NetSuite Support Overview
Whether you’re thinking about purchasing the fastest growing cloud ERP on the planet or already using it, this guide will help you understand all the ways NetSuite support can be offered to you and where you can go to get useful resources.
NetSuite is a sophisticated platform, and sooner or later, you are going to need help. How quickly that support gets to you and how much it can help depends on you.
NetSuite officially offers support in two ways.
SuiteSupport – Standard NetSuite support offered and available to all users.
- SuiteSupport Basic – Offers bare-bones support including a portal to submit requests and access to online forums
- SuiteSupport Premium – Improved support features, including access to 24/7 help and a call center to talk to live agents
Advanced Support – This is closer to a proactive managed service than a support system, but it is much more effective than ticket-based support systems. NetSuite provides you with a complete team of specialists to help you optimize NetSuite to its fullest potential.
SuiteSupport Basic and Premium Support
NetSuite Basic Support
All NetSuite users, no matter their edition, will have access to NetSuite Basic support, and NetSuite Basic Support is just that, basic.
With NetSuite Support Basic you will be able to access:
- NetSuite customer access portal to submit support requests online
- Access to NetSuite Support User Group
- Access to support only the weekdays between 8 AM to 6 PM your local time
- Response times ranging from 2 hours (Critical Issues) to “NA” (Minor Issues)
With “Basic,” all you get to do is submit requests and check their official user forum. Depending on your needs, this could not be enough. Also, if NetSuite deems your issue to be minor, there is no set period for them to respond to your request. Basic support packages are only recommended for users with significant access to additional NetSuite resources, either from an experienced personnel or third-party NetSuite Specialists.
NetSuite Premium Support
A step up from basic support is premium support. Unlike NetSuite basic support, premium support comes with a fee. However, once you consider all of the value NetSuite adds to the deal, you can see why this option is viable.
With NetSuite premium you will have access to everything available in the basic package plus:
- Priority Queuing
- NetSuite Support Call Center Support
- 24/7 Support Coverage
- Notifications of potential issues with upcoming updates
- Response Times ranging from 1 hour (Critical Issues) to 2 days (Minor Issues)
Critical features like 24/7 access, a live call center to call, and update notifications can make life much easier on users. NetSuite’s premium support worth the price tag if your company has no NetSuite resources on staff and has minor support needs.
NetSuite Advanced Support
The managed service style of support is much more effective. With advanced Support, NetSuite will provide you with a team to proactively optimize your configuration for improved ROI based on your vertical and unique needs. And this team does not go away once the job is done either. They stick around and wait for something else that may come up and proactively fix that too.
In addition to the Premium Support features, NetSuite Advanced Support includes:
- Solution Administration
- Solution Configuration
- SuiteCloud Development
- Release Notifications and Testing
- Performance/Platform/Environment Assessment and Guidance
- Access to a Complete Team of Platform, Solution and Development Personnel
Advanced Support, of course, comes with the heftiest price tag but as you can see, you’re getting your getting quite a value. If you’re a true believer in the cloud, a service like this is a great way to squeeze every last penny of ROI out of NetSuite.
Other NetSuite Support/Resources
NetSuite Specialist Managed Services – NetSuite is not the only company to offer proactive managed NetSuite support. Many of the same partners that sell, configure, and customize NetSuite offer support packages to ensure the benefits and ROI last. Looking at third-party managed services for your support needs is a viable option and one that should be considered for users with heavy support needs.
The viability of this option is no accident either. With NetSuite, the partner channel does the lion’s share of sales and implementations anyway; it makes sense that some of the best support options come from the same channel.
NetSuite Users Groups – NetSuite offers a grass-roots support and community building through official, regional NetSuite user groups, spread out around the country. These groups facilitate the interaction between NetSuite users of all levels of experience, allowing them to problem-solve and grow together.
NetSuite Training – Sometimes the best way to get support is to turn your own personnel into NetSuite experts. Training programs from NetSuite and other third parties can accelerate your employees NetSuite knowledge and allow them to be their own NetSuite support.
Online Forums/Networking – Aside from official NetSuite user groups and forums, there is a wealth of information online via social media and other forum websites. Reddit, Quora, and Linkedin are all helpful places to get specific questions answered when you do not know where else to turn.
NetSuite Support Resources and Links
NetSuite Professionals Slack Group – Highly recommend this as a go-to resource in 2019 if you aren’t already using it. The slack contains nearly 5000 NetSuite professionals all going through similar issues and helping each other along the way. The slack group is unofficial so you can trust that the information is not being filtered by NetSuite or anyone with ulterior motives.
The slack group even breaks down into channels for integration, development, accounting, and much more.
If your business is already using slack to communicate, the NetSuite Professional Slack is an enormous resource that is always just a click away.
Reddit Unofficial NetSuite Channel – Another great resource in 2019 for unfiltered answers to NetSuite’s toughest questions. Just post your questions and helpful users will offer their opinions and advice.
SuiteAnswers Articles – NetSuite provides a lot of information to users in the form of SuiteAnswer articles. Most questions that typical users have can be found through a diligent search of this database.
Stack Overflow – This is more for developers, but Stack Overflow provides yet another unofficial forum for NetSuite users to help each other.
NetSuite Support Overview White Paper
NetSuite Support Basic and Premium White Paper
NetSuite Advanced Support Managed Service White Paper
NetSuite Training Services Catalog
Official NetSuite LinkedIn Group
If you think I missed any resources or there is something that has personally helped you, please comment it below, and I will add it to the list.
