10 key takeaways from NetSuite’s SuiteConnect Sydney 2020

What do a Mexican fast food restaurant chain and a home loan lender have in common?

NetSuite, it seems. SuiteConnect Sydney 2020 was a fabulous showcase of great Australian companies that have used NetSuite’s infrastructure as a foundation for business growth. We heard from Steven Marks, Co-Founder and CEO of Guzman y Gomez; Mark Bouris, Chairman of Yellow Brick Road; Danielle Allen, Co-Owner of Two Birds Brewing, and many others. All of them great examples of the collective call to action to fly higher and go further.

NetSuite’s Sydney 2020 event was ezyCollect’s first time attending as a SuiteApp partner and NetSuite conference sponsor. Our day was jam-packed with meeting customers, demonstrating our accounts receivable solution for NetSuite and soaking in the buzz.

But first, breakfast

We started with a breakfast seminar for customers, co-hosted with JCurve Solutions. Tom Griffith from Emma and Tom’s and Mike Brabant from Single O, both from the food and beverage industry, reminded us all that people are central to business growth. From hiring the right people to join your journey , to training your people to achieve more, to respecting the people who buy your products—people matter.

At Single O, their launch into the Japan market was spearheaded by the guy who was washing the dishes eight years previously. Believe in your people, and give them the tools to go further with you.

Couldn’t make it to SuiteConnect Sydney 2020? No problem. Here are our top 10 takeaways from an action-packed day:

1.You can’t grow any faster than your ability to execute

Every business plans to grow, right? Or do they want to grow, but fail to plan? Mark Bouris says “growth on its own is a misnomer.” Successful businesses grow because they execute all the basic elements:

• Satisfies a demand now.
• Does it better, cheaper, faster, easier than the competition. What’s the point of difference?
• Is prolific in the marketplace, using all available channels to let the market know they exist.
• Has the right skills, experience and knowledge. Hires the right people.
• Has sourced the capital to grow.
• Can pivot quickly to meet evolving customer demands.
• Uses data from its systems daily to predict, analyse and decide.
• Has sustainable income, such as a high customer lifetime value.

If you don’t have all the elements in place, then be prepared to be patient with your growth.

2. Focus on what you do best

Don’t lose sight of your North Star, advised KK Pan, GM of Oracle NetSuite Asia Pacific and Japan. Your North Star is where you’re headed and why you choose your business every day. Find the systems that will help you get there and eliminate the distractions that take you off course. Systematise processes so you create the time you need to focus on the things that matter.

3. Get out of the spreadsheet

We heard this time and again, even from spreadsheet wizards like CFOs. Spreadsheets are great, but if your business relies on one or two people to prepare the spreadsheet, your business is vulnerable. You’re slower to get real-time data, you’re slower to react, and you’re probably not looking at the whole picture on a spreadsheet. And what happens when your spreadsheet wizard leaves? Everyone needs to have easy access to high quality data that’s current and meaningful. Spreadsheets don’t cut it anymore.

4. Build your base first

Your business might be the equivalent of a 2-bedroom house now, but if you’re planning on taking over the neighbourhood, build your foundation now. In ERP world, that means think about where you’re headed and get the right infrastructure in place before you arrive. It’s harder to reverse engineer a solution when your growth has made everything more complex. And that’s what growth does: it’s more sales, more billing, more customers, more locations.

As Danielle Allen from Two Birds Brewing explained, your five-year plan for growth can happen faster than you think (Two Birds got there in half the predicted time). Is your infrastructure going to let you down when it counts or propel you further?

5. Bankruptcy is not an option

Steven Marks started Mexican restaurant chain, Guzman y Gomez with zero food industry experience. He’s an ex-hedge fund manager from New York. His mother called his early days establishing the restaurants in Australia “the race to bankruptcy.”

“But I was relentless,” explains Marks. Relentless about the menu. Relentless about his people. Relentless about revenue. If you’ve got no revenue, you’ve got no product. “You can’t be delusional about what you’re building…it’s about revenue…it has to sell.”

The relentless pursuit of success has seen Marks innovate systems to drive the business forward faster, even if the ride is painful. “I love pain. I like being uncomfortable at all times,” he says.

6. Your technology has to enable the outcome

Don’t be bedazzled by the next best shiny piece of technology that comes your way. Leave that to the the CTOs. As a financial leader, you want to know that any technology you introduce serves you well because it enables your outcomes. Sabine Bye, Head of Finance at Hahn Healthcare suggests asking lots of question in the procurement phase. “Make sure you get the solution that’s configured to your needs.”

7. Data-driven businesses make better decisions

NetSuite says visibility and control are two key elements to unlock growth. Real-time data gives you both: the visibility to see what happened, what’s happening now and what’s predictable about the future; and the control to keep the business on course.

For example, data driven businesses analyse factors like customer churn, inefficient business processes and creeping costs to identify and address blind spots that could otherwise derail a business. They turn data into guide posts that highlight high performing regions, the highest margin projects and the top sales reps. Potentially destablising factors like fraud or human error are uncovered early. The result? Faster, better decisions.

8. Growth makes everything more complex

With the good comes the bad. Growth is great. But along with growth comes the added complexity of global distribution, multi-location offices, multi-currency transactions, complicated tax compliance and so on.

Martin York, Head of Financial Operations at IRESS, modernised the business with a unified business management solution from NetSuite to support the business through its growth phase. He said: “Our business isn’t standing still, so our systems can’t stand still.” The right business management solution takes the complex and makes it easy.

9. Simplify and automate

What every business operator wants is to do more with less. Business process efficiency is the cornerstone of productivity gains and that’s where automation applications shine.

if you’re not sure where to start automating, look for the routine tasks that sap staff of time, lead to delays, errors and unnecessary expenses. Release your people from the boring and mundane tasks and give them back more time for the things that matter. More customer care, more innovation, more revenue.

10. Pivot or perish

Growing businesses that stay agile are quick to take advantage of new opportunities, said Paul Farrell, Vice President of Product Marketing at Oracle NetSuite. The challenge for growing businesses is to hang on to the entrepreneurial spirit that made them great. Be able to spot the opportunities and sidestep the obstacles that can destabilise a one-track business.

Customer demands are changing rapidly and there are plenty of startups waiting in the wings to disrupt the status quo.

Thinking about streamlining your accounts receivable process to unlock your growth? See how ezyCollect can help.