Business Processes You Must Automate with NetSuite ERP

If you want your business to run really well, you are expected to optimize the multiple business processes for efficient functionality. Given the fast-paced business environment, it has become extremely important to focus on avoiding manual processes. 

Manual processes tend to be more prone to errors. Companies across multiple business interests have been looking to automate their business processes. How about the best ways to set up the innovative, intelligent ways to handle repetitive tasks automatically so that you can focus on the more important strategic and decision-making part of your business? 

What Is Business Process Automation (BPA)?

Business Process Automation is a technology-driven environment that automates routine business tasks that are repetitive in nature. The Automation in NetSuite reduces manual intervention by automating routine and rule-based workflows, while still allowing human approvals and exception handling where required.

At the core, BPA uses different business tools to streamline your business operations. It reduces the manual data entry and makes sure that the business process runs smoothly around the clock with no human intervention of any nature. In a platform like Oracle NetSuite, the business operations are automated. In addition, these systems also create seamless ecosystems where information flows from one department to another. 

The BPA solutions work across businesses of any size. It's not about replacing people; it's about freeing them from tedious, repetitive work so they can focus on strategic, value-added activities that actually move your business forward.

Why Is Business Process Automation Important?

There are multiple advantages that business process automation can help you with. Here are a few reasons why business process automation is important - 

Reduced costs 

When you automate repetitive tasks, you are reducing the errors that may be caused by manual entries. This would translate into reduced cost of the employees handling repetitive tasks, lower operational costs, and better overall financial performance. 

Increased process visibility

This is yet another important benefit that you stand to gain with the BPA implementation. The automation of the processes will be helpful in having good transparency in what is happening at every stage of your business. You can track your processes and help identify your bottlenecks. This process visibility can be practically helpful in making learned decisions about your business. 

Standardised processes 

Your work is handled consistently at every stage and at every instance. There are no variations as no individual is handling these tasks. The standardised processes can be helpful in achieving predictability, quality and of course, an ability to scale up your operations. You no longer need to worry about consistency anymore. 

Improved compliance 

Regulatory compliance is one of the most important factor in any business process, and automation is one easy and simple way to help you in improving compliance with regulatory guidelines. An automated process can be helpful in creating audit trails, and thus makes sure that application rules are consistent. It should be easier for you to demonstrate your compliance with auditors and regulators. 

Simplified processes

Business process automation can be helpful in simplifying your processes. That would mean the entire business process is broken down into smaller and manageable, straightforward steps. These steps would be easy to handle. When the processes are simple, they can be less prone to mistakes and errors. 

Improved accountability

The BPA will help you in improving automated workflows. Every action is logged, tracked and attributed to specific users. This would create a clean chain of responsibility, and that would make it very easy to identify issues whenever they occur. 

Increased efficiency

The above strengths of the business process automation can be helpful in increasing efficiency. You can achieve a better processing time, quicker turnaround on critical functions, and the ability to handle multiple tasks with the same resources. This gain in efficiency can be quite powerful. 

Decreased human errors 

It should be one of the most prominent benefits you gain with BPA. Humans tend to make mistakes, but not automated systems. The automated systems perform the tasks exactly as planned. This will address the issues and errors, such as data entry errors, calculation mistakes, and oversight gaps that plague manual processes.

Processes aligned with business goals 

Automated processes can be useful and practical in aligning all your processes with your business goals. When your automation processes are aligned with intention, you will make sure that every process is contributing to your larger business objectives.

24-hour services 

The automated systems will make sure that your business will never stop working. The systems keep working even when you are sleeping. Your business automation process will be processing orders, responding to inquiries, and moving work forward. This around-the-clock capability is especially valuable in global businesses and customer-facing operations.

Key Business Process Automation Use Cases

Of course, it is not as if every business will need or work with automation. It is essential to understand which operations get the best deal with automation. That would ideally help you plan your business process automation tasks more efficiently. 

Here are a few processes that would benefit from business process automation.

High volume and repetitive tasks 

Imagine you are handling the same thing hundreds or thousands of times per month. In this scenario, automation should be your best bet. These would include tasks such as data entry, invoice processing, and routine reporting. If you are into any of these tasks, your business definitely needs business process automation. 

High-touch processes

Imagine you have multiple departments and teams. These processes would need a lot of back-and-forth communication. The best way to work in these scenarios would be to automate handoffs and notifications. It will help you reduce the delays and make sure that nothing will fall short of expectations. 

