Admins / Developers

4 Reasons to Integrate Salesforce & NetSuite

By Diana Stenson

Let’s talk Salesforce and NetSuite. Ranked as the leading CRM provider worldwide, Salesforce is the best in-class solution in their category – and the same goes for NetSuite as being one of the most prominent players in the ERP market today. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that so many companies opt to use both solutions. Do you know what is surprising?

It’s surprising that so many companies opt to use both Salesforce and NetSuite without fully integrating the two systems. Sure, Salesforce and NetSuite function just fine independently, but the lack of communication between the two systems (and the teams that use them) contributes to problems that slow your business down and cost you money.

This article will explore what it means to integrate Salesforce & NetSuite and how connecting your CRM and ERP eliminates problems and creates value for your business. 

Salesforce & NetSuite Integration – It’s All About the Data

Take a minute to think about all the data that “lives” in Salesforce. 

Leads, opportunities, closed/won deals, sales history, customer contact info, and customer preferences – and that’s before you even get to custom fields unique to your business.

Now think about what’s in NetSuite. Orders, invoices, payment status, payment history, inventory, lead times, delivery schedules – again, that’s just the start of the list.

Finally, think about how much data Salesforce and NetSuite users need to exchange regularly. Sales Reps need inventory and lead time data to avoid accidentally selling things the company can’t deliver. The finance team requires customer data and opportunity details to create and send invoices. 

Your Sales Ops folks need to know if invoices have been paid so they can calculate accurate commissions. Customer Success Reps need payment history data so they can check in with bad accounts. 

READ MORE: Make Your Sales Team Salesforce Power Users: 5 Tips

We could go on, but you get the picture – there’s a lot of data exchange going on between Salesforce and NetSuite. 

Salesforce and NetSuite integration enables the data to flow automatically between systems without the need for things like emails, manual data re-entry, and swivel-chairing that slow you down and contribute to so many costly errors. Additionally, that integration should inherently respect the separation of concerns between the two powerhouses.

In the next section, we’ll look at how this data exchange solves problems and improves performance for you and your team.

Navigating Economic Turbulence

Data sync between Salesforce and NetSuite sounds nice, but is it really worth prioritizing?  

It’s a fair question – especially in a year like 2023 when economic uncertainty is inspiring leaders to scrutinize every dollar spent. According to Flexera’s State of ITAM report, nearly one third of SaaS spend goes to waste, making budget holders look into reducing SaaS spend and keeping only the necessities.

With that, the answer is yes. To adapt to economic uncertainties, businesses need to develop a sturdy and efficient framework to solve problems and invest in purpose-built solutions. Integrating your CRM and ERP will increase your operational efficiency, shore up the weak points in your revenue operations, and deliver ROI very quickly. 

READ MORE: How AWS Consulting Can Maximize Adoption ROI

Here’s a closer look at how Salesforce and NetSuite integration creates value,  and why it should be high on your list of near-term priorities.

Connect Your Core Business Functions

Integrating your CRM and ERP systems opens the door to a new level of connection and collaboration between core departments like Sales, Operations, Finance, and Service.

Here are four quick examples to help you start imagining what this enhanced connection looks like:

  • Sales team members can see live inventory data from NetSuite in Salesforce.
  • Finance has the data to calculate and pay accurate Sales commissions and Sales has visibility of it
  • Operations can see Sales order details in NetSuite as soon as a deal closes
  • Customer Success teams can view payment status and history in Salesforce when interacting with customers.

You probably already see why this is such a big deal. 

We’ll spell it out anyway: This kind of connectivity speeds up your operations and eliminates frustrating manual handoffs and miscommunications. As a result, everything from CPQ and order fulfillment to production planning and customer service gets faster, better, and more efficient.

Transform CPQ Accuracy & Speed

We’ve already mentioned that integration gives your Sales team access to live inventory data without having to leave Salesforce. Sales reps can also see up-to-date product descriptions, pricing, and lead times. All that live data access has a tremendous effect on your CPQ process. 

There’s no more waiting for information, selling products that don’t exist, promising impossible delivery times, or bad deals based on outdated pricing info. 

Instead, your Sales team has instant access to all the data they need to prepare fast, accurate quotes for customers. 

Upgrade Field Sales & Service Efficiency

How awesome would it be if your Field Sales reps spent more time with your best customers and less trying to upsell customers who haven’t paid an invoice for three  months?

What about Field Service? What if you never again sent agents to do work for customers with delinquent maintenance contracts? Or never had to reschedule another repair visit because the parts you need aren’t available?

These scenarios may sound like fantasy, but they quickly become reality when you integrate your CRM and ERP and enable data sharing between Salesforce and NetSuite.

Field Sales folks get access to customer payment history in Salesforce, so they know the account status of everyone they talk to before dropping in or scheduling a visit.

On the Field Service side, managers can see contract status and part availability before scheduling and sending out their teams.

It’s a great way to stop wasting time and money while improving the Sales and Service experience for your loyal customers.

It Doesn’t Have to Be a Long, Complicated Project

We get it – just reading “integrate Salesforce and NetSuite” is enough to make some of you scream or run in terror. But integrating your CRM and ERP doesn’t have to be a long, complicated, and expensive process.

You don’t have to write your own code. In most cases, you don’t even have to employ a complex iPaaS solution like Celigo or MuleSoft.  

Instead, innovative ISV partners have developed specialized turn-key integration solutions that can deliver a fully-functioning NetSuite-Salesforce integration in less than a week.

Summary

Integrating Salesforce and NetSuite is one of the best ways to increase efficiency and performance across multiple departments – it’s an investment guaranteed to pay off quickly.

Plus, thanks to innovative new turn-key solutions that are both extensible and customizable, CRM/ERP integration is easier than ever. There’s no reason to be afraid and lots of reasons to put integration high on your list of near-term priorities.

The Author

Diana Stenson

Diana is the Senior Marketing Manager at Breadwinner, the leading integration solution between Salesforce and finance software for businesses of all sizes.

Leave a Reply