NetSuite 2021.2 Release Sneak Peek & Industry Wise Features Highlights

NetSuite offers regular updates at consistent intervals. It is that period we must be looking for significant upgrades and excellent localization capabilities. The crucial modules are upgraded as expected, and this impacts a lot of NetSuite customers. NetSuite 2021.2 release has a lot of advantages to

1. Software Companies
2. Wholesale Distributors
3. Manufacturers
4. Retailers
5. Service-Based Companies
6. Non – Profit Organizations

The new upgrades also have a lot for the developers as well as the admins. The updates happen till October 2021, and if you are a NetSuite customer, do not forget to log in to your dashboard to know the same. Of course, this article will give a detailed overview of all the NetSuite upgrades this year. 

NetSuite Upgrade 2021.2 – A Snapshot

With business Leaders still facing challenges, the NetSuite latest version acts as a revival. The requirement of more relevant and accurate data is offered more comprehensively this time. If you plan to cut down on the cost and increase productivity, these new updates will interest you.

This column gives a quick overview of what is in it for you. For ease, we have divided the updates into three main segments.

1. Finance Automation Updates in NetSuite 2021 release 2

Ease of Payment: The new upgrade has brought in a lot of flexibility in payment methods. The emails that your customer receives as an invoice will have a payment link embedded. The customers can make easy and secure payments through the links with various options available for them to pay. The customers can also make partial payments, and it is accounted for clearly by the software. The SuiteCommerce, ‘My Account area also has an update towards ACH payments. It allows your suppliers or your vendors to make the payment with maximum ease. 

Reduction in Manual Work: The best part about the Finance automation upgrade is that the cleared invoices are directly matched with the bank account with an open invoice. It drastically reduces the manual entry of data and verification of the same. 

Subsidiaries Unified: With the NetSuite Current version having many features for subsidiaries, the upgraded software will help consolidate the purchase requests. The purchase order shall be processed depending on the entity regardless of whichever subsidiary creates the order. The intercompany accounts shall maintain the payments shall also be cross managed easily.

2. Inventory Management Updates in NetSuite 2021.2

• Map Revenue With Inventory: This is a brand new upgrade that most retailers and wholesalers would benefit from. Now, you can plan the allocation of inventory based on the sales orders that you can map with the gross profit or even the revenue. 
• Warehouse Management Made Easy: Now, you can ship an order quickly with mobile devices too. The cartons can be added or removed, making multiple shipments to the same destination reduces your shipping cost. If there are multiple orders, you cannot ship the order unless the order is complete. 
• Customization Made Possible: You can make your customization by allotting numbers and codes to the products. The manufacturing date and the shipment date add to make the order shipment more organized.

3. Employee Engagement Updates in NetSuite Upgrade 2021.2

401(k) plans automated: SuitePeople is automated with formulas and calculations to match the team member with 401(K) plans. If there is a change in the contribution amount, it shall be automatically updated too.

Retirement Plans Introduced: The new age matching criteria helps employees over 50 contribute towards retirement plans. The automation technique also suggests various plans that follow the IRS rules too. 

NetSuite release schedule and its benefits for various industries

Having seen these snapshots, let us get into a detailed overview of the NetSuite release schedule and its benefits for various industries.

I. Software Companies Feature Highlights

Bulk Subscriptions Management: The new feature allows companies to automate the activation and suspension of multiple subscriptions in one go. You can simultaneously activate or suspend the services of many subscriptions. You can also filter the data and find the products that need processing too. It helps software companies to handle a large number of accounts in an organized fashion.

HSBC Integration: The HSBC, foreign exchange rates, are not integrated with the NetSuite platform. The API automatically updates the foreign exchange rates, and as a business, you can find the recent updates in the rates and proceed with the transaction.

Banking Processes Updated: With the payment link sent along with the invoices, it is easy for your customers to make the payment through multiple options. Also, mapping the payment with the bank account is made possible now. The subsidiary management system helps in allocating the payments to the correct bank account.

Performance Management: The process of performance management review is made easy now. The performance is monitored, and the stakeholders will receive the required actions and suggestions to speed up the process. Further, the employees will receive the performance report, and one need not sign multiple acknowledgment forms this time. Also, a team member will have the leverage to view the task and goal status based on the performance. 

II. Wholesale Distributors Feature Highlights

Intelligent Inventory Management: The warehouses now can customize their management techniques by allocating lot numbers. As a NetSuite Alliance Partner, you will receive suggestions to automate the inventory management process to increase productivity. As the lot numbers are allotted to the items, they can be easily identified, and one can quickly complete the order shipment. 

Inventory Forecasts: The intelligent NetSuite software can now track the customer’s purchase habit and keep informing you about the product that is most sought after. You can make necessary arrangements for the products; availability to improve on your sales count. The possible reduction of product availability in the warehouse is notified well in advance too. 

