FHL

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your company?

We are a wine wholesaler based in France. We sell primarily in the French house, in the Hotel Resort, and we’re planning to open some different types of sales of our wines in France and, potentially, in U.K.

What is your position?

I’m the founder and co-owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with First Hosted?

Our main concern was to be able to grow our overall business. We wanted to get into a software solution with more capabilities than our previous one because we were seriously limited in our growth potential. We were also considering future growth in the marketplace. We wanted to have an integrated system in place that could serve as our ERP and CRM. NetSuite seemed to be the most suitable solution for our needs. Lastly, we really wanted a cloud solution in order to maintain consistency and synergy between our geographically disparate teams. We have a small team operating in the U.K., one in the Alps, and one in the south of France. We had to have a system that could deal with our various shipping, warehousing, and inventory tracking needs, regardless of the location.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the project? For instance, did First Hosted handle your custom visual design, backend development, systems integration, and training?

This is, again, a very small company. Our needs were not massive. But, at the same time, there was some definite complexity because we’re a French company with French accounting needs. First Hosted is in the U.K., and French accounting is different from English accounting. There was a lot of effort dedicated to reconciling the accounting inputs and outputs. The challenge was compounded because we have no previously existing accounting software in place and our accountant didn’t speak English. That was the first big step for us. There was also the actual implementation, which requires extensive work. We collaborated closely with First Hosted on the design aspects, but they handled the technical side, things like backend development, data preparation and migration, systems integration, usability testing, training, and support.

How did you select First Hosted as your solution partner?

We selected them because the second partner in our company is English. Apart from myself, who is quite bad with spoken English, most of the staff is competent in English speaking. We were unable to find anybody in France selling NetSuite. When we first interacting with them, they seemed extremely professional and forthcoming. After discussing our needs and their capabilities, we were confident that they were going to be able to deliver our solution.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

I suppose the Euro and dollar are not very far apart. We are speaking in terms of the implementation, training and maintenance, correct? I believe it was between €12,000 and €15,000 [$16,000 and $20,000].

When was this project completed?

It remains ongoing. In fact, we moved a bit too quickly in the system, so we’ve been running it, having it not completely prepared, but we’re in phase one. It should be ready in the next couple of months. And then there are a few different sites to deploy as we grow the company. We’re looking to launch a website within the next six months, and then perhaps deploying another company within that retail.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

No, not really. However, we still believe NetSuite is a sufficient solution for us in the future. Because we transitioned to the system slightly too early, it’s difficult to identify any specific metrics or figures. At the moment, we’re only running the basic site with very limited functionality. We anticipate serious results as we move along the deployment process, but for now, we’re still very much transitioning our administrative tasks, content and functionality to the NetSuite platform. We’re really looking forward to utilizing the system to its fullest extent, which is extremely flexible.

When working with First Hosted, is there anything you would consider unique or special about them compared to other vendors you may have worked with?

Yes, there is. I think First Hosted brings something very different to the table. We were nervous at first because we realized we wouldn’t be interacting with a French company, or perhaps I should say that I was nervous. My fears were alleviated once we were introduced to their team. They’re extremely competent. Even though the project itself isn’t enormous, it’s still relatively complex. We’ve been able to approach each step of the process with care and meticulous attention to detail. Their team is extraordinary at putting themselves in our shoes and understanding where it is we want to take certain things and where we don’t. They offer great insight and recommendations, too. It’s been a pleasure working with First Hosted.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe what it is your company does?

I work for a large-scale technology manufacturer that specializes in microchips. We’re also in the process of diversifying into software. I work for the mobile communications division.

What is your position?

I’m a systems accountant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your company’s business goals for initiating the project with First Hosted?

We were working with a legacy ERP & CRM system. It really wasn’t meeting our business requirements. We engaged our project manager to enter the market and find us a product that would suit our business needs. The NetSuite solution fit those business needs extremely well.

Did you purchase your NetSuite license directly from NetSuite or did you obtain it from First Hosted?

It was a combination of sorts. First Hosted recommended that we use NetSuite as our platform. Once we agreed they then helped us negotiate the licenses from NetSuite. 

SOLUTION

How did you get introduced to First Hosted?

We issued an RFI to numerous potential solution partners. They submitted their proposal and then we invited them to a brief interview. They came in and conducted a few demos in order to illustrate their various capabilities. We were impressed by their demonstration and we just took it from there.

