This article is relevant if you are considering the integration options between NetSuite and another major business application.
Background
While NetSuite has two major technologies, Site Builder and SuiteCommerce, to power electronic commerce, it is common to find organizations wishing to use other technologies to face customers. Thus, there are various ways to wire up between eCommerce-based point-of-sale applications and NetSuite. Accordingly, we recently started working with a client with a custom CRM front-end website to power its customer subscription membership and sales and NetSuite for fulfillment and accounting.
Our new client came to us with a slew of concerns to address. The most immediate concern was that customer website orders were not getting over to NetSuite promptly. The client expected to process approximately 15,000 new orders a day, with 25,000 updates and thus produce about 40,000 to 50,000 messages a day.
When we looked at it, our client’s challenge had grown to approximately 125,000 orders queued up (a week’s worth of orders) in the customer CRM system, waiting to be delivered to Netsuite to be processed. While many of these orders represented automated monthly subscription orders, the worry was that the physical delivery to customers would become noticeably late. Thus, customer trust would begin to erode — the problem had to be addressed.
Order Integration Diagnostic
The client employed the Boomi Integration service to gather CRM orders and deliver them to NetSuite. Boomi standard connector works using NetSuite’s SOAP-based integration services. The client had been working with Boomi’s Support to help diagnose the concern. We have two consultants on staff with Boomi expertise — so we jumped in to perform an analysis. From everything we could see, the configuration appeared good. We looked at concerns on the NetSuite side and saw nothing problematic. We checked the logic for customer lookups and other matters that would lead us to believe that some type of lookup query was the culprit, yet everything appeared okay.
We spoke with Boomi Support to hear firsthand their diagnostic assessment — they could not offer us anything meaningful. In situations where we begin to assess we can’t get control, we start to think about workarounds and alternatives.
Moved to Point-to-Point Integration
We considered the data and logic required to push the orders into the NetSuite. Since the client had a development team for their custom CRM system, they already provided a JSON-based endpoint for Boomi to consume for its integration. Thus, with the client’s development team, we knew we could get control of that aspect of the challenge, and they could help us with any technical nuances.
Once we knew we could straightforwardly get order data directly from the CRM application, we leveraged our license-free “Record Import Export Manager” (RIEM) tool. This power tool makes it a snap to take JSON, CSV, XML and other data formats and create insert and update logic into NetSuite in a highly scalable fashion.
Within one day, we learned the order structure, wired up and tested the new point-to-point integration and then activated it against the production system. The client had SuiteCloud + licenses which supply multiple threading for concurrent transactions processing. Within two days, all the stuck orders were caught up, and we could assess, because we had 125,000 orders in the queue, that the new configuration could process approximately 50,000 orders a day — well beyond their expected maximum limit.
The client was ecstatic. We had earned their trust. We could begin to focus on their other concerns, including other places where Boomi was already or contemplated being employed.
Benefits of Point-to-Point NetSuite Integration
While we solved the client’s immediate concern, consequently, they had a mixture of integration architectures in the environment. They are now going to consider their going forward technical footprint. Because of our license-free tools, the client can now contemplate the following if they decide to move away from Boomi:
- Transaction Costs: given the direct point-to-point integration method, the client could avoid paying any transaction processing costs to third-party vendors.
- Simplification: with Boomi out of the picture, there is one less party to worry about should there be issues. The connection architecture is easier to understand.
- Control: with the direct method, the client could see all the logic being processed between the custom CRM system and NetSuite. Thus any desired refinements were within their reach. They are no longer dependent on the idiosyncracies of third-party integration tools.
- Security: with information only flowing between two systems, not three, there is less surface space for security breaches.
- Monitoring: the tools we provide use queues based on NetSuite structures. Thus, we could provide NetSuite-driven dashboards that allow business users to watch the integration application’s health. Otherwise, a user needs to watch Boomi’s application health dashboards — usually not something a business user can easily see.
Point-to-Point Considerations
While the benefits above are meaningful, we should be objective in considering the costs:
- Set Up Time: Many integration frameworks come with pre-built connectors that accelerate the time to get active. It is essential, however, to weigh the time savings with the cost of the connector and the possible transaction costs that will be incurred over a long-time horizon.
- Multiple Connection Requirements: some situations demand many different systems to come together. An integration framework (often called middleware), such as Boomi, Celigo, Workato, Jitterbit and Mulesoft, to name a few, make sense when you want an integration hub to help orchestrate data to many connection points. In bringing together only one system to NetSuite, this approach is overkill.
- Talent: in theory, using an integration framework allows you access to more skilled marketplace talent. In our license-free tool approach, all of the software we provide is unlocked and free for modification. Thus, the consideration is to have NetSuite talent — which is a requirement, at some level, because the NetSuite ERP system needs support. Some clients use us to be their outside NetSuite support; others will invest in in-house staff.
- Investment: the point-to-point approach emulates a conventional application buy-versus-build model. A “build” model often means more upfront costs and takes more time, but the long-term costs are often much lower. Thus, one should consider the total cost (TCO) of ownership and the risks involved.
Articles about NetSuite Integration:
I have written several articles on topics similar to this that are important when considering your NetSuite integration approach:
- 2012: How NetSuite Integration with Drupal Saves Your Team Time and Money
- 2013: Magento to NetSuite Integration: 15 Questions To Ask
- 2017: Shopify to NetSuite Integration: Your Way!
- 2018: NetSuite Warehouse Management Systems Integration Patterns
I could write many articles on the various NetSuite integrations we have produced — the classic is the order and inventory integration between Third Party Logistics (3PL) organizations and the NetSuite platform. Some more provocative ones include integration with Cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin.
NetSuite Integration Leadership
While many options exist to produce integration, there is one concern that is a constant: leadership. In all cases, the capacity to listen, contemplate, synthesize, assess and build is needed for consistent long-term implementation and operational success. We believe our sole focus on NetSuite allows us to deepen our knowledge in business and technology to bring our clients best practices and innovation. Our 60+ license-free bundles are an illustration of our genius while acting to add value to a professional service relationship.
If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you would like to discuss your NetSuite integration challenge, let’s have a conversation.
Props to you guys. This is extraordinary. For the longest time, I assumed that an IPAAS was required to integrate with Nestuite. Probably because the market is saturated with many good ones that tell you that you have to. Turns out that is not the case and this is a great example. You don’t have to have an IPAAS/middleware for Netsuite, but sometimes you do based on the business case. My hats off to you guys!
Thank you Roy. In a new implementation, we always have a discussion to contrast the options.
Marty