Generate Quality Certificates: You can also generate certificates of analysis with the help of the templates present now. It will help you send the certificate to the customer while being transparent about the quality of the product. 

III. Manufacturers Feature Highlights

Supply Planning Enhanced: The new feature in NetSuite helps in identifying the demands and allocate the resources to complete the manufacturing process. You will get the date, week, and month-wise data. The data-driven approach will help you make informed decisions in purchase orders too.

Master Production Schedule: With the available resources, you can also create a production schedule. It will be level-based and monitor every level of the manufacturing process. Similarly, the requirement of supplies is monitored along the way. 

Stock Availability and Prediction: The new update shall help you predict the latest date by which a product can be made available. The data-driven software considers the lead generation times, supply allocation strategies, and much more to arrive at the date and time.

The other features, as we saw earlier, like finance automation and creating lot numbers for your products, are the same. The invoices will still have the payment link with the new upgrade. 

IV. Retailers Feature Highlights

Website Automation: With the previous process taking a lot of time to integrate automation into your website, the new feature helps it run at the backend while handling the business safely. You can install SuiteCommerce with just a click. 

Customer Behavior Data: The NetSuite Implementation consultant will help you understand the importance of this update. The customer behavior in terms of keyword search, purchasing decisions, quotes, items selected, and so on is mapped with SuiteAnalytics and the CRM. It will help you get deeper insights into customer purchasing ideas. Also, the products that move fastly and regularly can be monitored.

Marketplaces Increased: The new version can integrate with many marketplaces. It includes Walmart, Amazon, 3PLs. It integrates e-commerce platforms like Magento and Shopify. The SuiteConnector also helps in seamless data flow between the applications. 

Inventory Management: The new scanning and updating method helps in managing the inventory with top-class automation. You can scan the item, and it will update automatically in the inventory tool. Simultaneously, if the product is reduced from the warehouse, it is notified too. 

The mobile manufacturing app helps in serial tracking as well. You can also monitor whether a product can be shipped at a particular time. The tool will also notify if one cannot do it. It will help the inventory department of yours to take clinical actions to allocate the resources as well. You can check for the products that can be shipped earlier with this tool. The filtering feature helps you to see the items that can be shipped earlier too.

V. Service Industries Feature Highlights

Project Status: The project managers will have utmost interest in this feature. The project completion time and status are easily viewed now. You can make informed decisions to speed up the process if you cannot meet the deadline. Further, the performance of every team member can be seen as well. It will help you identify the resource as a reason for the delay. 

Project Managers as Approvers: In SuiteApprovals, the users can now appoint the Project managers to take care of the project-based decisions. If you are a project manager, you can control, reject and approve the projects with a single click. Also, expense-based reports can be approved or rejected now. 

Subsidiary Management: This is an excellent enhancement for service companies. As the purchase order is given from one entity, the receivables are tracked and sent to that entity only. Also, the expense and other account factors are kept intact for every single entity in the system.

As with other industries, you can control overspending as well as transactions. The bank and payment mapping system helps to receive funds in the respective bank accounts now. With 401(k) plans, the automation helps the employees alter the contribution amount, which gets updated instantly.

VI. Non-Profit Organizations Feature Highlights

Fundraising Technique Customized: With the new feature, you can see the fundraising metrics such as donor and efficiency of the process. The dashboard is updated to get real-time data.

Budgeting Plans Enhanced: The new update in NetSuite can help you map the expense vs. revenue. You can monitor the expense, and budget updates are given from time to time. It helps you to take action towards fundraising activities. 

Payments Made easy: The payment links and multiple payment options make it easy for Non – profit organizations to receive funds from donors. The NetSuite records every transaction, so you can also generate the report on the same. You can do this daily, weekly, monthly as well as yearly. 

VII. Developers and Admins Feature Highlights

1. SuiteTalk REST services are enhanced in this version. The integration with third-party applications is made easy in this upgrade. 

2. SuiteCloud services offer support for Microsoft Visual Code. 

3. SuiteCloud Developmental Services is enhanced in this version. The project life cycle is monitored effectively now.

4. You can make country-specific SuiteApps with this new release now.

5. You can create an intelligent Account workbook by integrating it with top-class applications.

ANZ Localization is possible with this new NetSuite Implementation Services. As a business, you can set up your preferred location in Australia and New Zealand. You can also maintain the vendor records accordingly. 

SuiteApp verification is a new update in this release. As you install, the businesses can verify the customizations too. As such, if an update is blocked, an email is automatically sent to the administrator. 

The automation process of receiving the customer or client data without a proper bank match is excellent. You can organize the payment norms and methods using this feature. It is highly recommended to get hands-on these updates with the new NetSuite 2021.2 release notes. 

Checking the same for your customization will give you a lot of opportunities to expand and automate. Do not negate any update this time as it looks promising for most of the industries. 

Let’s listen to a thorough podcast on the announcement of NetSuite Release 2021.2