-quality site. “Developer A” is a highly-skilled and efficient web developer with years of experience, while “Developer B” is a hobbyist who thought freelancing on the side would be a good source of disposable income.

If Dev A takes an hour to build a site, while Dev B takes roughly 10 hours to develop that same exact site, then what exactly justifies Dev B making 10 times more than Dev A for the same quality work?

OdeCloud is working to tackle the more challenging issue of bringing high-quality value to all independent workers, regardless of their level of expertise. We’re designing a better platform to (1) help organize and distribute unique expertise in niche markets, and (2) to provide proportionate value to all freelancers.

While it is relatively easy to create a freelance platform that solves simple First World problems like getting a ride, getting food delivered or booking a dog sitter, a platform such as Upwork, which requires a higher degree of expertise, can sometimes suffer from vague, generic job postings and low value work.

As an example, a number of NetSuite consultants I’ve spoken to about taking on jobs from Upwork often find themselves having to lower their rates to land some gigs.

What if the rates of freelancing services (like NetSuite services) drop down so low that these independent experts are forced to work a 60-hour week — all just to make as much as a company’s entry-level, internal NetSuite Admin?

Wouldn’t these independent workers just withdraw back to their previous situation as full-time, conventional employees?

On the other end of the Upwork platform, midsize companies either settle for the cheapest labor possible — which, most of the time, results in low quality work — or, they offer only the lowest priority tasks and least strategic assignments to minimize the risk of losing organizational knowledge to external contractors.

Simply put, the aforementioned issues almost always result in independent experts dropping their rates for suboptimal gigs, a practice that could eventually prove detrimental to the overall growth of the Freelance Economy.

OdeCloud has a simple solution: a subscription model that asks clients to pay a fixed, monthly fee to gain access to our community of experts. That monthly fee is then used to help pay our experts on a flat, monthly basis, thereby eliminating the competitive issue with hourly rates in the current freelancing market.

Furthermore, what I’ve discovered in analyzing current freelancing platforms is there’s no intrinsic value behind the platform itself. For platforms like Lyft, Uber or Postmates, the value is solely driven by the external social economy context, while platforms like Upwork might also address customer access.

This is exactly the reason why it is not very difficult to hire a consultant on Upwork for a small gig, then bypass the platform in order to work on future gigs directly with that same consultant. There is nothing Upwork can do about that. Same for Uber drivers. If tomorrow it pays more to drive to drop-off Amazon packages, they would easily move over to Amazon to start delivering packages.

OdeCloud differs from platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr in that we’re not just building a platform — we’re building a community.

…but more on that in our post next Monday.

Bonjour! And once again, thanks for reading.

As mentioned above, our next post will go over what exactly differentiates a freelance community from a simple freelancing platform.

If you’d like to read more, please subscribe to our blog!

Cheers,

Osar

The post OdeCloud Platform Solves the Problem of Hourly Rates appeared first on OdeBlog.

There is no doubt that the Netsuite client base will keep growing over the 20% annual rate in the next couple of years, especially with the scale provided by Oracle. Oracle has not only provided a market scale to Netsuite but also a technology scale.

Press Release April 26-2017: NetSuite unveils major global ERP enhancements. Sneak Peak (new industry-specific features): Version 2017 Release 1.

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In summary, NetSuite will offer more and more advanced features with more depth in industry verticals, which sounds awesome for NetSuite customers, but it also raises 2 important questions:

1. Does your organization have the right tech-minded thought leader who could recommend up-to-date industry leading practices and cutting-edge Oracle NetSuite solutions?
2. Does your organization have the right technical skills to setup and build on these advanced and more complex features available to all NetSuite customers?

As the competitive landscape rapidly evolves, so does NetSuite technology. The expertise you need to maintain, optimize and extend your ERP lies far outside the skill-set of a typical NetSuite administrator or developer. Most importantly, it is highly unlikely you would find all the business skills, technical expertise and thought leadership abilities required for this position in a single person.

At this point of your business growth, hiring, staffing and contracting are wasteful and time consuming practices that may not align with your growth plan. This is exactly why as an organization, you should explore the opportunities provided by NetSuite Admin-as-a-Service. Leverage this model to effectively and timely source the NetSuite skills you need, not only to maintain your platform in good standing but to expand its capabilities to meet the evolving needs of your customers and business partners.

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What is NetSuite Admin-as-a-Service?

NetSuite Admin as a Service is a turnkey and affordable solution to help midsize and early stage companies uncover the potential of their NetSuite ERP – A one-stop, on-demand and managed services with a team of NetSuite experts, composed of a NetSuite Administrator, a NetSuite Developer and an Industry Subject Matter Expert, for a fraction of the cost of one full-time employee.

For a flexible monthly subscription OdeCloud’s NetSuite Admin-as-a-Service enables you to have a team of NetSuite functional and technical and subject matter experts in your industry, to support, optimize and extend your NetSuite ERP on demand. Our model guarantees you get the right talent exactly when you need it.

Imagine what you could do with more NetSuite talents, thought leaders and experts in your industry…

Hold off on hiring a new NetSuite Admin, Consultant or Developer. There is a better way.

Let me show you: www.odecloud.com

Cheers,

Osar

The post NetSuite Admin-as-a-Service: The Right Talent at The Right Time appeared first on OdeBlog.