After two tumultuous years, we approached the “new normal” of 2022 with cautious optimism … only to encounter burgeoning inflation, labor shortages and continued supply chain meltdowns.
When faced with uncertainty, a leader’s priority is to run the businesses efficiently, focusing on robust bottom lines as much as revenue growth. That means now is the time to proactively manage inventory to focus on high-margin items, contain labor costs by automating tasks and minimizing human error and adjust budgets to control spending in the face of rising prices.
Updates delivered in NetSuite’s 2022 Release 2 can help you with all those challenges. The system will serve as the functional data foundation on which to develop insights and focus on what you can control, instill confidence and prepare for the future.
Greater Inventory Management and Visibility
The NetSuite Smart Count solution, designed for mobile devices, helps your team do accurate inventory counts while minimizing the impact on sales and store operations. Businesses can eliminate manual, paper-based processes and reduce excess labor costs for after-hours cycle counts.
This automated, live-cycle-counting feature can be run without freezing transactions in the location, so customers are not inconvenienced. Smart Count also makes it possible for businesses to create lists of items needing to be counted, with predefined business rules and criteria. Smart Count can be set to automatically trigger a count to check accuracy of bins if they fall below a set reorder point, for example, guaranteeing that orders are placed only when inventory levels are truly low.
In addition, the Item 360 dashboard simplifies inventory planning and management. Its easy-to-use interface provides visibility into all information related to the current status of an item, in a central location. Item 360 goes beyond the basics, consolidating NetSuite data in a single dashboard to show relevant KPIs, current transactions, stock levels, inventory counts by current location and alerts in one place.
With Item 360, your business can proactively address inventory and supply chain issues that consume employee resources and hurt your bottom line.
Smart Financials and Budgeting to Boost Profits
The new Rebates and Trade Promotions SuiteApp will help maximize profits and minimize manual accounting tasks by automating and centralizing the management and execution of manufacturer rebates and trade promotions. This SuiteApp automatically and accurately applies rebates and trade promotions to all valid transactions and centralizes and automates the creation, execution, accrual and reconciliation of vendor and customer rebate programs.
With the new SuiteApp, creating and managing agreements is easy. Your team can easily define and accurately capture terms like duration, discount method, transaction qualifications, stackability and more. NetSuite automatically calculates rebate amounts by combining stackable promotions or, where codes are non-stackable, selecting the optimal deal for each order so customers are assured they’re getting the best price.
We also help you automate the settlement and reconciliation process. Multiple calculation methods are supported, including flat amount, fixed cost and guaranteed profit, and you’ll find several cost-basis options. And, rebate amounts are automatically accrued as transactions are posted to the general ledger, such as when orders are invoiced. Finally, companies can use improved financial reporting and analysis capabilities to track estimated or proforma claims and disbursements, to better account for returns and other deductions when issuing final payments.
New CRM Dashboards, Roles and Reports to Improve Your Customer’s Experience
The recently introduced CRM Add-On provides enhanced sales force automation, marketing automation and customer service management capabilities. The CRM Add-On features new roles and dashboards for sales reps, sales managers and marketing and customer service teams, providing these professionals with access to NetSuite’s real-time lead and sales activity data — and empowering them to better serve prospective and current customers.
Finally, gain added visibility into lead and sales activity with real-time forecasting and reporting introduced in new CRM Workbooks. This functionality is included with the CRM Add-On and features 10 pre-built SuiteAnalytics reports configured for sales performance metrics and KPIs, such as quote to sales conversion, opportunity forecast, and won versus lost opportunities. Not only does this eliminate the time needed to design and prepare reports from spreadsheets, but it also minimizes the risk of human error.
Learn More About NetSuite 2022 Release 2
This overview only scratches the surface of the new functionality and enhancements available in the latest NetSuite release. For a closer look at specific functionality in the new release, dig deeper into:
Supply Chain Automation(opens in new tab)
Inventory Count(opens in new tab)
Financials(opens in new tab)
CRM(opens in new tab)
Analytics(opens in new tab)
Mobile App(opens in new tab)
Discover How NetSuite 2022 Release 2 Can Help You
For more information on the full list of features and how to use them, check out the release notes(opens in new tab).
Most importantly, don't forget to request your Release Preview(opens in new tab) test account for hands-on access to see how new features will work with your data, workflows and customizations.
The preceding is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code or functionality and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, timing and pricing of any features or functionality described for Oracle’s products may change and remains at the sole discretion of Oracle Corporation.