Customizing NetSuite seems like the obvious move, right?
You need your system to fit your business, not the other way around. So, you add a custom field here, tweak a workflow there, maybe throw in some scripts to automate processes - and suddenly, NetSuite feels like your system. Perfect.
Until it’s not.
Somewhere down the line, things start breaking. Reports take forever to load. Upgrades turn into a headache. Employees avoid using certain features because they’re confusing.
And the worst part? Fixing it all is expensive.
Here’s the hard truth: not all NetSuite customizations are good customizations. Some end up costing more than they’re worth, slowing your system down, and making life harder instead of easier. And to make things worse? You often don’t see the damage until it’s too late.
That’s why we’re breaking down the most common NetSuite customization traps so you don’t walk into them. We’re not here to tell you to avoid customizations altogether (that would be unrealistic).
But we are here to help you make smart choices that won’t come back to haunt you later. Let’s get into it.
Before You Customize: Ask Yourself These Questions
Customizing NetSuite can feel like giving your system a personal upgrade. You get to shape it to fit your processes, automate tasks, and create a setup that works exactly the way you want.
But before you start tweaking everything in sight, take a step back.
Customization isn’t just about solving today’s problems - it’s about building a system that still works next year (and the year after that). The wrong choices can slow your system down, make upgrades painful, and cost way more to maintain than expected.
So, before you commit to a customization, ask yourself:
- Is there already a built-in feature that does this? NetSuite has a lot of built-in functionality that can get overlooked. Customizing something that already exists natively can be an unnecessary headache.
- How will this impact performance, upgrades, and user experience? A poorly built customization can slow down reports, make simple tasks complicated, and break when NetSuite rolls out an update.
- Will this still work for us a year from now? Business needs change. A customization that works today might become a problem down the line if it’s too rigid or wasn’t designed with scalability in mind.
- Do we have the right team to manage and maintain this? Customizations don’t just run themselves. If no one on your team understands how it works (or why it was even added), you could be in trouble when something breaks.
If you don’t have solid answers to these questions, you might be walking into a costly trap. And one of the biggest traps? Over-customizing.
Trap #1: Over-Customizing Every Little Thing
The Temptation:
NetSuite makes customization easy. You can tweak workflows, add fields, automate processes, and build scripts to make everything run just the way you like. So why not take full advantage?
The Problem:
Too much customization can do more harm than good. Here’s what happens when you go overboard:
- Your system slows down. Every extra script, workflow, and field adds more processing time. If you overdo it, even simple tasks like pulling reports or saving records can take longer than they should.
- Upgrades become a nightmare. NetSuite regularly rolls out updates, and every customization you’ve added has to be tested to make sure it still works. The more customizations you have, the harder this gets.
- Users get frustrated. Over-customization often makes the system more complicated than it needs to be. If employees have to navigate a maze of custom fields and processes just to do basic tasks, they’ll avoid using the system altogether.
- You lose flexibility. Business needs change, and so do NetSuite’s features. If your system is too customized, you might end up stuck with outdated setups that are hard to change.
The Fix:
Over-customizing isn’t just an IT problem - it’s a business problem. Here’s how to avoid it:
- Use NetSuite’s native features whenever possible. Before building a customization, check if there’s already a built-in way to do what you need. NetSuite adds new functionality all the time, and you might be able to solve your problem without adding custom code.
- Stick to must-have customizations, not nice-to-haves. Ask yourself: Does this customization actually solve a real problem? Or is it just a “would be nice to have”? It’s tempting to customize for convenience or to satisfy a wish list of minor tweaks, but too many of those "nice-to-haves" can quickly add up and complicate your system. Focus on what truly makes a difference to your business.
- Review customizations regularly. If no one remembers why a customization was added or if it’s no longer necessary, it’s time to remove it. NetSuite systems evolve, and what was crucial a year ago may not be needed today. Regularly evaluate your customizations to ensure they're still serving their original purpose.
By focusing on essential customizations and avoiding over-complicating things, you’ll keep your system running smoothly while saving yourself headaches down the road.
Less is often more when it comes to customizations.
Trap #2: Ignoring Long-Term Maintenance Costs
The Temptation:
You’ve solved today’s problem. Your customizations are in place, and the system is running smoothly - why worry about future maintenance? The cost is behind you, right?
The Problem:
- Custom scripts need upkeep. NetSuite updates regularly, and every time there’s a new release, there’s a chance that your custom scripts or workflows might break or behave unexpectedly. The more customizations you have, the more you need to keep track of, and this isn’t a one-time fix - it’s an ongoing commitment.
- Poor documentation leads to headaches. If your customizations aren’t well-documented, future admins or developers will struggle to understand what was done and why. This leads to inefficiency, longer troubleshooting times, and potentially costly errors down the road. Lack of documentation means you’re creating a tangled web that’s hard to maintain or untangle later on.
