NetSuite 2023 Release 1 is here and it brings significant improvements to the way businesses manage their workforce, finances, processes, supply chain, and customer experience.

With the 2023 Release 1, NetSuite has taken into consideration the needs of organisations and made several key changes that can enhance their overall efficiency and productivity.

In this article, we dive deep into NetSuite 2023.1 and take a closer look at how it can help you:

Smart Financials and Operational Excellence

NetSuite 2023 Release 1 offers automation and standardisation capabilities that free up employees for more complex tasks.

NetSuite AP Automation allows companies to upload vendor bills easily, simply by emailing them to the system.

Emailed bills are automatically processed to create digitised versions; populated with relevant details like vendor name, PO number, items ordered, quantity, and pricing. They are also matched to the appropriate purchase order.

Companies offering subscription services will benefit greatly from the 2023.1’s new uplift at renewal feature. This allows SuiteBilling users to automatically apply a percentage price increase to a customer’s renewal pricing.

Increases can be set during subscription creation or renewal and are flexible enough to calculate percentage uplift at the line-item level, saving companies a significant amount of time.

Other notable improvements in 2023 Release 1 for finance teams include:

• The Rebates and Trade Promotions SuiteApp can now automate rebate and trade promotion calculations on kits and assembly items, in addition to standard inventory items.
• Those operating with tax-exempt units can assign nexuses to a subsidiary, classify it as tax-exempt, and skip the assignment of a tax engine — effectively disabling tax calculations on transactions for that nexus.
• Nonprofits can now control their indirect cost allocation more effectively by entering a provisional or agreed-upon rate for a custom segment, such as a grant. This allows for improved cost management and allocation.

Continuous Employee Engagement

NetSuite 2023.1 brings several improvements that benefit finance teams, supervisors, and employees alike with SuitePeople Workforce Management. The finance team will appreciate the automation of wage calculations and seamless integration with NetSuite Payroll.

People managers will benefit from streamlined shift scheduling and improved communication. At the same time, employees can easily capture time and attendance, view schedules, clock in and out, and request shift changes from any device.

Customers also see benefits as Workforce insights, such as sales data, help businesses match labour supply with business demand, ensuring the right number of employees are available to serve customers.

For businesses with complex labour needs, such as employees working on multiple tasks or for different clients, or in regulated situations, such as a driver needing a certain amount of rest hours, NetSuite 2023.1 has you covered.

Employees can easily change their status throughout the day and keep track of pay rates and hours worked by location and task. A built-in wage rules engine helps you automatically calculate hours, overtime, and holidays and avoid overscheduling a worker — and running afoul of regulatory requirements.

Level the Field with Analytics

The cloud-based NetSuite Analytics Warehouse enables small and midsize companies to level the playing field with their large enterprise competitors by providing insightful analysis of various data types.

Built on industry-leading technology, including Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse and Oracle Analytics Cloud, the Analytics Warehouse gives customers access to nearly 90% of NetSuite transactional record types and allows for deeper analysis with new data sets in key areas such as sales, inventory, financials, purchases, and support management.

With 2023 Release 1, businesses of all sizes now have the tools to make data-driven decisions.

NetSuite 2023.1 offers even more analytics features including:

• An expanded range of pre-constructed dashboards and visualisations, specifically tailored for professional services, software vendors, and manufacturers.
• Direct links to three popular cloud applications: Salesforce, Shopify, and Google Analytics.
• The ability to connect other applications, including legacy systems, via CSV files or spreadsheet import.

Autonomous Supply Chain

Maximise your warehouse employees’ time — and minimise shipping charges — with new NetSuite Ship Central packing and shipping capabilities in 2023 Release 1. Equip warehouse workers with the Ship Central mobile application, which adds shipping functionality to NetSuite Pack Station.

With NetSuite’s 2023 Release 1, workers can streamline the shipping process by identifying and consolidating multiple orders going to the same customer, determining the optimal carrier based on delivery date or location, and printing shipping labels in real time.

Additionally, the Warehouse Management System (WMS) has become more efficient for picking, with the ability for multiple employees to pick kits based on zones and pool items for packing. Warehouse floor workers can now mark partially picked orders as complete, allowing for low-stock items to be reserved for other customers.

Efficiency is further improved with the ability for pickers to mark bins as empty, whether it be due to a lack of quantity, damage, or other issues. This eliminates wasting time searching for empty bins and alerts replenishment workers to restock. If bins are found to be unexpectedly empty or damaged, they can be blocked and an alert can be sent.

In 2023 Release 1, additional benefits for warehouse personnel and manufacturers include:

• Improved NetSuite Smart Count for tracking serialised and lot-numbered items with both forward and backward tracing.
• A new Costed BOM Report SuiteApp for a complete view of costs for producing assembly items, including materials, labour, machinery, set up, and overhead expenses.
• The Manufacturing Mobile SuiteApp now enables standalone assembly creation without a corresponding work order.
• NetSuite Quality Management now offers automatic inspection requests for products made by contract manufacturers for QA teams.

An Elevated Customer Experience

Get ahead in delivering top-notch customer experience with the combined power of CRM, CPQ (configure-price-quote), eCommerce, inventory and financial management solutions offered by NetSuite 2023.1. The 2023 Release 1 enhances your business offerings with innovative tools that streamline your customer experience.

With Intelligent Recommendations, gather insights from purchase histories, transactions, customer behaviour and more to better understand your customers and make data-driven product suggestions. These automated recommendations now extend beyond SuiteCommerce web stores and can be accessed in NetSuite CRM opportunity, estimate, and sales order records.

NetSuite CPQ brings new functionalities that allow businesses to easily capture complex customer requirements and generate accurate quotes with the right configurations. The 2023.1 release features a dropdown helper on the ruleset maintenance page for faster, more efficient and error-free rule building. Managers can also limit access to the CPQ maintenance UI to specific roles, companies or departments, ensuring a consistent look and feel for online customers.

For added convenience, SuiteCommerce and SuiteCommerce Advanced web stores now support Google Analytics 4 and ACH payments in the checkout flow.

Platform Development Streamlined

The SuiteCloud Platform’s 2023.1 release features a new Visual Studio Code Extension and other upgrades, including 8 standard REST records, support for Java 17, and improvements to simplify building customisations and integrating with other apps.

Optimising the Project Lifecycle

In NetSuite 2023 Release 1, professional services organisations will have access to new tools such as an improved Project 360 Dashboard and enhanced project cost management capabilities. These tools will help to optimise the project lifecycle and free up funds for hiring to 

Finance teams looking to accurately recognise revenues and costs over accounting periods, even during years-long engagements, can gain the insights they need with the Project Cost to Cost Percent Complete SuiteApp, along with Advanced Revenue Management — no matter what stage of the project you’re on.

The charge-based billing in 2023.1 gives you the power to configure customer-specific rules that align with your company’s accounts receivable processes and customer preferences, complete with the ability to create charges through project records or directly against a customer record.  

NetSuite 2023 release 1 is Yours to Take

Unlock the potential of NetSuite 2023 Release 1 and push your business to new heights!

If you’re already using NetSuite in your organisation, you can request your Release Preview test account for hands-on access to see how new features will work with your data, workflows, and customisations.

For more information on the full list of features and how to use them, talk to us to help you access the release notes.

Our NetSuite Consultants are always ready to help you get the most out of your NetSuite investment. We can provide guidance on how to make the most of new features and advise on best practices for upgrading from previous versions.