From Chaos to Control: NetSuite Streamlines Your Operations and Boosts Results

In today’s competitive business environment, streamlining operations is no longer a luxury, but a critical necessity for companies across all industries. Depending on the individual company, streamlining goals can include eliminating redundancies and bottlenecks, improving resource allocation, minimising errors, lowering operational costs, getting to market faster, or all of the above.  

Defined as “the improvement of the efficiency of a certain process within an organisation,” streamlining can be achieved with automation, task simplification and/or the elimination of unnecessary steps using modern techniques and technology.  

“Streamlining is the optimisation of business processes within an organisation,” Corporate Finance Institute explains. “Fully optimised and automated operations help businesses achieve their highest potential, saving time, and minimising risks.” 

Five Ways NetSuite Streamlines your Operations

Companies across the UK are using technology to eliminate repetitive tasks, handle materials in the warehouse, manufacture vehicles and provide around the clock customer service to their customers (using chatbots). These are just a few ways technology is altering the business landscape and helping companies work smarter, faster and better.

NetSuite’s cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform is playing a key role in many companies’ operational streamlining projects. Here are five different ways the ERP helps companies do more with less:

1. Create a single source of data. “Much of the value of ERP can be traced back to the fact that all information from different departments is stored in one place,” NetSuite states. “Without such a system, data is often spread far and wide across an organisation in various applications and spreadsheets, making it harder for staff to track down whatever it is they need.”
2. Access real-time, accurate reporting. “If it takes two weeks to receive revenue numbers from the last quarter, that’s not very useful because the information is already outdated and may not be relevant,” NetSuite explains. “But if revenue totals update in real time, as each sale happens, you can immediately use it to inform decision-making. This has become critical in today’s fast-paced, hyper-competitive environment.
3. Minimise delays and improve response times. From procurement and inventory management to sales and customer relationship management, an ERP like NetSuite standardises and streamlines processes, reducing errors and enhancing overall operational efficiency. Integrated workflows and notifications further facilitate seamless communication and collaboration among teams, Medium adds, effectively minimizing delays and improving response times.
4. Shift to data-driven decision-making. Accurate up-to-date data is essential to making informed business decisions, and NetSuite helps put that data right into your hands via user-friendly, customisable dashboards. “ERP systems provide real-time visibility into various aspects of the organisation, including inventory levels, sales performance, financial data, and customer insights,” Medium says. “Decision makers [get] transformational insight, detect trends and forecast outcomes with a broad reporting and analytical capability that allows them to make data-led decisions at all levels of the organisation.”
5. Get everyone working from the same playbook. NetSuite also standardise workflows that may differ across departments, locations or geographies. For example, how one department handles a certain process may differ from that of another department. Even two employees within the same department may not follow the same steps to make payments, for example. “An ERP system should eradicate those discrepancies, ensuring everyone is following the same best practices,” NetSuite says. 

NetSuite Rolls out New Streamlining Features

In October 2023, NetSuite introduced a new set of tools designed to help companies reduce costs, run more efficiently and improve their top and bottom lines. According to a company press release, some of the ERP’s new tools—many of which support operational streamlining—include:  

As a NetSuite Alliance Partner, SANSA Solutions helps you maximise the value of your ERP investment through consulting, implementation, optimisation and support services. We offer unrivaled efficiencies in building teams of the best-certified professionals who are then immersed in your business and focused on delivering operational excellence. Contact us today to learn how we can help you streamline your business processes in a way that saves both time and money.