NetSuite, the provider of cloud-based financials and omnichannel commerce software suites, has announced that Lonely Planet has selected NetSuite OneWorld for its business management software.
NetSuite OneWorld is set to replace SAP R/3 4.7 and Salesforce.com which is part of a broader IT strategy to move to the cloud to achieve a more flexible and nimble IT operation.
Lonely Planet, the travel guidebook publisher, plans to deploy NetSuite OneWorld to help better manage its core business processes, including financials, customer relationship management (CRM), demand planning, project management, warehousing and manufacturing.
NetSuite OneWorld will also provide multi-subsidiary, multi-language and multi-currency support that will allow Lonely Planet to manage its operations in real time by consolidating financials for five to ten different currencies, automating reporting and performing cost of sales analytics in Australia, the US, UK, India and China.
Lonely Planet boasts 350 employees, 200 authors and more than 120 million books printed in 11 different languages. It is the number one travel guide book brand in the US, Australia and the UK. However due to the decline of the print industry, Lonely Planet has aimed to evolve with new technologies. It now has more than 150 million unique users visiting its website every year and has more than 11 million apps downloaded.
Gus Balbontin, CTO of Lonely Planet comments on the adoption of new technology to stay relevant in the market: "The reality of fast-changing market conditions means we need to stay ahead to generate future revenue and remain relevant. This is the main driver for moving our entire IT strategy to the cloud, so we can gain greater flexibility to move quickly with the market as it changes, and to expand our footprint globally. With our business model changing in such a big way, we can’t rely on a heavily customised and costly ERP solution to give us the agility we need. This is why we turned to NetSuite to give us the required flexibility, speed and agility to more easily achieve our broader growth strategy."
