What you need to know about NetSuite adoption (and how Tango can help).

Tango knows NetSuite

And makes it easy to enable users who don’t (yet). 💪

900+ change enablers in IT, Operations, Training, and Enablement from 16 industries rely on Tango to:

Auto-generate NetSuite how-to guides with screenshots

Pin step-by-step instructions inside of NetSuite in just a few clicks

Minimize change by bringing NetSuite training into the flow of work

Increase self-service, stay on budget, and alleviate the burden of re-training

Drive NetSuite
adoption and ROI

900+ change enablers in IT, Operations, Training, and Enablement from 16 industries rely on Tango to:

Auto-generate NetSuite how-to guides with screenshots

Pin step-by-step instructions inside of NetSuite in just a few clicks

Minimize change by bringing NetSuite training into the flow of work

Increase self-service, stay on budget, and alleviate the burden of re-training

Drive NetSuite
adoption and ROI

No other Digital Adoption Platform has:

18,350+

Interactive walkthroughs
created on NetSuite

348,700+

Individual actions captured on
NetSuite with screenshots

36,300+

Uses of NetSuite
standard operating procedures

I’d say over 90% of our business processes happen in NetSuite. And as a firm specializing in NetSuite implementations…our internal rollout felt particularly high stakes. When we migrated our accounting team off of Mavenlink (now Kantata), Tango saved us a ton of time creating SOPs for heavily customized AR/AP processes.

We’ve quadrupled in size in the last two years, and Tango continues to help us get new users up to speed in NetSuite, minimize repetitive questions, and improve process adoption.

Ricky Perez

Systems Administrator at Bryant Park Consulting

The NetSuite Adoption Lifecycle

You are (somewhere) here. 📍

If you’re an accounting, operations, or IT leader with an upcoming NetSuite rollout, you’re in the right place.

And if you suspect that change management will be vital to success, you’re not wrong.

Convincing your end users to actually use the solution you’ve championed starts with understanding the NetSuite Adoption Lifecycle. What’s that?

A framework to drive process adoption, ROI, and business outcomes through successful employee change management.

Maybe you’re only in charge of one or two of the phases to the right. Maybe you own 100% of them. Either way, there are many reasons to care about and consider the lifecycle in full.

We’ll circle back to that in a minute. In the meantime, let’s take a second to remember why you bought NetSuite in the first place.

The NetSuite Adoption Lifecycle

A circular diagram titled ‘Change Enabler’ with an orange star in the center, surrounded by arrows depicting steps such as ‘Measure Salesforce ROI’, ‘Standardize processes’, ‘Manage employee change’, ‘Provide ongoing support’, and ‘Optimize adoption’.”

Why your business bought NetSuite

It probably wasn’t on a whim. 🙃

After evaluating multiple ERPs, your company likely invested in NetSuite because you have a business problem to solve and you wanted the market leader.

Maybe you have:

Fragmented and/or outdated systems—and no way to manage and track financial data in a single, cloud-based platform customers

Complex financial management—and no way to automate accounting processes, access real-time data, and ensure compliance

Scalability issues—and no way to expand your operations without frequent upgrades or replacements*

Inefficient supply chain and inventory management—and no way to get your supply chain and inventory under control

Inaccurate budgets and forecasts—and no way to improve financial planning across departments

Maybe you have:

Fragmented and/or outdated systems

and no way to manage and track financial data in a single, cloud-based platform customers.

Complex financial management

and no way to automate accounting processes, access real-time data, and ensure compliance

Scalability issues

and no way to expand your operations without frequent upgrades or replacements*

Inefficient supply chain and inventory management

and no way to get your supply chain and inventory under control

Inaccurate budgets and forecasts

and no way to improve financial planning across departments

NetSuite is a best-in-class ERP for a reason, but it isn’t a miracle worker by itself. To hit your goals, get the most out of your software spend, and genuinely transform your business, you need your accounting and supply chain teams to use NetSuite to its fullest potential day in and day out.

*If you’re looking for a sign it’s time to get off Quickbooks, this is it. 🙃

NetSuite training and adoption challenges

A closer look at the task at hand. 👀

NetSuite itself will be the first to admit that ERP implementations aren’t easy to pull off:

50% of ERP implementations
fail the first time

Most implementations cost
3-4x more than expected

Implementation often take
30% longer than anticipated

>50% of companies experience
operational disruption

50% of ERP implementations
fail the first time

Build a new vocabulary

Most implementations cost
3-4x more than expected

Embrace data entry

Implementation often take
30% longer than anticipated

Memorize countless SOPs

>50% of companies experience
operational disruption

And even if you have a great NetSuite partner with experience in your industry...you luck out with a great third-party advisor, consultant, or developer…and implementation → customization → configuration → scripting → development → integration all go perfectly

...the success of your rollout still isn’t guaranteed.

