Benefits of a Customer Portal Integration with NetSuite

Introduction

In one survey, 86 percent of CMOs reported that they considered the customer experience to be critical, but only 57 percent of them felt they were doing a good job delivering those experiences. [1] NetSuite's suite of business software applications provides the engine that can deliver extraordinary customer experiences. However, the full benefits of integrating with NetSuite are available only when the software and other business applications are connected in custom integration. That approach enables the development of customer portals that can deliver singular customer experiences to each B2B customer and decision-making stakeholder.

Benefits of Integrating with NetSuite

The benefits of a NetSuite integration include streamlining administrative processes in ways that lower paper and labor costs. Integration enables employee and customer self-service options that improve morale and customer satisfaction. Platforms can offer signature customer experiences such as automated currency conversions, multiple ways to pay invoices and custom price quotes.

NetSuite ecommerce reduces the need for new hardware. The software works with existing business applications and provides point-to-point integration technology for many applications. Companies that have older software and proprietary business applications that don't work with NetSuite can engineer a custom integration to include all existing applications.

Customer Portals Generate Sales and Build Loyalty

The integration delivers stunning capabilities, but a customer portal personalizes the process for customers. The benefits of a customer portal include higher conversion rates and increased customer loyalty. When a customer enjoys the convenience of using a personalized portal, it's unlikely that he or she will migrate to a competitor to save a few cents on wholesale product prices. About 53 percent of millennial buyers are unhappy with B2B sales platform tools that don't incorporate the latest technological advances. [1] That doesn't even consider the price benefits of customer portals--B2B companies can offer extraordinarily complex pricing tiers and dynamic pricing to match the price savings that buyers might find elsewhere. The major benefits of a customer portal include:

Provide Customers with Unprecedented Levels of Access

• Just like websites, customer portals provide 24/7/365 access to customer accounts, service information, and product details and specs. Unlike public websites, portals give administrators the tools to curate content for each customer based on his or her profile. Different stakeholders in the PO process have different concerns, and a portal can provide the most relevant content for the customer's role in the decision-making process.

Deliver Multiple Options for Customer Service

• In today's complex markets, many B2B companies sell their products through multichannel sales platforms or even organize their own marketplace platforms. Some companies offer both retail and wholesale sales, and some sell products online and at brick-and-mortar stores. Portals can provide special catalogs, enhanced product research resources, and special customer service applications. These include Live Chat, chatbots, Q&As, and direct connections to call centers.

Offer Special Features for Some or All of a Company's Customers

• B2B customers have special needs that a portal can be programmed to handle seamlessly. These include splitting big orders to deliver to multiple retail addresses, providing special displays based on customer preferences, and delivering customer-specific prices, ordering limits, and special catalogs of products that some customer stakeholders are allowed to order independently.

Show Critical Real-time Information

• B2B customers often base buying decisions on stock levels, delivery options, and proof that dormant price quotes still apply. A customer portal supplies this information to customers instantly in real-time including inventory levels, applicable prices, and delivery options.

Enhancing NetSuite's Point-to-point integration

NetSuite, one of the leading cloud suites of business SaaS applications, can speed financial conversions by up to 50 percent, increase productivity by 12.5 percent and manage inventory turnover 50 percent more efficiently. [2] The benefits of integrating with NetSuite using custom development include building a fully functional portal. Surveys show that around 86 percent of B2B buyers are happy to pay more if they get a better customer experience, and a portal delivers state-of-the-art customer experiences at the highest possible level. [3] No business strategy is more important than satisfying the company's best customers.

NetSuite can provide a simplified point-to-point integration, but a full integration delivers the features and benefits that make a portal a big hit with customers. Fully integrated systems enable portals to deliver internal and external links, real-time visibility across business applications, faster resolution of customer service issues, and a suite of customer self-service tools such as personalized content, custom recommendations, instant access to past invoices, custom product searches, and third-party research connections.

NetSuite Alone Won't Do

NetSuite is an intuitive SaaS application, but it only provides point-to-point integration. In order to create a responsive customer portal, you need full integration of all your business applications. That means a custom integration from a skilled developer is essential. Fortunately, Clarity ecommerce provides custom integrations for B2B companies using development shortcuts such as Visual Studio, custom connectors, and coding resources that reduce development costs. You can also approach development in a pay-as-you-go, modular fashion incorporating and paying only for the technology that you most critically need.

References:

[1] Qualtrics.com: 18 Customer Experience Stats to Know in 2018

[2] Netsuite.com: Benefits of an Integrated Business Software System

[3] Slideshare.net: B2B customers are speaking up and begging to be heard - they want better