Craig West, VP of Alliances and Channels at NetSuite chatted with me about the latest channel trends and how his company is doubling down to enable channel partners to serve more customers. He joined NetSuite back in 2002 and has gone through several channel management roles in the company. Today he is focused on identifying and driving NetSuite’s channel missions.

Craig understands ERP and how MSPs can leverage to gain deep traction with their customers. ERP is foundational to the digital transformation journey. Before joining NetSuite, he worked at ACCPAC. Craig is a great resource if you want to leverage ERP to scale your business.

Yes, ERP is not easy and the barrier of entry is probably one of the most challenging in the IT industry, but there are many shortcuts for smart MSPs to get a piece of the action. It can be as simple as buying or collaborating with a small ERP business practice to quickly onboard the expertise.

Why ERP is a big and sticky business opportunity?

Beyond the obvious reason that it literally runs all core business operations, it is something that companies rarely change. As Craig puts it nicely, changing ERP is like doing a heart transplant. It’s something that you would only like to do once in your lifetime. I would add that sometimes a heart transplant is the only way forward but it’s always better to prevent a heart attack. You may want to plan to slowly implement a better ERP to run a healthy business well into the future, instead of waiting until you feel the stabbing chest pain.

Check out my interview with Craig.