- Costly fixes down the line. When something breaks - whether it’s due to an update or a small issue - you’ll need someone to fix it. If you don’t plan for ongoing support, you might find yourself scrambling for resources. The cost of fixing things after the fact can easily exceed the original cost of the customization.
- Hidden long-term costs. It’s easy to overlook the true cost of customization when you're only focused on the immediate benefits. Customizations often require more than just the initial development effort - they need testing, monitoring, troubleshooting, and continual tweaking to keep your system running smoothly.
The Fix:
- Document everything. Proper documentation is key to making future fixes easier and ensuring continuity when staff changes happen. Describe the purpose of each customization, how it works, and any known quirks. This isn’t something to push aside - it’s vital for saving time and money down the road.
- Stay on top of updates. Don’t wait until a problem arises to check if your customizations are compatible with the latest NetSuite update. Make it a point to test your custom workflows and scripts with each release, so you're prepared when things break.
- Minimize dependencies on old customizations. Over time, some of your customizations might become outdated or unnecessary. Periodically review your system to identify customizations that no longer serve a real purpose. Getting rid of what you don’t need can save you time and effort in the long run.
- Budget for ongoing support. Maintenance isn’t just about fixing things when they break - it’s about keeping your system healthy. Build ongoing support into your long-term planning. Whether that means setting aside a budget for in-house IT resources or partnering with a NetSuite expert, make sure you have the infrastructure to deal with the unexpected.
By anticipating long-term maintenance costs and planning for them early, you’ll avoid expensive surprises and ensure your customizations continue to deliver value without draining resources.
Trap #3: Creating a System That’s Hard to Use
The Temptation: Customizing NetSuite to Fit Your Processes Perfectly
When you first start customizing your NetSuite system, it can feel like you're setting up a whole new world. It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that the more custom features, workflows, and dashboards you add, the more perfectly it will align with your business.
But here's the catch. The more you customize, the more complicated things can get for your end-users - those who will actually be working with the system on a daily basis. Developers can design a system that fits like a glove for them, but for the everyday user? It can feel like they’ve been dropped into a maze with no map.
The Problem: Overcomplicated Workflows and User Confusion
You’ve been there. You customize a process, and it makes sense on paper. But once it’s live? It’s a mess. Overcomplicated workflows lead to employees getting frustrated and, even worse, making costly errors.
Custom dashboards and screens might look great to your IT team, but the people actually using the system can feel totally lost.
What was supposed to make work easier ends up making it harder. Too many extra steps, too much information on the screen, and too many buttons to click can leave your team paralyzed, not knowing where to go next.
It’s like giving someone a shiny new tool but leaving them without a manual on how to use it.
You might even find that your system feels more like a confusing puzzle instead of a helpful resource. This type of “customized” system might look like it fits your business perfectly, but it actually creates a barrier to efficiency.
Employees will take longer to complete tasks and may start avoiding the system altogether, leading to a whole new set of problems.
The Fix: Keep It Simple, Keep It Intuitive
So, how do you avoid the trap of overcomplicating your NetSuite customizations? The answer lies in making sure the system is as intuitive as it is powerful. Here’s how:
- Test with actual users. Before finalizing any customizations, get feedback from the real users: those on the front lines. Do they find the system intuitive? Can they navigate it with ease? If not, it’s time to rethink those changes. Your team should never feel like they need a degree in IT just to get their job done.
- Keep it clean. Every extra step in a process adds friction. And friction leads to frustration. Whether it’s a custom dashboard, workflow, or a new field, ask yourself: Does this add real value? If it doesn’t, it’s just cluttering up the system. Keep things simple and only add features that truly make tasks easier.
- Use automation wisely. Automation can be a lifesaver, but it’s a double-edged sword. Too much automation can strip away flexibility and turn simple tasks into overly complex processes. Think about what tasks truly need to be automated and what can be left as manual steps. You want to save time, not create confusion.
In the end, the key to a successful NetSuite customization is to balance power with simplicity. If your employees feel comfortable using the system and can navigate it with ease, you're on the right track.
The goal is to have your system work for them, not the other way around.
Trap #4: Customizing Without a Clear Strategy
The Temptation: You See an Issue → You Customize → Problem Solved! (Or Is It?)
We've all been there. Something’s broken or inefficient in your current process, so you make a quick change to your NetSuite system. Maybe you add a new field, tweak a workflow, or throw in a custom report. It seems like a simple solution, right? And in the short term, it works.
But here’s where it gets tricky: Those quick fixes are often like putting a Band-Aid on a much bigger issue. Without a strategy in place, your quick fixes can start to pile up. And before you know it, you have a system full of random patches that don’t actually address the root problem.
Eventually, this “patchwork” approach catches up with you.
