NetSuite is one of the most powerful business management suites available, with comprehensive tools for ERP, CRM, eCommerce, human capital management and other critical functions.
But NetSuite isn’t built for marketing. At least, not the integrated, multi-channel campaigns that most marketers are responsible for creating.
And this disconnect represents a huge problem for organizations that want to align their sales and marketing efforts in order to maximize ROI and drive revenue growth.
Why Marketing Hates the NetSuite CRM
So why is NetSuite such a problem for marketers? It all comes down to data.
A company might use NetSuite for most of its operations, including sales, but NetSuite isn’t always the best choice for the marketing team because their data ecosystem is so complicated.
Like most CRM systems, NetSuite supports some email marketing, but that’s just a fraction of the channels that modern marketers employ to reach clients and prospects, including paid search, paid social, display, direct mail, TV, radio, etc. And so the marketing team usually ends up using a different platform (or platforms) while the rest of the organization sticks with NetSuite.
Of course, marketing doesn’t and can’t exist in isolation. Marketers are responsible for driving growth for the entire organization, and so they still need NetSuite CRM data in order to develop strategy and assess whether their tactics and spending are generating the desired results.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult for marketers to quickly access data from NetSuite. Some marketing platforms, like HubSpot, offer an integration, but those connections don’t always work smoothly. As a result, there may be discrepancies between NetSuite and other platforms when it comes to lead records and history.
This lack of connectivity causes several problems for marketers.
They’re forced to download and prepare NetSuite data by hand. In some cases, they may have to pull separate reports for each stage of the funnel. This consumes staff time and delays reporting. In most cases, reporting is really only possible on a monthly cadence because it’s so labor-intensive. And because everything is done manually, the risk of errors increases, increasing the possibility of incomplete or inaccurate reports.
Delayed reporting also means delayed funnel optimization — it’s harder for marketing and sales to get on the same page. Performance suffers. And marketing struggles to show the value of its work and defend its budget.
How Marketers Can Get the Data They Need from NetSuite CRM
The disconnect between marketing and the NetSuite CRM is a big problem, but it’s a solvable one. Companies can overcome it by creating a single source of truth — by bringing together data from the CRM and all marketing sources in one place.
This data collection needs to be automated, so that reports can be produced daily without overtaxing staff resources.
And the data needs to be unified, so there’s a “common language” for combining or comparing results from the NetSuite CRM, your marketing CRM and individual marketing channels such as email, social or search.
Alight Analytics has created a dedicated Lead Generation Analytics solution for this challenge, one that offers all the resources necessary for aligning sales and marketing.
- The solution comes with a suite of dashboards that empower marketers by:
- Creating a single holistic pipeline view for sales and marketing, helping you assess how marketing investment affects sales outcomes
- Tracking performance at each funnel stage in real time, with each marketing channel’s contribution clearly identified, so you can uncover problems and opportunities quickly
- Breaking out performance by geo or region to better tailor strategies to individual markets
- Employing a predictive model to determine how much you should spend and in which channels, in order to achieve lead generation goals
- ChannelMix, our marketing intelligence platform, aggregates data from any marketing, media or sales platform and unifies everything in analytics-ready datasets stored in a data warehouse. Doesn’t matter what CRMs or marketing channels you use — ChannelMix has multiple ways to gather data, including a library of data connectors and automated FTP and email processes that can get data even from difficult CRMs.
- Alight also employs a team of trusted data experts who can help marketers design, implement and maintain a framework for collecting and organizing data — i.e. all the critically important tasks that software alone can’t do. That includes assistance with cross-channel tracking, mapping fields between sources and to dashboards, and repairing data connections.
DIY Software vs. Analytics-as-a-Service
A lot of organizations try to solve their analytics needs with what’s essentially a “do-it-yourself” approach. They either try to build their own in-house technology solution, or they buy marketing analytics software that claims to do it all. Both ultimately require staff to spend more time and do more manual data management than expected.
Analytics-as-a-service, on the other hand, delivers a complete package of technology and services wherever you need support, so your team can focus on what matters most. That’s the approach we take at Alight.
Because our analytics solutions include the necessary tech and services, they remove the burden of data prep, enabling marketers to focus on optimizing their lead gen efforts. Plus, it’s turnkey — Alight configures the solution to each client’s needs, and then it’s ready to use. That ease of deployment helps users start quickly and build momentum.
If this sounds like something a team of marketers came up with, well, it is. Alight Analytics was founded by marketers who know firsthand what it’s like to manually build performance reports. That “marketing first” philosophy is fused into Alight’s DNA.
Show NetSuite Who’s Boss
If you’re a marketer who needs help getting data from NetSuite CRM, remember that it’s a solvable problem — one that can ultimately lead to greater alignment between sales and marketing, increased lead performance and stronger bottom-line business outcomes.
Alight Analytics is ready to assist you. Set up a time to talk with our team, and get a firsthand look at our analytics solution for lead gen marketers.