Benefits of Integrated Payments in NetSuite

The NetSuite accounting platform has grown more popular with mid-level businesses in the last couple of years in most parts for its flexibility and the fact that it can be scaled quickly and easily.  Because of the size and need for automation that this level of business has, enhancing NetSuite’s capabilities with integrated payments can be a smart move. This simple add-on can turn on features like accepting payments directly in the software, e-invoicing, scheduled automated payments, added payment options like ACH and bank transfers, and even custom workflows and reminders to better manage receivables. 

With all the advantages, it can be difficult to know where to start and how to ensure that you are getting the functionality that you need.  To make it easy, there are four key features that you won’t want to overlook when seeking the right payment integrator for your system. Making sure that whatever integration you choose has the following capabilities will help you to make the most of the functionality available in Netsuite. 

Flexible Payment Methods and Options

Payments are a huge part of the overall customer experience, so anything you can do to improve that area will only help your bottom line. Customers like to have options and choose their preferred payment method. Look for options that offer the ability to accept the four majors – Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express as well as ACH and bank-to-bank transfers if possible.  Almost all processors allow for the four major credit card brands, but ACH and bank-to-bank are where the real savings and efficiencies are found because they offer exponentially lower and in some cases, just a flat fee to process a transaction.  This is a huge benefit especially for businesses that have large average sales where accepting a credit card with a cost of 2.50% to 3.50% can completely erode your profit margin.

Digital Billing and Collections

Manual billing processes and traditional methods like checks can be cumbersome, placing a burden on both time and resources. Additionally, they require extra effort from your customers, and tasks like writing a check and physically having to mail it, usually end up last on most people’s list.   Features like electronic invoices and statements solve this issue as well as speed up time to cash, reduce error and manual time processing, and improve your customer’s experience.  This keeps your money flowing and takes you out of the time consuming and awkward “collections role” with your customers and clients.

Automatic Reconciliation

Research has shown that cost reconciliation is the most cost-intensive and least efficient process in a company.  According to a study by EY, nearly 60% of a financial department’s resources are spent on managing transaction-intensive processes, and around 95% of this effort is wasted on transactions that already match, rather than problem entries that actually require attention. A payment solution for Netsuite needs to offer automatic reconciliation to deal with repetitive tasks like transaction matching. This not only allows your organization the ability to drill down into open entries or exceptions but also to work on more strategic activities. 

Robust Dashboards and Reporting 

Data-driven insights provide the most value in decision making. Comprehensive financial data that is easy to read can help your staff better comprehend their customers, receivables, revenue, and more. Look for enterprise-grade reporting that provides an easy way to view and analyze this data. Customization is even better – the ability to identify opportunities based on your business’s unique needs can help your company to level up. 

Optimizing NetSuite

Based on key feedback from CFOs, we know that the three most crucial tasks associated with AR include: 

• Reducing overhead costs and managing transaction fees
• Capturing payments in a way that is most efficient and helpful for cash flow
• Optimizing overall AR operations for maximum productivity

Our NetSuite payment solution allows you to hit on all three simple credit card and electronic check processing all the way up to more robust features like bank-to-bank transfers, flat fee processing, automated collections workflows – even employee virtual expense cards.  When it comes to specialized payment integrations, one size does not fit all so having this flexibility allows you to start at a level that fits your current needs and scale as your business grows and changes over time.

To learn more, check out the specific features of our NetSuite Payment Integration, or set up a quick consultation by giving us a call at 866-949-7267 and we can discuss your specific needs in detail.