How to budget for your NetSuite dream team
Getting NetSuite up and running in your organization is only half the battle; if you want to get maximum value from the world’s number one cloud ERP platform, you need to make a long-term commitment to managing, maintaining, and optimizing it.
And doing that means having skilled NetSuite professionals in your corner. Once you’ve waved goodbye to your implementation team, you’ll need an in-house squad that understands your ongoing business objectives and has the experience and knowledge required to make sure your ERP system always meets your needs.
Your team doesn’t have to be big. How many pairs of hands you’ll need will depend largely on the following:
- the size of your organization
- how many users you need to support
- the scale of any future plans you might have for customizing the platform
But a handful of talented NetSuite experts should be enough to help your business keep its ERP platform in tip-top condition and make sure everything is running smoothly.
Who do you need on your NetSuite team?
So who are the NetSuite mavens you should be looking to add to your roster?
NetSuite Administrator
Your NetSuite Administrator is your go-to for all things NetSuite. They keep the system up to date, manage configurations and processes, and constantly work with users and stakeholders to identify areas of improvement.
Your Admin should be technically savvy, with an in-depth understanding of the NetSuite platform. Still, they also need to be business-minded so that they can fully grasp business objectives and work out how NetSuite can be leveraged to help achieve commercial goals.
A great Admin is also an excellent communicator, able to clearly and accurately document processes and explain technical information to end users that may be outside of the tech sphere. (Being able to effectively impart ERP skills and know-how to users will have a massive impact on how well your adoption pans out.)
NetSuite Developer
NetSuite is super customizable and can be tweaked to meet your business’s unique needs. There’s a lot of opportunity to make NetSuite your own, but to properly take advantage of that adaptability, you need a NetSuite Developer.
Customizing NetSuite requires a robust understanding of SuiteScript, Javascript, and NetSuite APIs. Having a talented NetSuite Developer on your team means you’ll be able to use code customization to build programs, connect modules, and add extensions in your NetSuite instance. These modifications will help the platform align with your needs and deliver on business objectives—and a good developer that knows your system inside-out will be able to implement these alterations while still keeping your instance performing at a high level.
NetSuite Business Analyst
NetSuite’s reporting and planning capabilities are outstanding, and having an expert around will help you make the most of that functionality and make smarter, faster business decisions.
As a crucial link between IT and finance, your Business Analyst will be responsible for generating reports, analyzing business needs, and mapping those needs to NetSuite’s functionality. They’ll continually optimize reporting and workflows, support governance, and drive business efficiency.
How to budget for your NetSuite team
Now you know the kind of professionals you might need on your team, it’s time to work out how much hiring them is going to cost.
Of course, salaries for your NetSuite professionals are going to make up the bulk of your budget, but there are also a few other things to consider when building out your NetSuite hiring plan.
Benchmark salaries
The first step towards creating your NetSuite talent budget is finding out what the going rate is for professionals in your area. There are a number of factors that can impact average salaries, including cost of living, availability of tech professionals, and the kind of certifications a candidate has under their belt. But you can get a general idea of salaries with a bit of research, and once you’ve worked out what roles you want to fill and how many professionals you’ll need to recruit, you can total up your hiring budget.
Resources like our Careers and Hiring Guide: NetSuite Edition 2022-23 can give you an idea of what NetSuite talent across various roles and seniority levels are earning today. Based on self-reported data from an online survey of NetSuite professionals, and statistical analysis of vacancies and placements made by our consultants, our report is the most up-to-date snapshot of the NetSuite ecosystem available anywhere right now.
Based on our most recent findings, here are some average salaries across core NetSuite roles.
Average NetSuite Administrator Salary
| 0-2 years’ experience | 3-6 years’ experience | 7-10 years’ experience | |
| United States ($) | 100,000 | 120,500 | 140,250 |
| Canada (C$) | 92,000 | 115,500 | 140,500 |
| United Kingdom (£) | 46,750 | 57,250 | 80,000 |
| Australia (AU$) | 87,000 | 118,000 | 123,500 |
Average NetSuite Business Analyst Salary
| 0-2 years’ experience | 3-6 years’ experience | 7-10 years’ experience | |
| United States ($) | 88,000 | 114,250 | 130,250 |
| Canada (C$) | 92,250 | 113,000 | 128,750 |
| United Kingdom (£) | 36,250 | 42,000 | 63,250 |
| Australia (AU$) | 95,500 | 118,000 | 144,000 |
Average NetSuite Developer Salary
| 0-2 years’ experience | 3-6 years’ experience | 7-10 years’ experience | |
| United States ($) | 125,000 | 140,500 | 165,000 |
| Canada (C$) | 92,250 | 107,750 | 144,250 |
| United Kingdom (£) | 55,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
| Australia (AU$) | 88,000 | 123,000 | 149,250 |
Think about what else you can offer
There’s no getting around the fact that ERP professionals are in high demand. That demand is pushing up salaries as organizations try and lure the best talent away from their competitors with bigger offers. But if your budget doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room, then think about other things you can offer that will make you an attractive prospect to candidates.
