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NetSuite Implementation Cost

Last Updated on December 29, 2023
Written by CPA Alec Pow | Content Reviewed by Certified CFA CFA Alexander Popinker

If you found this article, then you are probably considering NetSuite for an expanding company.

It turns out that it is quite difficult for most buyers interested in NetSuite to find up-to-date, quality information about the costs to implement NetSuite ERP, as well as the general price point of a successful NetSuite implementation.

This post has been written to do just this: give you all the information you need to make sure you’ll be able to successfully license and implement the NetSuite Cloud ERP system.

How Much Does It Cost to Implement NetSuite?

When it comes to the final NetSuite implementation cost, this isn’t as straightforward as you might think. All you’ll find are some general guidelines that will give you an idea of the multiple components that will influence the cost of implementing the NetSuite ERP system. So let’s go into more detail about these factors.

As a rule of thumb and if we were to oversimplify things, the usual NetSuite implementation will be priced somewhere between $20,000 and $60,000. This will accommodate most SBM-sized companies, with average complexity.

You will spend over $25,000 on NetSuite licensing and implementation if you have an SMB with limited complexity and go for the NetSuite QuickLaunch Program.

NetSuite Implementation Total Cost

If you were to factor in the costs of discovery and analysis, configuration, integration, data migration, training, and ongoing support, you should expect the average business to spend between $25,000 and $75,000 on NetSuite implementation.

NetSuite Service Type One Time vs On-going Price Range
NetSuite License Ongoing Varies
NetSuite Implementation $25,000 – $75,000 One-time
NetSuite Integrations $0-$4,000+ Ongoing + Setup
NetSuite Customizations $150-225 per hour Depending on the need
NetSuite Training $2,000 – $15,000 One-time/Can Be Ongoing
NetSuite Premium Support 10% of the license price Ongoing

The First Step – Discovery & Analysis

The discovery and analysis step will be the starting point of many NetSuite implementations. The expected deliverables as well as the way in which this first step is conducted will vary depending on whether you’re going for the NetSuite Professional Services team or one of the NetSuite partners.

This first step has the goal of helping the implementation team meet the client and become familiar to its needs, business model, and daily business processes. It should also identify potential gaps. Any data that will be collected during this first stage will have to be organized properly and packaged to be referred to the Business Requirement Document. The BDR should be seen as a blueprint for NetSuite configuration so that it meets all of the client’s objectives and future goals.

This initial step of discovery and analysis is vital to ensure the success of the ERP implementation. Enough time and resources should be allocated so that the NetSuite investment can be maximized and any possible surprises can be mitigated.

Most consulting firms will require somewhere between 50 and 150 hours of NetSuite ERP dedicated to gathering all of the requirements and documenting them for the NetSuite Implementation. Depending on the partner you’re working with, NetSuite consulting rates can range between $150 and $250 per hour. Some people opt out of this initial discovery and analysis phase and although this might help you save some money initially, it can increase the costs in the future due to missed requirements that lead to expensive change orders.

The Second Step – NetSuite Configuration and Deployment

As soon as the BRD is complete and you accept it, the hard work should begin. You will usually need around 3 configuration sessions per week for at least 8 to 12 weeks before user acceptance testing (UAT) is done and the system can go live. This timespan will depend on your specific objectives and the implementation methodology.

The project scope, resource availability, and the go-live objectives will be the most important factors to dictate the number of sessions and length. If you opt for an experienced NetSuite Solution Provider, they will most likely be able to recommend the right amount of sessions so that you can hit any goals and objectives without putting the business at risk.

Although you might not think much of this stage, the deployment and configuration parts might actually account for two-thirds of this entire project! The discovery and analysis phase will be the other third. So if the whole phase of discovery and analysis engagement took roughly 100 hours to finish, then you should be prepared for a configuration step that takes 200 hours, for a final NetSuite implementation of 300 hours.