Time-sensitive processes

There are a few processes where timing matters a lot. These can include processing refunds, responding to customer inquiries, or closing financial periods. Automation in these cases can be helpful in handling these tasks almost instantly. You do not need to depend on anything for the process to complete.

Processes needing audit trails

Imagine the regulated industries and sensitive business functions. These businesses and processes will need constant documentation of every process. When automated, you can be assured that every process creates audit trails. 

High-impact processes 

These processes include the functions that need consistent monitoring. These may directly affect your revenue. These processes may also have a bearing on customer satisfaction and compliance with guidelines. Automate these processes to make sure that they are executed as expected. 

What Are All the Business Processes That Must Be Automated?

Well, that was about the types of businesses that you should automate. Now, we will have a look at the exact processes that you should automate to achieve better results. 

With NetSuite, you can automate your business across multiple function areas as outlined here below - 

Financial & Accounting Processes

Your finance department typically drowns in manual tasks. Some areas in the finance department that benefit from automation can include - 

1. Accounts payable

This is the prime function for automation. The tasks would include invoice matching, approval routing, and payment processing. If you automate Accounts Payable, you will be able to reduce the unnecessary processing time. The automation can also be helpful in catching duplicate entries and improving your relationship with vendors. 

2. Accounts receivable

You will be able to send invoices and payment reminders automatically. That way, your cash inflow will improve. The automation of receivable accounts helps you identify overdue accounts, apply payments accurately, and generate financial reports without manual intervention.

3. Bank reconciliation

The automation of reconciliation can be helpful in handling accounting deals effectively. NetSuite automates bank reconciliation using bank feeds, imported statements, and supported third-party connectivity solutions. The effective automation can help you flag discrepancies for investigation, and significantly reduce the time your accounting team spends on this monthly nightmare.

4. Expense management

Automation of expense management streamlines the complete employee expense cycle. From submission to approval to reimbursement, automated workflows ensure compliance with company policies, reduce the administrative burden on managers, and get reimbursements to employees faster.

5. Financial Close

Closing the financial year can be a very daunting and time consuming process. The proper automation will help handle accruals, reconciliations, and consolidations. Automation will help you significantly reduce the time taken to close your books. 

6. Budgeting and Forecasting

Automation can be helpful in managing your planning cycles more efficiently. Automated workflows distribute budget templates, collect input from various departments, consolidate information, and generate reports—all without manual coordination.

Sales & Marketing Processes

You can also find your sales and marketing processes getting better benefits with automation. The different departments within sales and marketing processes that can benefit from automation include - 

1. Lead management

With automation, each of your leads gets immediate attention. Leads you get are automatically assigned to the sales representatives based on territory, skill set, or round-robin distribution. You can also automate the follow up reminders, and help you with efficient lead scoring. 

2. Order management

It can take a sales order and trigger a procurement automatically. It also efficiently controls inventory updates, fulfillment workflows, and customer notifications. The orders are handled automatically and error free. 

3. Customer communication

Customers will be able to receive timely updates about their orders, invoices, and account activity. Automated emails and notifications keep customers informed while freeing your team from repetitive communication tasks.

4. Pricing and billing 

Automation will make sure that the pricing rules are applied automatically. This automation also helps you implement tiered pricing, volume discounts, and complex billing scenarios that might be difficult to manage manually.

Operations & Supply Chain Processes

Your operations and supply chain teams can dramatically improve their productivity through automation. Some of the key areas are - 

1. Inventory management

Automation will effectively and efficiently manage stock levels. It triggers purchase orders when inventory levels go down. You can get a real time insight into your inventory across all your warehouses. This can help in stockout situations. 

2. Procurement

Purchase requisitions are automatically converted to purchase orders, sent to suppliers, and matched against receipt and invoice documents. Approval workflows ensure proper authorization while maintaining visibility and control.

3. Warehouse operations 

Automation of the process optimises picking, packing, and shipping processes. Automated workflows ensure that orders are processed in the correct sequence, labels are generated accurately, and shipments are tracked automatically.

Human Resources Processes

Your HR team can have several options for automation which can go a long way in improving your operational efficiency. 

1. Employee Onboarding

Employee onboarding is made seamless both for the employers and employees. Automation seamlessly handles IT setup, benefits enrollment, compliance documentation, and training assignments.

2. Payroll

Automation of payroll helps you eliminate manual time tracking, ensures accurate calculations, handles tax withholdings, and generates pay stubs. 

3. Time-Off Management

The automation process can be helpful in time-off requests, calculates accruals, routes approvals to managers, and updates payroll automatically. 