With all of the focus on system implementation, it’s easy to forget about business integration.

If your goal is to convince end users—with different roles, motivations, technical skills, and tolerance for change—to live inside NetSuite, resist the urge to:

Rely on one-size-fits-all PowerPoint slides

Expect your finance and operations teams to memorize constantly evolving processes

Pull everyone away from their jobs for mandatory workshops

Ignore the research showing employees dislike lengthy documentation and training videos

Bury your NetSuite training in your Knowledge Base, Learning Management System, ticketing, and chat tools

These traditional software training methods are outdated and ineffective. To help your business use NetSuite to its fullest potential, you need Tango and Real-Time Enablement.

The Tango for NetSuite playbook

Strategies for sky-high process adoption. ✅

The Tango for NetSuite playbook picks up where most resources drop off—or cheerfully chirp, “make sure to get buy-in from leadership, communicate NetSuite’s benefits, and provide comprehensive training and support!”

Remember the NetSuite Adoption Lifecycle we mentioned earlier? It starts somewhere a lot more helpful.

Scroll down to learn how to make NetSuite process adoption your north star (with proprietary Tango data and crowdsourced expertise).

PHASE 1: MEASURE ROI

What you want → Justification for executives that NetSuite is worth the $$$

What you need → Less guesswork and more data-driven results tied to business outcomes

PHASE 2: STANDARDIZE PROCESSES

What you want → A library of NetSuite standard operating procedures

What you need → An easier way to create them

PHASE 3: MANAGE EMPLOYEE CHANGE

What you want → Impressive NetSuite adoption, ASAP

What you need → A better way to win over change-resistant end users

PHASE 4: PROVIDE ONGOING SUPPORT

What you want → A way to lower support costs and boost employee satisfaction

What you need → A lot more NetSuite self-service

PHASE 5: OPTIMIZE ADOPTION

What you want → NetSuite SOPs that make people’s jobs easier

What you need → Visibility into how to improve your processes

Collapse

Expand

PHASE

Measure ROI

Software ROI is notoriously hard to measure. But to truly justify the value of your NetSuite investment, you need to trade your assumptions and anecdotes for compelling data points with clear connections to problems solved.

Here’s a 3-step process to pave the way for more successful conversations (and show the impact of your enablement efforts). 👇

What to do

How to do it

Stop leading with data that doesn’t show stakeholders that NetSuite is being used correctly

Focus on the metric that reveals whether end users are using NetSuite as intended

Use that leading indicator to tie core SOPs back to company goals

Back away from your employee login reports, 6-month survey responses, and training course completion dashboards

Start presenting process adoption data—to show how many people are following the prescribed steps for mission-critical NetSuite workflows correctly and consistently

Connect each of your key processes to an improved output and outcome

What to do

Stop leading with data that doesn’t show stakeholders that NetSuite is being used correctly

Focus on the metric that reveals whether end users are using NetSuite as intended

Use that leading indicator to tie core SOPs back to company goals

How to do it

Back away from your employee login reports, 6-month survey responses, and training course completion dashboards

Start presenting process adoption data—to show how many people are following the prescribed steps for mission-critical NetSuite workflows correctly and consistently

Connect each of your key processes to an improved output and outcome

Looking for concrete examples of processes, outputs, and outcomes? We’ve got you.

If you’re focused on accounting:

Perfectly reconciled bank statements and expense reports (process) lead to precise financial reports (output) which lead to better financial planning and budgeting (outcome)

If you’re focused on supply chain:

Consistently updated inventory levels and automated reorder points (process) lead to real-time inventory tracking (output) which leads to improved inventory control and reduced stockouts (outcome)

Do you *need* Tango to demonstrate NetSuite ROI? No. But Tango Analytics will make it a lot easier to track
process adoption, so you won't have to wait six months to see if your investment is paying off.

PHASE

Standardize processes

Documenting your processes is a prerequisite to driving NetSuite adoption (and avoiding an avalanche of FAQs). But it shouldn’t take hours to make a single how-to guide, and it shouldn’t be such a struggle to safeguard your company’s institutional knowledge.

