NetSuite Analytics Warehouse vs Phocas

NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (NSAW) is a prebuilt solution that consolidates multiple data sources for actionable insights. While it promotes business users can build and run their own reports and queries without relying on IT– many users advise this is not possible unless you have SQL skills or been to numerous training sessions.

Recognizing a gap in the NSAW offering, NetSuite's SuiteApp marketplace created an ecosystem of integrated solutions. This enables specialized tools, like Phocas, to seamlessly connect and enhance NetSuite's analytics offering. Phocas has an intuitive interface that allows users to carry out self-service reporting and find insights and new sales opportunities in the data.

Integrating with NetSuite often proves challenging even for NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (NSAW) because of its complex architecture and highly customizable nature. Although NetSuite provides a wide range of APIs, navigating them requires a strong understanding of diverse data structures and authentication methods.

Data consistency and synchronization issues are common as teams need to map and translate data from NetSuite’s unique data organization into NSAW. While NetSuite’s customization is great for tailoring the system to specific business needs, it can also create significant hurdles for NSAW users when connecting and consolidating data.

Phocas’ pre-built NetSuite integration offers a secure, straightforward and cost effective implementation. As a certified Built for NetSuite Partner, Phocas offers seamless integration with NetSuite. This provides significant upfront and ongoing benefits, ensuring reliable integration and continued trust in the data.

A unique aspect of Phocas’ integration with NetSuite is the use of saved searches, enabling users to leverage pre-defined queries within NetSuite. By using NetSuite’s saved searches, Phocas can efficiently and accurately retrieve the specific information needed for analysis, while respecting the data structures and business rules already established within NetSuite.

NSAW is a powerful engine for reporting. However, creating custom reports often requires specialized technical expertise. Users must manage complex data structures, customize dashboards extensively and in many cases rely on IT or consultants to build and maintain queries. While NSAW offers flexibility, the steep learning curve, long implementation and high dependency on technical resources limit true self-service analytics for everyday business users.

Phocas prioritizes ease of use and self-service reporting, allowing all business users to create and customize dashboards themselves. Features like dynamic drill-down, drag-and-drop customization and use of saved searches ensure data remains accurate while users explore it independently. This simplicity drives faster adoption across teams without comprising the ability to link financial and operational data for more complex reporting and consolidation.

NetSuite customers rely on support, and when basic support runs out, you need to pay for the advanced option. Basic support typically covers troubleshooting when something is not working, but if customers need help building reports this falls under training and managed support.

From a services perspective, maintaining and optimizing NetSuite is a complex overhead that demands technical expertise. Unfortunately, training is usually limited to initial onboarding, leaving customers without ongoing guidance. While the Learning Cloud Support (LCS) pass provides paid access to online materials, many users find the content lacking and outdated.

Phocas takes a multi-faceted approach to comprehensive customer support. Free services include a dedicated customer support person for every customer, a local support desk for technical issues and online customer resources with user documentation and video tutorials.

Accessible customer training is offered live and on-demand every month. The platform also delivers quick insights through Phocas AI, conducts on-site onboarding training and shares regular additional resources to support users.