Could you describe the scope of the project in terms of the components: did it include custom design, development, support, training, integration, etc.?

The project required full-scale implementation. We wanted the complete package. They’ve done all of our customizations. They also provided administrative and functional training. They continue to provide ongoing support on a case-by-case basis.

Could you give me a sense of the size of the initiative in either monetary terms or the number of personnel delegated to the project?

I’m not completely sure how many consultants they had. The cost of the project is confidential.

When was this project completed?

It remains ongoing. We began in 2010 with the basic out-of-the-box integration. We’ve been working primarily on customizations since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered thus far?

To tell you the truth, we don’t have any explicit measurements. I can tell you that our team was able to access relevant information much quicker since we’ve implemented the system. They’re able to produce individualized the dashboards for each of our department heads. Our finance and engineering teams have seen the largest increases in cumulative productivity.

How do you feel First Hosted performed during the out-of-the-box implementation of NetSuite?

Impeccably. They were great. They met all of the deadlines that we set, which were quite tight. They were always on site, so when we had questions, they were there and able to answer them extremely quickly. We had a couple of technical issues at the very beginning, but they were able to turn them around very, very quickly for us.

In retrospect, are there any particular areas that you feel First Hosted could improve upon or that you as the client would do differently when approaching this type of project?

No, we’re really quite fortunate. The project manager we had was very experienced in implementing these types of ERP systems into companies before. It made the transition process fluid and painless.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your company?

We’re a U.K. distributor of specialized products for the construction industry. We promote ourselves primarily to architects and civil engineers. We then sell our product lines to contractors or subcontractors working on site.

What is your position?

I’m the owner and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the projects with First Hosted?

We desperately needed an effective, centralized way of maintaining our customer records, including transaction history, feedback, inquiries, etc.

SOLUTION

Is there any particular reason you selected NetSuite over other software solutions?

We looked at other systems, but we didn’t find another candidate. We had a system that did all that, but was limited in the information that it provided in terms of sales pipeline and email marketing and so on. And NetSuite provides those things.

How did you find First Hosted?

I went online to see what CRM systems are available and narrowed it down to NetSuite as being the principal, the most interesting potential provider. I then had a conversation with a NetSuite representative, and he provided a shortlist. Once we found First Hosted they essentially jumped on the opportunity.  

Can you describe the scope of the project?

There’s a lot more to NetSuite than I really appreciated to start with, and its more complex to set up. First Hosted proved to be very competent. They’ve understood how we wanted the system tailored to suit us, and they achieved it. We’re still pretty new to it. We’re still getting used to NetSuite, and we’re still honing the information on how it’s presented within NetSuite. Personally, the system itself, the way the software is written, it seems to be more than capable of doing what we want and a lot more. It’s simply a question of gradually tailoring it to suit our particular operation. But, with First Hosted, that is not a painful exercise.

Was First Hosted responsible for the entire project, or were there any in-house developers involved?

Two of my employees were involved with NetSuite. They dealt with the data preparation prior to importation into NetSuite. That process took quite a while, but that was to some extent complicated by the difficulty of extracting the data from our previous CRM system. The difficulty wasn’t all to do with NetSuite.

Could you provide a sense of the size of the initiative, either in monetary terms or in personnel dedicated to the project?

There was simply one person, one of their programmers. Their programmer has been with us full time, but not all in one continuous time span. In monetary terms, if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say probably between £10,000 and £15,000.

When was this project completed or is this still ongoing?

It remains ongoing, but we started round about January, and we went live in April.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How do you feel that First Hosted has performed working on this project with you?

Very quickly, First Hosted came on as being a very professional company, very well structured and very good at homing in on the principal issues. I think they were very structured. That’s obviously an observation. I wouldn’t, in any way, criticize very much their business approach. In fact, it was very reassuring they were as good as they are.

When working with First Hosted, was there anything that you would consider unique or special as compared to other partners that you’ve worked with on similar projects?

I just had no idea about the power of NetSuite when we first got involved. Therefore, it’s complexity in terms of implementation, that’s to say, First Hosted, thank goodness, has made it a relatively painless operation, or be it that it would take a lot longer than one day, an awful lot longer. No complaints about that, no complaints at all. The end result is very much worthwhile.