‍

Instead of shadowing reluctant SMEs, wrestling with SnagIt and Microsoft Word, and putting your name on another erratically formatted, eye sore of an SOP, use Tango to:

Auto-generate stunning step-by-step walkthroughs with screenshots (just by clicking through any NetSuite process)

Ensure your training documentation is visual, concise, and easy to follow

Empower every employee to navigate NetSuite as well as your best expert

To give you a leg up, here’s a bird’s eye view of the processes NetSuite project owners prioritized capturing with Tango this year.👇

‍

Theme

Most popular processes captured in NetSuite

(2024 Tango data*)

Time and expense management

How To Enter Time

How To Enter Expenses

How To Request a Wellness Fund Reimbursement

How To Create an Expense Report

How To Approve or Reject an Expense Report

Theme

Most popular processes captured in NetSuite

(2024 Tango data*)

Vendor and purchase order management

How To Create a New Vendor

How To Onboard a New Vendor

How To Enter a Vendor Invoice

How To Approve or Reject a Vendor Invoice

How To Manage Vendor Records

Theme

Most popular processes captured in NetSuite

(2024 Tango data*)

Customer and sales order management

How To Create a Sales Order

How To Manage Customer Records

How To Create Opportunities and Contacts

How To Review a Sales Order

How to Manage a Customer Return

Theme

Most popular processes captured in NetSuite

(2024 Tango data*)

Financial and account operations

How To Record To Report (Classic Center)

How To Perform Company Data Validation

How To Manage Journal Entries

How To Perform Individual Data Validation

How To Create an Additional Compensation Entry

*Data summarized from 18,350+ real process titles generated in Tango

As you standardize your processes (with or without Tango!), here are a few tips:

Collaborate with Finance, IT, and Operations to understand their business processes, challenges, and goals

Design your SOPs to map with their specific requirements and solve their existing pain points

If you don’t have a tool to speed up documentation, don’t underestimate the time and effort required from your internal resource

Invite end users in the weeds every day to put your new processes to the test and provide feedback

Remember tech savviness has a big bell curve

PHASE

Manage employee change

We’ll save you a trip down the Reddit-shaped rabbit hole and state the obvious. While many systems administrators love NetSuite, many of their end users do not. (At least, not right away. 😅)

It’s unlikely anyone in your company has a goal of derailing your NetSuite rollout. But if you don’t take the time to understand the people you’re enabling (as human beings), it’ll be tricky to get their buy-in, effectively lead them through change, and maintain business as usual.

‍

Here are two things to keep in mind (from people who have been in your shoes). 👇

1. Remember the majority of your end users are “ambivalent adopters” who are afraid of change.

You may be psyched you’re implementing NetSuite. But for ambivalent adopters who already have favorite tools and familiar systems:

Your NetSuite rollout is triggering feelings of dread and anxiety

Learning new software and processes isn’t easy, fast, or fun

Traditional software training is hard to find and follow

Asking for help makes them feel stupid and embarrassed

Your project plan is distracting them from the work they were hired to do

2. There’s a better way to make NetSuite dead simple to learn (and it looks nothing like traditional software training)

You won’t win over your ambivalent adopters—or convince them to adopt your processes—by hosting NetSuite office hours or sending them to six places to search for documentation when they get stuck.

Your best bet is to bring NetSuite knowledge into the flow of work and enable end users 1) in-context, and 2) in real-time.

With Tango Enterprise, you can use Guide Me to offer on-screen, on-demand guidance for any NetSuite process. If you want to make succinct instructions even easier for end users to access, you can also pin your Tango directly to NetSuite in two clicks.

With or without Tango, here are three more change management tips. 👇

Do an impact analysis to understand the downstream impact on the day-to-day changes for Finance, IT, and Operations

Consider which NetSuite modules you need to set up ASAP vs. which can be phased out over time

Provide only the most essential information to complete bite-sized tasks without frustration or mistakes

PHASE

Provide ongoing support

What sounds like a lot of work to an ambivalent adopter (without access to Tango)? Self-service.

