It’s been said before and it’s worth saying again: Cash Is king. It lets you pay your bills, hire more people and invest in growth. Without cash, your business won’t survive. So finding ways to keep it coming in should always be a priority. While there are several tactics for improving cash flow, controlling costs and getting customers to pay their bills are at the top of the list. NetSuite 2021 Release 2 includes enhancements that make it easier to do both.

Accelerate Customer Payments

Giving your customers an easy way to pay their invoices not only makes it convenient for them, it also increases the probability of the bill being paid on time. With the new payment link feature in this release, you can include a “pay now” option on PDF and email invoices. Each invoice is assigned a dedicated URL, so there is no need for customers to register or log in to a user account before making a payment, saving them time and aggravation.

The payment link feature supports multiple payment methods, including credit/debit card, ACH transfer or third-party payment provider like PayPal. Customers can also choose to pay in full or make a partial payment. You can even set a minimum payment amount or percentage. And because each invoice has its own unique URL, customer payments are automatically connected to the appropriate invoice. NetSuite 2021 Release 2 adds ACH payment options to SuiteCommerce MyAccount as well, which also helps you get paid faster.

Automate Transaction Matching

Effective cash management is critical for a successful business, but having funds deposited in your account is only part of the process. Those payments must also be matched to the appropriate invoices so they can be cleared from accounts receivable (AR). Doing this poorly affects your cash flow statement and balance sheet by showing higher receivables than you actually have.

If your business receives hundreds or thousands of payments every month, however, it can be difficult for accounting staff to apply cash receipts to open receivables in a timely manner. These delays not only hurt days sales outstanding and AR aging, they can also lead to mismatched or overlooked payments. NetSuite’s automated cash application and bank feeds feature avoid these problems by automatically matching customer payments with open invoices and updating the general ledger. This reduces the risk of error and helps ensure financial statements are accurate.

Consolidate Purchase Requests

NetSuite 2021 Release 1 introduced centralized purchasing for companies with subsidiaries. NetSuite 2021 Release 2 builds on this functionality, allowing companies to combine purchase requests from different subsidiaries to create a single purchase order. Consolidating multiple requisitions reduces the number of POs created, saving time and allowing purchasing staff to focus on other priorities. It also increases order volume, creating opportunities to save money by taking advantage of discounts or negotiating better pricing.

Learn More About NetSuite 2021 Release 2

This brief overview is only a snapshot of the latest release. NetSuite 2021 Release 2 introduces dozens of new features and enhancements. Read the release notes or tune in to the 2021 Release 2 podcast episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube to learn more.

Story by D. Scott Beaver