NetSuite Expands Middle East Operations

Cloud leader offers support for new VAT, adds dedicated sales team and strengthens partner ecosystem to meet growing demand for cloud ERP in region

Oracle NetSuite, one of the world’s leading providers of cloud-based financials / ERP, HR, Professional Services Automation (PSA) and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced the expansion of operations in the Middle East to meet the increasing demand for cloud ERP in the market. With the support of Oracle’s global resources, NetSuite added a dedicated sales team with new leadership; new solution provider partners to strengthen its existing partner ecosystem; and increased customer adoption of NetSuite OneWorld. Additionally, NetSuite will offer support for the new Unified Value Added Tax (VAT) Agreement, set to take effect for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next year with more Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries expected to follow.

“Local and global companies with regional headquarters in the area are already reaping the benefits of cloud ERP,” said Mark Woodhams, Oracle NetSuite Vice President, EMEA. “With today’s announcement, we’re signalling our ongoing commitment to the region and the success of our customers and partners here.”

NetSuite to Provide VAT Support, Enabling Businesses to Comply with New Tax Rules

With the Unified Value Added Tax (VAT) Agreement signed by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries set to go into effect in the UAE and Saudi Arabia January 1, 2018, with other countries in the region expected to follow, NetSuite will build support for the new changes directly into the system. The VAT will impact every part of the business, including cash flow, pricing of products and services, financial reporting, tax accounting and reporting and, of course, technology. NetSuite already has a highly flexible in-house tax engine that supports over 110 countries for VAT, both rules and reporting, creating a solid foundation on which to build out functionality specific to the GCC VAT. Tax codes for the standard rate, zero rates, reverse charges, as well as VAT on imports, will all be part of NetSuite’s International Tax Reporting SuiteApp. Existing customers will enjoy full business systems compliance with new changes in the value-added tax (VAT) rate without having to lift a finger. NetSuite’s cloud computing model and the flexible, powerful NetSuite Tax Engine inside NetSuite’s financial software ensure that NetSuite customers immediately benefit from this update.

NetSuite Adds Direct Sales Team and Leadership

NetSuite is extending its focus on the Middle East and the surrounding region with a dedicated sales team, pre-sales, country manager, marketing and other support functions, all operating out of a new Dubai office, which will be the center of East, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (ECEMEA) operations. The dedicated sales team has been established and trained to address the UAE and Saudi Arabian markets. NetSuite will also continue to recruit local implementation partners with experience in ERP to support continued growth in the region.

The dedicated sales office will be led by Khaled Ismail, Vice President, Oracle Digital Application Business, ECEMEA, who will manage sales and marketing strategy for the region. In this role, Ismail will manage an organization of 250 sales professionals with almost 20 managers and directors. He is also responsible for all the supporting functions for ECEMEA from pre-sales, sales development, marketing and customer success.

“The UAE has been a strong growth engine for NetSuite in recent years,” Ismail said. “Now, with the additional global resources of Oracle, we intend to continue that growth and expand not only our sales operations and partnership, but build out additional functionality specific to the region.”

NetSuite Strengthens Partner Presence in the Region

NetSuite already has a strong partner presence in the region with 16 partners serving customers in the region. In 2017 alone, NetSuite added the following seven businesses to its Solution Provider Program: Azdan Business Analytics; Trinamix Business Solutions; Wolfrayet Business Consulting; Masterkey Software; Foresee Solutions; UnitedofOQ; and Digital Trends. As part of its expansion in the region, NetSuite will actively be recruiting qualified partners to continue to provide local businesses with a leading cloud ERP solution.

NetSuite OneWorld, a Game-Changer for Middle Eastern Businesses

Businesses seeking to gain efficiency, grow revenues, expand globally and enter new markets often find themselves held back by software systems siloed by department, geography or legal entity structures, leaving them unable to deliver an optimal customer experience and gain insights into their operations. The agility, flexibility and scalability that NetSuite OneWorld provides is difficult to achieve by businesses running legacy on-premise software. Meanwhile, other available cloud financial software solutions only offer basic product functionality that cannot scale and support changing business needs, growth and international expansion.

NetSuite OneWorld provides a unified and cloud-based suite of software that is flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse business models, legal structures and geographies. NetSuite OneWorld supports 190 currencies, more than 20 languages, automated tax calculation and reporting in more than 100 countries, and customer transactions in more than 200 countries.

Further, to help today’s B2B and B2C businesses with omnichannel commerce, NetSuite OneWorld delivers commerce-ready capabilities that can help both B2B and B2C commerce businesses to move from siloed online, in-store and phone consumer shopping channels to an integrated commerce solution, connecting ecommerce and in-store POS to order management, inventory, merchandising, marketing, financials and customer service, while delivering a seamless brand experience and exceeding customer expectations.

NetSuite OneWorld Supports Growth for Local Businesses

M.R.S. Packaging (www.mrspackaging.com), a food and beverage distributor for the concession industry operating across nine countries in the region, has been a NetSuite customer since 2015. As the company grew, management determined it needed to replace its custom-built accounting software with a new, modern system to manage the business. M.R.S. selected NetSuite for its cloud-based architecture, intuitive user interface and comprehensive functionality. M.R.S. is now using NetSuite to manage financials, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) across sales and customer service, inventory management and human resources. The move to NetSuite enabled M.R.S. to avoid the costs and disruption associated with on-premise systems, while staying up to date on the latest version of the software thanks to regular upgrades that automatically carry customizations forward. M.R.S. is now adopting NetSuite OneWorld to manage subsidiaries in UAE and Bahrain.

“NetSuite has proven to be the most cost effective, user friendly system for a midsized company like ours,” said Manu Soni, Managing Director of M.R.S. “We expect to be a $100 million company in three years and we feel confident NetSuite can scale with us.”

Aigue Marine DMCC, the parent company for Gearbox (www.gearbox.ae) and Aquae Jewels (www.aquae-jewels.com), implemented NetSuite when it launched the Gearbox business, an ecommerce business that offers a rent, try and buy service for cameras, and camera and video equipment. John Massaut, the Managing Director for Aigue Marine DMCC, founded the business when he realized how difficult it was to find reasonably priced equipment for a photo shoot for the jewelry business. Aigue Marine DMCC had an existing KPI.com system, however it was difficult to integrate with the new website and didn’t provide the comprehensive visibility into the business he needed. Massaut selected NetSuite for its comprehensive functionality and inventory management capabilities. Aigue Marine implemented NetSuite in May 2017 and is now running both Gearbox and Aquae Jewels on a single instance of NetSuite, managing financials, customer relationship management (CRM) and inventory management.

Inventory management is especially critical for Aigue Marine DMCC. NetSuite OneWorld gives the Gearbox business full visibility into equipment availability and location to maximize profits. In addition, the flexibility and agility of NetSuite is also critical as Gearbox seeks to add fitness monitors to its rent, try & buy offerings, as well as making demographic data available to the companies that manufacture and market the products. Aquae Jewels is able to track 5,000 pieces of inventory across several locations automatically, improving delivery and customer satisfaction, while reducing manual workloads.

“NetSuite has done everything I hoped it would, managing inventory, financials and helping to put process and procedures in place to manage the business efficiently,” Massaut said. “It’s a comprehensive solution that can scale to accommodate our ambitious plans for growth.”