NetSuite adds global functionality to OpenAir suite

NetSuite has released a number of key updates to its NetSuite OpenAir services automation and resource planning software, designed to help businesses better manage information from global offices.

NetSuite OpenAir supports several languages, and comes with a multiple calendar system so that businesses can see working methods across global offices, said NetSuite.

New multi-currency features allow transparent billing and expense tracking across 100 currencies, the firm said.

Edward Marshall, senior vice president of product strategy at NetSuite OpenAir, claimed that global firms cannot operate without multi-currency and multinational workflow processes.

"The product incorporates localisation with support for languages, and more importantly financial services, so that complex transactions can be tracked," he said.

"It is important to acknowledge the workflows of global organisations. The system is flexible, and means that not everyone has to perform business in the same way. Time can be tracked weekly or monthly, and flexibility can be assigned to see this."

Skills tracking has also been expanded, allowing companies to see employee knowledge areas, language and travel preferences and visa status, while the globalisation of the product allows a service organisation to see all employees as individuals, according to Marshall.

Zach Nelson, chief executive of NetSuite, suggested that the more successful a company becomes the harder it is to manage these "global hairballs".

"When a company grows to beyond a single country and currency, the problem of multi-countries, currencies, resources and geographies needs to be dealt with," he said.

"The chief executive would want to synchronise everything and see it in one consistent format."

NetSuite OpenAir provides real-time insights into professional services activities, and gives managers and professionals in the field access to the same tools and data anywhere, according to the firm.

Like all NetSuite software, the features are deployed using the cloud, reducing operating costs for project-based businesses by lowering hardware, maintenance and IT personnel costs, NetSuite claimed.

Incremental additions occur every two months, and NetSuite OpenAir continually adds to the software. It is also capable of working with other enterprise systems.