NetSuite is a prominent and powerful cloud-based ERP, CRM, and e-commerce software system. The ERP was created with many modules, including finance and accounting, inventory, orders, and procurement. In addition, customers can leverage its CRM for marketing automation, human resources, sales, payroll and performance management, and more. NetSuite was developed to serve as the system of record or the source of truth for the business.

When it comes to the CRM side of the business, one of the most important aspects of becoming the source of truth is getting important information into the database. There are many reasons why this is important. One example is customer communication. Users responsible for dealing with certain customers should be able to log in to NetSuite and understand what communication has taken place across different teams. Is the customer having issues? Are they really happy? If the email communication does not make it into NetSuite, users across the business who are trying to help the customer may never know.

The reason this often does not happen is that typically it requires manual copying and pasting of emails from Outlook or Google Workspace into NetSuite. If a sales rep is out of the office or a customer success team member is busy trying to solve an issue and this action is not made easier or more automated for them, they may never do it.

There are countless other examples, such as vendor and prospective customer communication, that are impacted as well, making NetSuite email integration applications something many businesses need to address.

What is NetSuite Email Integration?

NetSuite email integration was created for business email applications, such as Outlook and Google Workspace to provide a secure connection between email, OneDrive, Google Drive, or SharePoint, and calendar information. Rather than requiring users to log in to each program and repetitively copy and paste their emails and attach files, it can all be done in the business email application where they already work every day with just a single click.

By implementing this, businesses can create a significant impact on users’ productivity… and make them much happier! It also positively impacts the customer experience by arming everyone in the organization with the information they need to serve their customers the most quickly.

In times when software purchases are being heavily scrutinized, NetSuite email integration provides very fast implementation and an almost immediate impact on ROI. Other aspects that should be considered when implementing NetSuite email integration with Outlook or Google Workspace are security, support, and ease of use.

What Should IT Teams Consider When Integrating Email and NetSuite?

 

1. EMAIL INTEGRATION COST

While every business budget is different, matching functionality to the price assigned to it is an important exercise. Does the software offer multiple editions if every feature is not important for your business? Are there volume discounts offered for multiple users? Sometimes an application may appear to be less expensive, strictly from a feature comparison, but that software may lack security requirements that could negatively impact the business if implemented. When looking at costs it’s important to look beyond features, at ease of use, support, implementation, and most importantly, security, as incidents continue to rise worldwide.

2.  EMAIL INTEGRATION SECURITY

Any NetSuite email integration app should be vetted against the most trusted security standards in the world, and be willing to provide copies of audits and accreditations. Consideration of whether penetration testing has been completed is another component to look out for. Common security standards that should be reviewed are:

• • Secure Login – NetSuite has a native 3-step authorization flow (3SA) that ensures users can log in to 3rd party apps securely. The 3SA flow supports 2FA and SSO as well. Most importantly, this ensures your users login with their NetSuite roles and helps protect your data. If a potential vendor is not using 3SA you could be placing your company data in danger. Learn more here.
  • Built for NetSuite (BFN) – NetSuite’s initiative to educate and assist SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN) Partners with their goal to provide quality SuiteApps. The program provides SDN Partners with principles and guidelines for developing SuiteApps in accordance with industry and NetSuite design best practices. Applications are recertified twice per year. CloudExtend is a Built for NetSuite application.
  • SOC1 – Focuses on outsourced services performed by service organizations that are relevant to a company’s (user entity) financial reporting.
  • SOC2 – This compliance is based on specific criteria for managing customer data correctly, which consists of five Trust Services Categories: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Celigo and CloudExtend’s SOC 1&2 reports are available upon request.
  • GDPR – Designed to create consistent data protection and privacy laws across the European Union. Companies may risk heavy fines and reputation damage if the rules are not adhered to. CloudExtend can execute a DPA for customers interested in EU and UK GDPR Privacy.
  • CCPA/CPRA – The California Consumer Privacy Act is a state statute intended to enhance privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of California, United States. Celigo’s CloudExtend is CCPA/CPRA Ready.
  • FERPA – The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 is a United States federal law that governs the access to educational information and records by public entities such as potential employers, publicly funded educational institutions, and foreign governments. Celigo manages in-process data securely, so educational institutions and their suppliers can continue to rely on our products for their integrations.

3. EASE OF USE / AUTOMATION

Every IT team wants to select software that will actually get used and prove its value. If it is not intuitive and does not help business users improve their processes or provide additional insights, often they won’t use it. When possible, select software that offers a free trial or POC so that users have the option to try it out and provide feedback before purchasing.

Look for solutions that offer a good balance of automation (such as CloudExtend’s Autopilot feature) vs manual efforts. It’s never a good idea to automate too far, i.e. you would not want every email in your inbox to go to NetSuite.

All CloudExtend applications offer a free trial because we feel it’s very important to be very comfortable with your purchase. We also offer an extensive support site here with numerous articles and videos to help you understand how to best maximize your investment.

“CloudExtend Outlook for NetSuite and the Autopilot feature have made my life a lot easier. There are a lot of back-and-forth emails that begin with a single thread. CloudExtend eliminates a lot of manual work and saves the company approximately 200 hours per user per year.”

Tom Barczak
CIO, InSource Solutions

4. SUPPORT

When implementing applications, especially the type that will be used across the entire business it’s important to consider what type of support is offered. Is the software going to help reduce the IT team’s tickets?

When it comes to NetSuite email integration with Outlook and Google Workspace with CloudExtend the answer is YES! Compared to a process where users need extensive support manually getting their emails and files into NetSuite, CloudExtend offers IT the ability to purchase, help with setup, and then we do the rest. We offer live training, pre-recorded training, master classes, and hundreds of support videos and articles.

“CloudExtend Outlook for NetSuite has freed up my time to run my business, instead of doing regular IT maintenance. The amount of time and money spent on manually recording emails and/or fixing old software far outweighs the small cost of having this app available for every employee… There was no disruption to the business or exhaustive training.”

Tony Reynolds
Director of IT, Floorex

5. IMPLEMENTATION

In an ideal world, software implementations should be quick, easy, and painless, but often they are not. They can take weeks to months and sometimes end up with the end user founding out they were getting what they expected. Asking the vendor very specific questions surrounding this and getting the responses documented is important.

CloudExtend’s NetSuite Email Integration for Outlook and Google Workspace is up and running and minutes and takes the heavy lifting off of IT.

“CloudExtend Outlook for NetSuite required minimal setup time… we were up and running in less than an hour. It cuts the time that we would spend manually attaching files and updating NetSuite records in half. We gave our employees an additional 20 hours a week to work on other projects.”

Robert Frauenheim
Founding Principal, BITS

Summary

Selecting the right NetSuite email integration application for Outlook or Google Workspace can be a challenge. Using a pre-defined checklist that considers aspects such as cost, security, ease of use, implementation, and support, can provide a huge help. It ensures that organizations consider the business challenges holistically rather than on a factor, such as cost alone.