This is a guest post written by Antonina Kharchenko. Antonina is a Salesforce Admin with six certifications. Her passion for Salesforce started in 2021, and since then she has gained extensive experience maintaining Salesforce orgs, automating workflows, and improving day-to-day processes. She continues to expand her skills and enjoys sharing her knowledge with the Salesforce […]
This is a guest post written by Antonina Kharchenko. Antonina is a Salesforce Admin with six certifications. Her passion for Salesforce started in 2021, and since then she has gained extensive experience maintaining Salesforce orgs, automating workflows, and improving day-to-day processes. She continues to expand her skills and enjoys sharing her knowledge with the Salesforce community.
Why Quote to Cash Slows Down
Salesforce helps teams track opportunities, create quotes, and manage customer data. Everything works well until it is time to deliver products, issue invoices, or collect payment. That is when the process often slows down.
The main reason is simple. Salesforce does not always communicate automatically with the ERP system, such as NetSuite. Sales teams finish their work, but finance and operations teams often wait for information to move manually. When data moves slowly or in different formats, the full quote to cash process experiences delays and errors.
NetSuite supports 40,000+ customers globally and continues to grow. In 2025, its platform generated around $1.0 billion in quarterly revenue, and its customer base now spans over 219 countries. Around 80% of these customers are small and mid‑size businesses, making NetSuite a strong example of a cloud ERP that many organizations rely on.
This article explains where these bottlenecks appear, how they affect your teams, and how to fix them with a Salesforce NetSuite integration. It also introduces a practical solution available on AppExchange that can help with the process.
What Quote to Cash Means
Salesforce quote to cash is the full process that starts when a salesperson creates a quote and ends when money arrives in the bank. The main steps include:
- Creating a quote in Salesforce: The salesperson builds a detailed offer for the customer, including products, prices, and any discounts. This sets the foundation for the deal.
- Collecting approvals for the quote: The quote may need approval from managers or finance before it can be sent to the customer. Approvals ensure pricing and terms are correct.
- Sending the quote to the customer: Once approved, the quote is delivered to the customer for review. This can be via email or a customer portal.
- Receiving the final order: The customer confirms the order. Any adjustments or changes are recorded before the order moves to delivery or service.
- Sending the order for delivery or service: Operations or fulfillment teams receive the order and prepare products or services for delivery.
- Creating an invoice: Finance generates an invoice based on the order. The invoice includes all details like product, quantity, price, and payment terms.
- Collecting payment: The customer pays the invoice. Finance tracks the payment and ensures the transaction is completed successfully.
When all steps are connected and work well, information moves quickly, errors are minimal, and customers receive their products or services without delay.
The problem begins when sales finish their part in Salesforce, but finance or operations must work manually in the ERP. Manual handoffs create bottlenecks, delays, and frustration across teams.
Where the Bottlenecks Start
Bottlenecks happen when Salesforce and the ERP system, such as NetSuite, do not communicate automatically. Automation can reduce process costs by up to 30%, yet many companies still spend large amounts of time on work that could be automated. These delays show how much time and accuracy are lost when manual steps remain in the Salesforce quote to cash process.
Here are the most common bottlenecks:
1. Manual Order Entry
When a deal closes in Salesforce, someone in finance may need to type the order details into the ERP. With complex items, discounts, or special configurations, errors can happen easily. Mistakes delay delivery, change prices, or affect reporting.
2. Slow Approvals
Approvals inside Salesforce can be fast. But once the order moves to the ERP, finance often needs to approve it again. People send emails, check files, and duplicate work. This slows the full process.
3. Missing Product Data
Many companies store product and price information in the ERP. Salesforce may not always have the latest version. When sales teams build quotes with outdated data, finance must correct them later, creating extra work.
4. Delayed Invoices
If the ERP does not receive orders on time, invoices are delayed. Late invoices delay cash collection and make revenue forecasting harder. Leaders may struggle to see the real financial picture.
5. Lack of Visibility Across Teams
Sales wants to know when orders are delivered. Finance wants to know why a quote included a discount. Operations wants to see what was promised to the customer. When systems do not share information automatically, teams must ask questions and spend time tracking details.
How to Fix the Bottlenecks
To solve the slow points, companies need a clear plan. The goal is not to replace Salesforce or NetSuite, but to make them work together as one system. Here are the key steps to support the full flow across Salesforce quote to cash objects.
