It Pays to Know Your Staff

This story appears in the August 2007 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

If you're using a combination of Outlook and Excel to handle typical HR and accounting functions, there's an easier way. Employee Resource Management, or ERM, streamlines employee-centric functions and makes tracking them part of a broader business software system. NetSuite's new ERM module meshes with the company's software-as-a-service suite designed to give growing businesses complete control of their organizations without the fuss of servers filled with enterprise applications.

NetSuite's ERM automates a number of tasks that are time-consuming due to inefficiencies and administrative overhead. In addition to vacation or sick leave and time sheets, these tasks include approving expense reports or purchase requests and tracking employee reviews.

An ERM module that meshes with a company's spectrum of activities makes for a much more informed company. Being able to review reports from an enterprise software system and see real-time inventory or orders is a powerful thing, but being able to overlay HR and accounting data is even more powerful. Companies can use ERM to discover previously hidden bottlenecks or unexploited efficiencies--all for just $99 a month for five users with a NetSuite subscription ($499 a month).