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Blog Article

The Productivity Paradox: How Our Clients Cut NetSuite Costs by 8.7% While Growing Transactions by 7.4%

Written by: Todd Kimpton


I’ve spent two decades watching businesses wrestle with their ERP systems, and the story is almost always the same. You invest a huge amount of capital and political will to get a system like NetSuite live, only to see costs creep up and the promised productivity gains evaporate. It feels inevitable: more growth means more users, more support tickets, and a bigger line item on the budget.


But what if it isn’t?


For the second year running, I’ve analyzed our global client base's performance, and the data tells a story that runs completely counter to this conventional wisdom. Over the last 12 months, our clients saw their total cost of NetSuite ownership drop by 8.7%. At the same time, their active user count fell by 4.1%, while their business transaction volume grew by 7.4%.


Read that again. Costs down. Headcount down. Output up. This isn’t a statistical anomaly; it’s proof that you can decouple business growth from system complexity and cost.


Identifying the Data Points That Truly Matter


I believe in transparency because, without it, numbers are just noise. As an IT Leader, you’re held accountable for performance, and you deserve data you can trust. We don’t track vanity metrics; we track the numbers that directly impact your P&L and operational capacity.


  • Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): The all-in number, including service, support, and internal admin costs.

  • Active User Count: A measure of human effort. A declining number alongside rising output is the clearest sign of effective automation.

  • Transaction Volume: Our proxy for business output, reflecting the real work being done in the system.


By tracking these inputs (cost, users) against the output (transactions), we get a clean, undeniable measure of net productivity.


Reporting Performance for 2025: A Story of Net Productivity Gain


The data from this past year confirms our clients are achieving a powerful competitive advantage. They are scaling their operations without scaling their overhead. The numbers speak for themselves, proving that our approach to NetSuite Managed Services delivers real ERP efficiency & ROI.


  • Finding 1: TCO Dropped by 8.7% by systematically eliminating inefficiency, not by cutting corners.

  • Finding 2: Active Users Decreased by 4.1% because the system, when run properly, does the work it was designed to do. Roles are clearer, workflows are automated, and users are empowered.

  • Finding 3: Transaction Volume Grew by 7.4%, confirming the business is expanding. NetSuite is enabling this growth, not acting as a brake on it.


Understanding Managed Success: The Engine Driving the Results


These results don’t happen by accident. They are the direct output of our Managed Success framework, a model designed to deliver the highest yield at the lowest cost for running NetSuite. Unlike the standard break-fix model, we’re incentivized to be proactive. Because our scope is unlimited under a single flat fee, our only goal is to improve your operation, not to find more billable hours. We act as your independent NetSuite advisor, focused entirely on your outcomes.


Onboard with Etter+Ramli and Get the Value You Deserve


I’ll be blunt: the standard ERP support model is broken. It’s reactive, expensive, and fundamentally misaligned with your goals. The risk isn't in looking for a new approach; the risk is in sticking with a model that is designed to become more expensive as you succeed.


The performance of our clients is not a secret. It's a formula. And it's repeatable. Stop guessing how your NetSuite performance stacks up and start measuring it.



Download our full 2025 Productivity Report white paper to see the detailed methodology and discover how Managed Success can deliver a similar advantage for your organization.



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