A Plain Case for Salesforce Integration With NetSuite

Many companies deploy two leading, well-proven cloud solutions to run critical aspects of their business. They use NetSuite as the enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to manage financial processes and other operations. In addition, they rely upon Salesforce as the customer relationship management (CRM) application to take care of their most important relationships. Salesforce CRM supports sales, marketing, services, and the management of customer accounts. However, many of these companies run these platforms separately instead of implementing a NetSuite and Salesforce integration.

The Sikich teams include both a NetSuite and a Salesforce practice. We have implemented and configured  NetSuite and Salesforce for hundreds of companies across a great variety of industries. When we see that an organization runs NetSuite and Salesforce as disparate systems, we almost always recommend integrating them. That means many handoffs between individuals and at various stages of processes can truly connect instead of being disjointed. Data flows freely and is visible to people who customarily only have access to either system.

Following an integration, you can automate important transitions. For instance, an order in Salesforce can trigger an invoicing task in NetSuite, which can, in turn, send a confirmation to Salesforce once that step is complete. For many Sikich clients, order management, invoicing, and access to data are the three main motivators for a NetSuite and Salesforce integration.

What Users Can Look Forward To

Two outcomes tend to happen practically immediately after the integration. 

One, you can eliminate the error-prone, redundant data entry that forces employees to spend time unproductively. Employees are now able to engage in a more meaningful task that align more effectively with their skill sets.

Two, reporting and analytics become more meaningful, accurate, and prompt. Executives and managers can think, plan, and act based on the complete, close-to-real-time data. They can respond to changing business conditions sooner, with greater assurance. Many requests for assistance in retrieving information and creating reports are no longer necessary. The IT team members or other experts who used to provide help by providing data access and reporting can be more productive.

Very often, the integration noticeably benefits Salesforce users first. In many companies, only a relatively small group of executives and finance managers can get into NetSuite to access ERP data, whereas a larger community of sales, marketing, and service execs and managers use Salesforce CRM and the information that resides in it. An integration of NetSuite and Salesforce could entail, for example, that sales executives can see how their team’s results and performance data reflect in the corporate finance system and what they mean in terms of the company’s strategic goals and metrics. Or, service managers could review manufacturing and engineering information in NetSuite to understand feature and version details of customers’ industrial equipment.

As data visibility also extends in the other direction, finance managers may now be able to review CRM data related to customers, contracts, bookings, and other elements of the business. They can make more accurate forecasts with an earlier view of financial events. They will better understand the financial trends that are about to impact the company, such as margins, account performance, revenue projections, collectability, or outstanding and aging balances. Any action or decision by them can be more proactive and timely, unhampered by ambiguity because of doubts regarding the quality and integrity of the data.

Sikich consultants often create optimized dashboards where business decision-makers and planners can see the data that matters to them in a convenient, meaningful format.

Next Steps

Want to learn more about how a NetSuite and Salesforce integration can benefit your organization? If you’re ready to get started, please contact one of our experts at any time!