6 Steps to Business Process Automation in NetSuite

Step 1: Identify and Map Existing Business Processes

Before automating anything, document how your processes currently operate.

In NetSuite projects, this typically involves:

1. Mapping as-is workflows across finance, sales, operations, and HR

2. Identifying manual touchpoints, delays, and approval dependencies

3. Highlighting processes with high volume, high error rates, or compliance risk

This process mapping ensures you automate the right workflows, not broken ones.

Step 2: Prioritize Processes Based on Business Impact

Not all processes should be automated at once.

Prioritize workflows that:

1. Directly impact revenue, cash flow, or customer experience

2. Consume excessive manual effort (AP, order processing, reconciliations)

3. Require audit trails or regulatory compliance

In NetSuite, prioritization helps phase automation logicallystarting with quick ROI processes.

Step 3: Standardize Processes Before Automation

Automation works best on standardized workflows.

Before configuring NetSuite automation:

1. Define approval hierarchies

2. Standardize business rules (pricing, discounts, expense policies)

3. Eliminate process variations across departments or subsidiaries

NetSuite enforces consistency through role-based permissions, approval matrices, and workflows, making standardization essential.

Step 4: Configure NetSuite Automation Tools

NetSuite offers multiple native tools to automate processes:

1. SuiteFlow for workflow automation and approvals

2. Saved Searches for alerts, reminders, and reporting

3. SuiteScript for advanced and custom automation

4. SuiteAnalytics for automated dashboards and KPIs

5. Bank feeds and integrations for financial automation

At this stage, workflows are configured, tested, and aligned with business rules.

Step 5: Test, Validate, and Train Users

Automation must be validated before full deployment.

Key activities include:

1. Testing workflows using real business scenarios

2. Validating exception handling and approval routing

3. Training users on automated processes and dashboards

User adoption is critical, automation only delivers ROI when teams trust and use it correctly.

Step 6: Monitor, Optimize, and Scale Automation

Business process automation is not a one-time activity.

Post-implementation:

1. Monitor workflow performance and bottlenecks

2. Use NetSuite dashboards to track efficiency gains

3. Refine workflows as business requirements evolve

4. Extend automation to additional subsidiaries or processes

NetSuite’s cloud architecture allows automation to scale with business growth.

Additional Business Process Automation Ideas

Apart from the core processes that we have covered above, there are several other processes that can equally benefit from the business process automation. 

Approval workflows

These form the backbone of a good governance. The approval workflow will make sure that requests will reach the right person. 

Scheduled posts and saved searches 

Tasks can be scheduled to run as per automation and distributed to the stakeholders automatically. 

Lead assignment and CRM follow up 

The leads can be distributed among your sales team. Follow up tasks are created automatically. They are assigned based on the specific criteria. 

Real-Time Dashboards with SuiteAnalytics

The real time insight lets you have a better visibility of your processes without the need to wait for reports. The dashboards are automatically updated to alert you about the issues that need immediate attention. 

Intercompany Transactions and Consolidations

This can be extremely useful in multi subsidiary organisations. Automation ensures that intercompany transactions are handled consistently and consolidations happen accurately.

Use AI-Powered Capabilities to Automate Processes

NetSuite delivers AI-powered capabilities through its Intelligent Cloud Services, supporting predictive insights, anomaly detection, and assisted automation in selected financial, operational, and analytics use cases.

Leverage Generative AI for Content

You can generate invoice messages and create customer communication. 

Transform Your Business with NetSuite Automation

Business process automation is a necessity in the competitive landscape today. Automated processes tend to be faster, more accurate, more compliant, and more scalable. If you are using NetSuite and not making the optimum use of the automation capabilities that it offers you, you are not using NetSuite properly. 

Ready to transform your business processes? Start by evaluating your current workflows and identifying the automation opportunities that align with your business goals. The ROI from business process automation often becomes apparent within months, not years.

FAQs

What are the 4 types of business processes?

Four typical types of business include operational processes (the core activities that generate revenue), management processes (activities that oversee and control operations), and supporting processes (activities that enable core and management processes to function).

What does NetSuite automate?

NetSuite can do practically any process that is repetitive in nature. This includes financial processes like AP and AR, sales processes like lead management and order processing, supply chain operations like inventory and procurement, HR processes like payroll and onboarding, and cross-functional processes like approval workflows and reporting.

How automated processes can impact a business?

Automated processes come with the benefits like reduced operational costs, faster processing times, improved accuracy, better compliance, increased employee productivity, and enhanced visibility into operations. It can also help you scale up your business.