But if you deliver contextualized, hyper-relevant knowledge in the moment of need, your end users won’t need to send you yet another Slack, email, or support ticket. Which means:

Your accounting and supply chain teams will feel less frustrated with NetSuite (and with you 🫠)

You’ll be able to stay on top of the questions that do come through

You won’t need additional support (fun fact: experienced NetSuite consultants run about $150-200 per hour, plus travel expenses)

You’ll have more bandwidth to focus on providing faster response times and closing more tickets with less back and forth

Tango makes it easier for everyone to quickly get back to work in three ways. You can:

1. Send an employee a link to a NetSuite walkthrough that goes to a step-by-step guide with screenshots

2. Share a link straight to knowledge you’ve pinned directly inside of NetSuite

3. Respond to a question with a direct-to-guidance link that opens a screen overlay showing your end user exactly what to do

Whether you have Tango or not, it’s a good idea to:

Remember ongoing support isn’t going to be one size-fits-all

Batch your updates on new NetSuite features, improvements, and best practices to avoid overwhelming end users (especially if you’re sharing knowledge that can’t be applied immediately)

Beware of the forgetting curve and link back to resources where end users will actually need them and use them (not just in initial trainings)

PHASE

Optimize adoption

Let’s talk about what the NetSuite Adoption Lifecycle *doesn’t* end with: a smile sheet.

Circulating a questionnaire to ask Finance and Operations if they’re happy with the NetSuite documentation available doesn’t give you any real visibility into the effectiveness of your training and enablement. And it isn’t the best you can do—not when tools like Tango have workflow analytics that make it easy to see:

Who’s using NetSuite perfectly and who’s not

Which steps are confusing multiple employees

Which processes may not be getting used because someone found a better way of doing something

Who you should shadow to understand what they do uniquely well

Where NetSuite’s user interface or one of your business processes may have changed

This kind of data offers invaluable signals, because your finance and operations teams will rarely go out of their way to report a problem. With access to both quantitative and qualitative feedback, you can create a clear roadmap for improvement, remove process bottlenecks, and continue driving NetSuite adoption over the long haul.

One last thing to keep in mind?

P.S. ~40% of business processes captured in Tango are cross-app—which means optimizing your NetSuite adoption over time might involve enabling users on complementary tools. 

Here are the top 12 tools we see most commonly used with NetSuite. 👇

Success story

TL;DR → NetSuite and Tango are better together. 🤝

Boosting NetSuite Self-Service Internally & Externally

Bryant Park Consulting, a top-tier Oracle NetSuite Alliance Partner, specializes in implementing and optimizing NetSuite for mid-market organizations (including their own).

51-200

Employees

NY, USA

Location

A modern kitchen interior displayed on a home search page with a navigation bar at the top for categories like ‘Find Your Home’, ‘Who We Are’, and a search bar with filters for ZIP code, city, school districts, and price range.

After consolidating their tech stack with NetSuite (and customizing the heck out of it), Bryant Park Consulting needed to get all 135 employees from their back office, client-facing, and management teams up to speed ASAP—before replicating that playbook externally.

End goals → To drink their own Kool-Aid, streamline processes across departments, access real-time business data, and empower NetSuite users with FAQs to self-serve.

The challenge

90% of operations would run through NetSuite
End users had vastly different job (and training) requirements
Accounting was brand new to NetSuite
Admins couldn’t create documentation, answer questions, or physically walk teams through critical processes fast enough to maintain business continuity

The solution

Leverage Tango to auto-generate hundreds of role-specific NetSuite walkthroughs before launch
Embed them inside of NetSuite to reduce tickets and increase self-service
Provide ongoing support and optimize process adoption with Guide Me (asynchronous, on-screen step-by-step instructions)

900+

# of Tango walkthroughs
created on NetSuite

>50%

% of Tangos customized
for client support

7,350+

Total uses of
Tangos for NetSuite

The more Tangos I make and embed inside of NetSuite, the fewer FAQs I have to field. There’s much less confusion about our processes, and end users self-serve way more.

Ricky Perez

Systems Administrator, Bryant Park Consulting

Q&A with a NetSuite Certified ERP Consultant

What were you most worried about leading up to your own NetSuite launch?

💡

[Beyond the cut over from our legacy systems] Whether I could support our accounting team—who was brand new to NetSuite—and create workflows for every AR and AP process so they wouldn’t get bogged down or disrupt business as usual.

What are your tips for using Tango to enable more self-service?

💡

All end users want answers in their moment of need. Your best bet is to embed your Tangos directly inside of NetSuite so no one has to open Tango to get unstuck. I do this for our own onboarding and offboarding tasks, and I no longer get bombarded with questions about how to do this or that.

What advice would you give to someone rolling NetSuite out for the first time?

💡

End users aren’t just going to remember everything you tell them (one time, completely out of context, in a training session). And they don’t want to watch an hour-long video about a process they could learn in minutes with a Tango!

Content gallery

Get inspired by real NetSuite walkthroughs created with Tango, courtesy of Bryant Park Consulting. 💃

Learn more

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‍
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