As is often the case at user conferences, product announcements timed alongside NetSuite’s SuiteWorld event are coming thick and fast. This morning’s news is the announcement of the latest integration between BI vendor myDIALS and NetSuite. myDIALS was already integrated with NetSuite, but this release sees a deepening of that integration which includes multi-currency and new display options.
myDIALS is built on top of the SuiteCloud PaaS (SuiteCloud is to NetSuite what Force.com is to salesforce.com). Previously the integration enabled data extraction and visualization and was only unidirectional. This release sees the integration become bi-directional, meaning that the BI solution can link back into NetSuite right into specific records and transactions.
So, what’s new in this integration? Quite a bit actually;
- Transactional Tie-in: Allows users to view an additional level of detail by linking back to NetSuite records such as customer, product or promotion, as well as individual transactions
- Multi-currency Support: Support for OneWorld multi-currency within myDIALS. Real-time, day-of currency conversions allow multi-national subsidiaries to share and apply analytics to financial metrics, such as cash balance, in multiple currencies, facilitating discussions and analysis
- Dashboard Personalization: myDIALS now offers a drag and drop Dashboard Designer which includes the ability to design new dials, ribbons and dashboards. Integrated within the NetSuite interface, the Designer allows users to customize dashboards for private, individual use or publish and share these with other users
Realtime business analytics is, arguably, one of the things that cloud vendors can point to as a differentiator from on-premise solutions. To this end it could reasonably be expected that SaaS vendors would create their own BI offerings to really drive this value. I’d not be surprised to see NetSuite either develop or acquire a solution like myDIALS to become a core part of the NetSuite solution. In speaking about this new integration Guido Harmaans, NetSuite’s Vice President for Developer Programs was particularly bullish saying;
The myDIALS NetSuite solution adds a level of insight, customization and sophisticated analytics that no other offerings on the market can promise… makes it even easier for everyone from top executives to front line staff to have access to up-to-date, role-specific business information, alerts and interactive analysis, so they can run their businesses faster and smarter in the cloud
Perhaps a BI acquisition is in the cards for NetSuite? Either way that’s a pretty ebullient quote that will have competing BI vendor Good Data wincing (especially since Gooddata is also a NetSuite partner).
Anyway, pricing for the myDIALS/NetSuite integration begins at $399 per month for up to 10 users but then scales depending on how many total users are needed. This compares to the Good Data integration which is free to trial with paid plans coming soon. Good Data also says, somewhat tantalizingly, “we can promise it will be a lot less than you think.”