If you’re based in an area where high cost of living drives up salaries, could hiring remote workers be more cost-effective? According to our report, 95% of hiring managers in the NetSuite community believe that offering remote work gives them an advantage when it comes to recruiting. And, 53% of NetSuite professionals ranked home working as the benefit most likely to entice them to accept a job offer.
Flexible working hours, paid time off, and share options were also cited by NetSuite pros as likely to convince them to take on a role.
Remember to budget for benefits, perks, and anything else you could add to your package to help attract talent. There are plenty of things that you can offer to make your business an attractive prospect that aren’t directly salary-related, but still might cost you money: things like healthcare, training, and bonuses.
Factor in time-to-hire and other productivity costs
Hiring is expensive. All that time, effort, and lost productivity adds up no matter what role you’re looking to fill, but when you’re on the hunt for tech workers, it can get really pricey, really fast.
According to a study, it costs businesses around $4,700 (and 42 days) on average to hire a new employee. Hiring a Developer? That’ll set you back around $22,000 if you’re recruiting in-house. If you have need for immediate resource while you look for a permanent team member, you might also need to think about hiring a contractor to fill in; another line to add to your budget.
Budget to keep your talent
The tech recruitment market is extremely competitive. If you want to build and keep a great team of NetSuite professionals, then you need to think not only about hiring, but about retention too.
In a fast-changing landscape like ERP, keeping your team up to speed with the latest developments is absolutely essential. But facilitating continuous learning doesn’t just benefit your business; it also helps you keep staff engaged.
We asked NetSuite professionals what motivates them to look for a new role. The top reason was a need for new challenges, followed closely by a lack of career and promotional prospects. NetSuite pros want to grow and develop. If they feel like they’re stagnating, they’ll find somewhere that gives them a clear progression pathway and supports their continued upskilling.
Setting aside funding for training and development in your budget is crucial for creating a long-term hiring and retention strategy. When you start recruiting for your NetSuite dream team, shout about it. Make it clear to candidates that you’re invested in their success, and that you’re open to getting involved with the latest developments in NetSuite technology—this will go a long way to helping you attract talent that will grow with your business.
How to build your NetSuite dream team
Once you have your budget mapped out (and more importantly, approved) you can start assembling your NetSuite team and really putting your ERP investment to work.
There are a few routes available when it’s time to hire tech professionals; which one is best for your business depends on your situation, business size, and how much budget you have to work with.
If you have an in-house recruitment team, or a hiring manager willing to undertake the search themselves, then you can take the classic route of putting out job ads and looking for candidates that fit the bill. Usually the cheaper option, the flipside is that it’ll probably take you a considerable amount of time to source suitable candidates given how tight the talent market is. Plus, if the person doing the hiring isn’t particularly knowledgeable about NetSuite, they might struggle to size up an applicant’s technical skills. Up your chances of landing the right candidate (and cut down on hiring costs) by engaging with tech events and user groups, finding online spaces where potential candidates might spend time, and taking advantage of social media.
If you’re struggling to find the right candidate on the open market, you could look at upskilling existing staff members. Best suited to large organizations that already have a pool of NetSuite users, this tactic entails scoping out ‘super users’ within your workforce—that’s staff who’ve shown a particular aptitude or enthusiasm for working with NetSuite in the course of their non-IT roles. Once you’ve honed in on an employee with the ability and drive to move into a NetSuite-focused role, invest in training and certification to build their knowledge of the platform and create your very own NetSuite talent in-house. A quick note: upskilling is usually more appropriate for filling functional roles like Administrator; expecting Sam from accounts to become a NetSuite Developer over the summer is a bit of a big ask.
Finally, you can enlist the help of specialist recruiters. Usually more expensive than recruiting in-house, a NetSuite staffing expert that knows the technology and the market can make short work of sourcing great candidates, even in a skill-scarce market. Plus, the fee you pay for staffing consultation services may well end up being less than the cost of the time and productivity lost to taking on the challenge yourself.
