Managing systems like NetSuite alongside other platforms such as Shopify, Salesforce, Amazon, and HubSpot can become highly complex without business process automation, almost regardless of your company size. This is why more and more businesses are giving Celigo integration services a shot – they are implementing a powerful middleware solution that connects all of these platforms and automates entire workflows, which reduces the need for manual input.
But can Celigo help your case? And, if so, what exactly is it capable of?
In this article, we are answering these questions and more – we’ll explore what key processes you can automate with Celigo and break down the specific benefits of these automations.
Why Is Automation Important in Business Today?
For companies that have to deal with high transaction volumes, manual processing quickly can easily become a huge bottleneck. That is because when data needs to move between multiple systems (say, from Shopify to NetSuite), handling this manually invites a number of issues, namely data entry errors or time delays.
So if you are an e-commerce business that sells products through Shopify, processes orders through NetSuite, and ships through a 3PL partner, many of your manual processes will be taking away money from you, both actively (costly errors) and passively (high time consumption). Automation, on the other hand, removes these risks by creating pre-set workflows that perform these tasks automatically.
And for a more fact-based argument, according to a report by McKinsey, nearly 60% of all occupations have at least 30% of activities that can be automated. On top of that, companies that implement automation report productivity increases of up to 20-25%, which massively boosts their revenue.
How to Decide if You Need Automation
Although automation can be greatly beneficial, you must remember that it is not a panacea – not everything can and should be automated. It requires an investment of time and resources to set up, and if you mostly manage relatively simple workflows, you may not need it right away.
At the same time, if your business is struggling with any of the following, it is, indeed, time to consider automation:
- Overwhelming Manual Tasks: If your employees spend the bulk of their time manually inputting data into systems (entering order details, updating inventory, generating invoices), automating these tasks will certainly free up time for more high-value tasks.
- Discrepancies in Data: Data mismatches between your systems (incorrect stock levels or conflicting customer information) are also indicators that your practices are falling short.
- Operational Struggles: If it takes longer than it should (according to your ideals and standards) to fulfill orders or reconcile payments, then, yet again, consider automating those processes for better efficiency.
- Use of Multiple Systems: If your business relies on several different platforms (Shopify, Amazon, Salesforce) that don’t naturally talk to each other, then automation can serve as a bridge – and you can make sure of a consistent data flow between them.
Benefits of Business Process Automation
The core business process automation benefits come from the fact it essentially allows you to create structured, repeatable, reliable and scalable workflows. Which means that, almost regardless of your industry or context, BPA with Celigo can provide:
- Higher Data Accuracy: Automation always means much fewer or no data entry errors since the data gets consistently updated across all your platforms.
- Time Savings: Order processing, fulfillment updates, financial reconciliation – all of these take much less time with automation’s help. In turn, you will see faster reaction times and lower operational costs.
- Ultimate Transparency: You also get access to detailed logs of all automated workflows, which provides you with deep insights into what is happening in your systems in real time.
- Full Compliance: Many industries require very strict adherence to data handling and reporting standards – automation makes sure that you are always compliant by automatically applying certain sets of rules and keeping an audit trail of all your transactions.
Automate Entire Business Processes with Celigo
What is automation in business without a robust solution behind it? Meet Celigo – a powerful middleware that is capable of removing the vast majority of your manual efforts in the following workflows:
Order-to-Cash
Starting from when a customer places an order to the moment the payment is collected, Celigo can automate the entire OtC process – when a customer places an order, Celigo pulls that data from your e-commerce system into NetSuite for processing, adjusting inventory, generating an invoice, and even sending payment confirmation emails.
3PL Fulfillment
If you use third-party logistics (3PL) providers to handle your fulfillment, Celigo can automate the transfer of data between your NetSuite system and the 3PL, so that all your orders get processed correctly and that customers automatically get tracking updates.
Inventory Management
Selling across multiple sales channels often leads to discrepancies between the stock levels on each platform – and Celigo eliminates that problem through linking inventory data between all relevant systems (e.g. Shopify, Amazon, NetSuite). Now, whenever a sale happens on Shopify, Celigo will immediately update NetSuite’s inventory records to reflect that change.
Supply Chain Management
From suppliers to logistics providers, Celigo simplifies the SCM process by automating the exchange of data between your system – your purchase orders, shipping details, and inventory updates will always be automatically synced. So when your supplier ships you good, Celigo updates NetSuite with the tracking information and inventory levels, allowing you to keep track of this incoming batch.
Customer 360
Celigo helps you to sync your customer data between platforms like Amazon and NetSuite, so that all relevant information is available in one place. This way, if a customer makes a purchase on Amazon, their order data is automatically synced with NetSuite, which allows your customer service teams to access up-to-date info when dealing with inquiries.
Payout-to-Reconciliation
If you use multiple payment gateways, reconciling payouts with accounting systems like NetSuite can be labor-intensive – luckily, Celigo can automate this process as well. It pulls the payout information and reconciles it with your financial records, so that all transactions are accounted for correctly.
Employee Onboarding & Offboarding
Celigo is able to link your NetSuite with HR and payroll platforms, so that your employee records are updated across all systems based on certain predefined triggers. For instance, when you hire someone, Celigo can pitch in with automated payroll setup, user account creation, and system access provisioning. Similarly, when an employee leaves, Celigo sees to it that all records are updated and access is revoked.
Data Ingestion
Manually importing large volumes of data from external sources like sales data from Amazon or marketing metrics from HubSpot can be very time-consuming. Celigo automates the ingestion process by pulling data from these platforms into NetSuite for reporting and analysis.
Conclusion
If you use NetSuite in combination with other platforms like Shopify, Amazon or Salesforce, Celigo will be a top business process automation platform for you, as it will automate all of your complex manual workflows. And it can do a huge number of operations – handling order-to-cash, managing inventory, or employee onboarding, data ingestion and many more.
Overall, Celigo can easily be a catalyst for your business transformation. And should you experience any problems before, during or after the implementation process, it’s advisable to seek support from Celigo integration experts to ensure everything proceeds smoothly and efficiently.
