Netsuite adds Apple iOS 7 support

Using technology to actually deliver services that are of value to users, rather than being impressive in purely technical terms, is bound to be one of the stronger trends that can be expected over foreseeable future. And the latest announcement by Netsuite is a good demonstration of this process in action.

The company has engineered interfaces to a number of smartphone devices popular with business users including, not surprisingly, the Apple iPhone and the iOS operating system that drives it. Now it has just released an update, Netsuite for iPhone 2.1, which is claims is the world’s first end-to-end ERP application on Apple’s iOS 7 system.

As a significant player in the cloud-deliver ERP and omnichannel commerce sectors, Netsuite has an obvious requirement to interface its services with every and any type of device that business users feel best suits their needs. And many of those users will, in one way or another, fit in the category of `road warrior’.

The new version of NetSuite for iPhone is available as a free download from the Apple App Store and addresses growing customer demand for ERP users to manage business operations while on the road, using cloud-delivered services. The ability to manage and conduct business using applications such as financials, CRM and ecommerce via the popular iPhone is therefore an obvious development for NetSuite.

It allows users to create, edit and delete key business data easily from a native mobile application, and the company sees it helping to build a new era of anytime, anywhere business interactivity, productivity and speed of execution for mobile executives, managers, sales representatives, consultants, field technicians, and other staff. NetSuite cloud ERP users already span a variety of industries including manufacturing, wholesale/distribution, software, services and retail/ecommerce.

Typical use cases include where sales reps in the wholesale distribution industry can get immediate access to inventory data while on the road, allowing them to tell a customer when the item will be delivered as the customer places the order. Another is where a field service technician in the manufacturing industry can look up a customer's previous orders, customer service calls and notes while on-site, reducing service time and improving customer satisfaction.

The Key features in NetSuite for iPhone include home dashboard synchronization, full record support, business action support (such as immediate approval of sales orders and expense reports),complete activity management, record customisation support,  saved searches, expanded swipe action support, and localisation(where it can instantly adapt to specified NetSuite language settings with support for multiple currencies).