You might also like our articles about the cost of HR software, Ansys, or BeenVerified subscription.

When you have a rather simple scope and you can only afford a limited budget, try talking with the consulting firm to see whether they have an implementation methodology you can follow for self-implementation or any turnkey NetSuite solutions. Doing this might help you save a lot of money for the company that would otherwise go on these professional services.

Additional NetSuite Costs

NetSuite Integrations

A lot of the new NetSuite customers, around 40% based on online information, require NetSuite integration of some type. This includes eCommerce sites, CRM systems, and 3PLs. NetSuite supports system integration to a great extent and integrating NetSuite with most of your applications can be done using one of several approaches.

For example, Dell Boomi, Celigo IO, or Jutterbit are great choices for organizations and clients that need to tie different endpoints together but still need to manage those endpoints without writing or editing custom code.

When it comes to system integration projects, they usually end up being quite complex, which is why you should never underestimate the final costs and time wasted on integrating systems together and the complexity added during these processes.

You will have to pay anywhere from just $5,000 to more than $25,000 per year in subscription fees for system integrations alone depending on whether you’re working with Celigo, Jitterbit, or other integration platforms. You will also have to spend up to $50,000 per year in setup fees if you’re getting professional help. This will ultimately depend on the exact applications needing integration as well as the actual endpoints or applications and the amount of data that will flow through them.

NetSuite Data Migration

A lot of customers including big firms will struggle with migrating all data from their ERP software or legacy accounting software to their new NetSuite instance. It is also very common for businesses to initially ignore data migration needs during sales cycles considering that the implementation team would include this service in the cost, only to later find themselves needing assistance with this.

If you’re trying to migrate the data from a usual SMB-sized company from QuickBooks to NetSuite, you will usually require between 5 to 50 hours of professional help when getting assisted with data migration. The large range is because of the overall differences between the amounts of data required to be moved and the quality of the data of each firm.

NetSuite Training

NetSuite Integration ServicesAmong the most important benchmarks when trying to determine whether the system initiative was a success or not is end-user adoption.

Because without this, all the money and time invested in this new application will only make users go back and forth between NetSuite and their old Excel habits.

Also, consider the fact that training is not a one-time event but an ongoing process, which means that a single training session won’t suffice if you want to ensure end users will be able to use the new system to its full capacity.

This is why you should also make sure you have a decent budget and time allocated to the ongoing training of the end users. You can do this with the help of a NetSuite partner or through the NetSuite Professional Training department.

We would recommend you use the partner at this stage because they can offer custom training based on your individual case, which means a more cost-effective approach.

It would also be a great idea to have one or more members from the project team participate in the NetSuite Essentials program before the configuration sessions start, throughout the NetSuite implementation. In this way, you will make sure that the team leader behind the implementation of NetSuite will have the necessary basic information when going through the rest of the project.

You should have a budget of at least $5,000 to $15,000 prepared for costs related to training your staff, regardless of whether you’ll train the trainer or the end user.

NetSuite Customizations

You can use NetSuite customizations as a way of automating any address gaps and/or processes with native NetSuite functionality. You have two alternatives related to NetSuite customizations. these are SuiteFlow and SuiteScripting.

With the help of SuiteFlow, non-technical users will be able to set up workflows with the help of a drag-and-drop, point-and-click interface. You won’t need any coding skills when using SuiteFlow.

SuiteScripting on the other hand will allow your developers to make flexible business logic right inside NetSuite, that is tailored to a specific business need. You can automate your business processes and even write completely new applications with the help of SuiteScripting.

The initial implementation of these types of customizations will cost anywhere between $0 when you know what you’re doing and $10,000 when you don’t. NetSuite has been designed as a robust solution that ensures minimal GAP’s and very limited coding skills. Even so, if your company is operating in an industry that isn’t in the focus of NetSuite, that needs very unique processes, you should consider this and allocate enough money to the needed customizations.

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