Every ERP has its own strengths and weaknesses. Every ERP has its own candidate pool. And if the chatter among the team is anything to go by, every ERP has a different balance between permanent and contract opportunities. Working in the permanent market for NetSuite, I’m very aware of the hard divide between permanent team members and contractors.
There are good reasons for this and I won’t pretend there aren’t. I do think, though, that companies using NetSuite draw that line as a hard boundary and it really doesn’t need to be.
The Price of Stability
Typically you bring in a contractor because you expect to be using them for only a certain period of time. You might extend the contract if your expectation on how long you needed was wrong; you might contract for longer than your project needs, expecting that you’ll have some other challenges to put in front of them.
Permanent placements come about because you don’t expect to stop needing the skills you’re looking for. There’s an obvious trade-off; someone in a permanent role will get used to your workflows. They’ll be familiar with all the use cases you have for NetSuite, and when it comes to updates, patches, and any other fixes, they’ll have the inside information and understanding to know what it means to you.
I’d argue that there’s another big advantage to having a permanent NetSuite team member or two, and it comes down to ownership.
Someone internal to your organisation who can take ownership of your NetSuite system is a huge benefit. It’s not just about their morale and their connection to the role; it’s also about giving your system a huge advantage by making sure someone who understands NetSuite will drive every aspect of it.
Next time you’re looking at new NetSuite requirements, ask yourself if contract is really the better way to go. It might be – but if you never even stop to wonder, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity.
