hi! want to hear comments from folks here on “Netsuite ACS vs 3rd party Netsuite Consultants”. We want someone to take a look at our business and at our NetSuit set up and tell us what Netsuite features we are underutilizing and recommend enhancements

TBH your experience is going to vary wildly depending on the specific person you're working with, regardless of whether it's ACS or 3rd party, so my best advice is to make sure you talk to the actual consultant who is actually going to be working with you on a day-to-day basis before you fully commit/sign anything, and maybe even bake that into the contract so you can back out if they pull the old switcheroo. NOT some sales person, partner, manager, director, account rep, or any of those people, regardless of how many promises they make, because they're not who is actually going to be helping you. That being said, I generally opt for 3rd party services because it's usually on an hourly basis (so you only get charged for what you actually use) versus ACS which is typically billed on a recurring monthly basis (even if you don't use all the hours, and then they charge you more if you go over). It's not like NetSuite has any special sauce that makes them way better than 3rd party, but the inverse is also true.

thank you, that is very helpful!

NP. In the end they're all sales people trying to drum up business, so you can't trust either as far as you can throw them.

One thing to keep in mind with ACS is that they have VERY strict Terms of Service that limits support they can give you using 3rd party applications (Expensify for example). ACS also has pretty strict requirements around how complex the project can be and the duration of time to be. If it exceed a magic number, it will need to be scoped and sent off to the PS organization at NetSuite. The turnaround time for development work at ACS may be slower than a 3rd party shop. Not good or bad, but just something to consider. Lastly, depending on the level of ACS you receive will dictate which type of consultants you get (OnShore vs Offshore). Monitor (used to be the lowest package) leverages consultants in Philippines, India, or Uruguay. ACS has certain modules they are able to implement or customize. If the module is not on the list, then it will have to be delivered to another party at Oracle. A pro to ACS, is that the users do not consume a license cost. The ACS model definitely has the use or it loose it model. 3rd party consultants can be more flexible than NetSuite Oracle. Prior to helping you with work, they have an extensive onboarding process referred to SuiteReivew. Some companies really love the process. Others find it obnoxious. But NetSuite feels that in order to be successfully it is required.

wow, very informative! we have a few things in mind that we want our netsuite to be able to do but dont have the capacity. after talking to individual consultant and acs, it feel like we get more flexibility from individuals cause acs requires us to sign at least a year while we want to tackle some easy configurations for quick wins