The system might seem like it’s working for now, but over time, things get misaligned, and your customizations start conflicting with each other. You end up with an inefficient system full of band-aids, rather than a well-oiled machine.
The Problem: No Cohesive Strategy Leads to Unnecessary Customizations
When you customize on the fly, there’s no overarching plan guiding your decisions. You end up solving small, immediate issues, but your solutions don’t fit into a bigger picture. And this can be a real issue as your business grows and evolves.
Without a clear strategy, it’s easy to end up with a system that doesn’t actually help your team in the way you think it does. You might even end up customizing things that don’t solve real problems at all.
Customizations that might seem like a good idea at the time could end up creating new headaches - ones you didn’t see coming.
This lack of planning can also make it harder to scale your business. As your company grows, your NetSuite needs will change. If your system was customized piecemeal over time without a strategy, it can become a tangled mess that’s hard to update or optimize as your business evolves.
The Fix: Have a Clear Strategy and Plan
So, how do you avoid getting stuck in this customization rut? The key is to start with a clear strategy and map out your goals. Here’s how:
- Map out your NetSuite goals first. Don’t start customizing until you have a good understanding of what you’re trying to achieve with NetSuite. What are your long-term business objectives? How will customizations help you reach those goals? Your customizations should always support your bigger business strategy, not just be a reaction to immediate problems.
- Get input from all teams. It’s easy to assume that what works for one department will work for another, but that's not always the case. Customizations that benefit the finance team might actually cause headaches for operations or sales. Involve everyone who will be using the system in the planning process to ensure your customizations will work across departments.
- Regularly audit your customizations. Your business will continue to evolve, and so should your system. Make it a habit to regularly audit your customizations to ensure they’re still relevant. If something no longer serves a purpose or is conflicting with new features, it’s time to make adjustments.
The goal is to make customizations that grow with your business, not just solve temporary pain points.
When you have a strategy in place, your system will stay aligned with your business goals, and your customizations will be future-proof.
Trap #5: Skipping Proper Testing Before Going Live
The Temptation:
You’ve got the customizations in place, and everything looks good. Why waste time testing? After all, it’s working in your development environment. What could go wrong?
The Problem:
- Unchecked errors lead to chaos. It only takes one small bug in your scripts or workflows to cause major issues once your system goes live. A seemingly harmless error can lead to system crashes, lost data, or even workflow failures that halt productivity.
- The true test is in real-world use. Even if something works perfectly in a development or sandbox environment, real-world usage can expose issues you didn’t anticipate. Different users, varying data loads, and unpredictable workflows can cause your customizations to behave differently than expected.
- Downtime costs. Fixing issues after your system is live isn’t just more expensive - it also leads to downtime. If your users can’t access critical parts of the system because something is broken, it can bring your business to a standstill. Lost productivity means lost money.
- Rushed fixes are expensive. Once you go live, any issue becomes a priority. While fixing problems in a controlled testing environment is easier, doing it post-launch comes with greater costs - both in terms of time and money.
The Fix:
- Test in a sandbox environment. Before making anything live, test your customizations in a sandbox that mimics your live environment. This allows you to catch errors early and address them before they affect your business. The last thing you want is a glitch that brings your operations to a halt.
- Have real users test. Developers know the system from top to bottom, but they don’t always see things from the user’s perspective. Have actual end users test the system. They’re the ones who will spot usability issues or identify areas where the workflow doesn’t quite make sense.
- Don’t skip the stress testing. Test the system under different loads and scenarios. What happens when you upload a large data set or have several users working at the same time? Stress testing helps reveal performance issues that could cause problems once you’re live.
- Monitor performance after launch. Just because testing went well doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods. Once your system is live, keep an eye on its performance to catch any unexpected issues early on. Monitoring helps you spot trouble before it spirals into a bigger problem.
Skipping testing may seem like a time-saver upfront, but in reality, it’s setting you up for more problems down the line. Thorough testing gives you the peace of mind that your system is ready for real-world use without the unexpected surprises.
Customization Done Right
Customization is a tool, not a free pass to make your system as complex as possible.
When you approach it with intention - focused on solving real problems and keeping the future in mind - it can take your NetSuite experience from basic to exactly what your business needs.
But overdo it, and you'll end up with a system that’s more of a headache than a help.
The key is simple: start with the essentials, plan for the long haul, and keep everything well-documented. A system that’s easy to maintain, adaptable to change, and doesn’t drain your resources is one that pays off.
Customization doesn’t have to be a guessing game. By keeping the right people in the loop, working with experts when needed, and thinking ahead, your NetSuite system will become the powerful asset you want it to be, without all the stress.
So, are you ready to make sure your customizations are on the right track? Book a call with Stockton10 today and build a system that works for you - now and in the future.
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