Maintaining Transparency the NetSuite Way: A Conversation with Misty Fitzgerald

“Myers-Holum is making a name for itself. It is the top partner in the NetSuite Alliance. We have people who can really serve their customers well. Our technology solutions leverage MHI’s wealth of knowledge. Everyone here really knows what they are doing and are open to collaborating. We excel at each project because we leverage our learnings from previous customers.”

- Misty Fitzgerald, Delivery Manager at MHI

In Part 4 of our NetSuite Career Series, "Maintaining Transparency the NetSuite Way," we talked with Misty Fitzgerald about what drew her to MHI, pivotal career moments and lessons learned. Part 1: "One Consultant’s Journey to the Center of NetSuite Implementations," Part 2: "Launching a Career in Consulting," and Part 3: "MHI’s Secret to Hiring the Best Consultants & Developers," are all available for a comprehensive read of the series.

What brought you to a career in consulting?

Misty Fitzgerald - I started my consulting career at PwC. What I have always loved about consulting is that every day can be different. I get to explore many different industries and get to collaborate on the NetSuite platform across these industries. It is a wide range from mattress sales, herbal medicine to diamonds so that you gain an understanding of what is happening in each industry. We get to see the world from our clients’ perspectives.

What drew you to MHI?

Misty - What drew me to MHI is that Myers-Holum is making a name for itself. It is the top partner in the NetSuite Alliance. We have people who can really serve their customers well. Our technology solutions leverage MHI’s wealth of knowledge. Everyone here really knows what they are doing and are open to collaborating. We excel at each project because we leverage our learnings from previous customers. MHI takes collaboration up a notch from other consulting firms. Our resource collaboration is available to everyone at the firm. We all stay in touch with what everyone else is doing, we always share and collaborate so that our knowledge base is excellent.

What is the most important lesson you have learned from earlier roles that you want to bring to MHI?

Misty - The best way to become a great consultant is to learn through doing the work, to be a self-starter and ask questions when it’s necessary. We are not in an environment where you say I can’t do that because I don’t know how. We have wonderful resources in our training portal. If someone gets stuck, there is always someone else who can help, who has done it before and can offer good direction. Our consultants dig in and do the research, then reach out to their peers. That’s when they get coached to reach the next step.

What have you found that works best for you at MHI?

Misty - We have a mission to keep open communication with our managers and with direct reports. Through my weekly one-on-ones, I have good visibility on what my team is working on even if it is not my specific project. That way we stay ahead of any issues. Timing, communication and one-on-one meetings keep us very transparent. We maintain direct lines of communication and we make time for anyone when they need it.

We are also building out a more formal mentoring process. Today, we have management mentoring and peer-level mentoring so we can leverage off of each other’s experience and expertise via our Slack channels and regular meetings.

What is a pivotal moment in your life that brought you here today?

Prior to becoming in consultant, I was in Paris with a VP of Sales training him on NetSuite. I was in Paris to get everyone there onboarded with NetSuite. I worked with him for over a week, and he kept telling me that he felt he could do everything in Excel. And then, he had to present during the company’s quarterly call. He called me into his office and said he needed to speak to some specific data points. I walked him through getting the information immediately from NetSuite.

After that quarterly call, he high-fived me and said, “I’m never using these Excel files again.” Having the live data in NetSuite with such easy reporting capabilities won him over. I decided being a technical consultant was for me because I enjoy getting other people as excited about the NetSuite platform as I am.

Tell us about your life outside work.

I am married to my best friend. He’s a manufacturing engineer, and our brains think differently, which works well for us. We have a six-year-old daughter who is into judo and sings all the time. She’s full of life and makes me smile all the time. I was a certified Level I ski instructor for 8 years, and I ski as much as I can.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your younger self?

Keep better records of your contacts. I wish I had documented all the different customers and partners who I have worked with over the years. It’s so easy to get so busy that we lose track of the specific stories, those business cases that give your story more color and each memory more substance. It’s important to document each of the cool, unique opportunities that you have. It’s what helps define who you are.

Join the MHI Team

"Myers-Holum, Inc. hires the best and brightest resources in the NetSuite ecosystem. In today's competitive landscape, we often hire referrals from our internal team, but we are always open to top talent who can complement our growing capabilities. We value Certified NetSuite Consultants and are committed to building a more robust NetSuite ecosystem of talent by bringing onboard and training recent college graduates as well as hiring from the larger ERP ecosystem and cross-training them. Our dedicated recruiting team is constantly looking for proven performers who are self-motivated and who complement the high-caliber consultants that Myers-Holum is known for in the industry."- Sadie Perrotta, VP of Sales & Recruitment