- Sync product and price data. Ensure Salesforce always has the correct product and pricing information from the ERP. Teams can create quotes with accurate prices and items. Finance does not need to correct data later. A simple sync keeps both systems aligned.
- Automate order creation. When a deal closes in Salesforce, the created sales order should appear in the NetSuite. No manual entry, no copying, no delays. Finance and operations can start work immediately, and customers get faster responses.
- Bring status updates back to Salesforce. Sales teams want to know what happens after a deal closes. When the ERP sends updates back to Salesforce, sales can see delivery, invoice, and payment status without asking other teams. This improves customer service and team efficiency.
- Automate invoices and payments. Once the order exists in the ERP, invoices can be created automatically. Payments can be tracked and updated in Salesforce. Automation ensures invoices go out on time and cash collection is faster.
- Track everything in reports. With both systems connected, Salesforce becomes the central place to monitor the full process. Leaders can see revenue, forecast, and invoice status accurately. Finance gets clean data. Sales gets visibility. Everyone works with the same numbers.
Looking for a Solution on AppExchange
If you want to get automation quickly, the first place to look for solutions is Salesforce AppExchange. When searching AppExchange for tools to connect Salesforce and NetSuite, Breadwinner for NetSuite appeared first in the search results. In this article, we will use it as an example to show how a ready-made solution can help with the quote to cash Salesforce process.
NetSuite integration on AppExchange
Breadwinner is a native application that connects Salesforce with NetSuite. It allows sales orders, invoices, and payment updates to flow automatically between Salesforce and NetSuite, reducing manual work and errors.
How to Get the App
Step 1: Search for the app on AppExchange: Go to Salesforce AppExchange and look for an app, for example,Breadwinner.
Breadwinner on AppExchange
Step 2: Install the app: Click “Get It Now” to install it in your production org, or “Try It” to install it in a sandbox (for testing). Installing in a sandbox first is recommended so you can test safely without affecting live data.
Step 3: Connect to NetSuite: After installation, follow the setup guide to link your NetSuite account. This step ensures that Salesforce and NetSuite can communicate and share data automatically.
Breadwinner’s Setup
Step 4: Configure permissions and data sync: Assign the right user permissions and decide which data: orders, invoices, and payments, should sync between Salesforce and NetSuite.
Object Sync
Step 5: Test the integration: Use a test record in Salesforce to make sure it syncs correctly with NetSuite. Verify that updates like invoices, payments, or order status appear properly in Salesforce and NetSuite according to your configuration.
Step 6: Train your team: Make sure users know how to create records, check synced data, and handle common issues. Proper training ensures everyone can take full advantage of the integration.
How Apps Help the Quote to Cash Process in Salesforce
Apps that connect Salesforce with an ERP system, such as NetSuite, allow information to move between systems and automate quote to cash NetSuite processes. This reduces manual work, lowers the chance of errors, and keeps data consistent for every team.
Key Features:
1. Send sales orders from Salesforce to NetSuite. You create a sales order in Salesforce, and send it to NetSuite. This reduces manual entry and ensures the information is accurate in both systems.
Create NetSuite Sales Order or Invoice from Opportunity
2. Sync products, prices, and inventory. Sales and finance teams always have the latest information about products, pricing, and stock levels. This reduces mistakes when creating quotes or processing orders.
NetSuite Items in Salesforce
3. Receive updates on invoices, payments, and fulfillment. Teams can see the status of invoices, payments, and deliveries directly in Salesforce. This allows them to act quickly and keep customers informed.
NetSuite Invoices
4. Support for multiple currencies and quantity-based pricing. Teams can work in local currencies while keeping financial data accurate. Salesforce users can see and manage NetSuite pricing for different order quantities, reducing errors and manual lookups.
Multi-Currency and Multi-Quantity Pricing in Breadwinner for NetSuite
5. Reduce duplicate data entry and manual approvals. Information entered once in Salesforce is shared with NetSuite automatically. Teams do not have to copy data or wait for multiple approvals, which saves time and reduces errors.
6. Keep data consistent across teams. Everyone works from the same set of information. Sales, finance, and operations can trust the data they see and make decisions without confusion.
Salesforce connector NetSuite integration allows teams to focus on their work instead of correcting errors or moving data manually. They help ensure that the Salesforce quote-to-cash implementation runs correctly and that every team has the information they need.
Real Benefits You Can Expect
Implementing automation between Salesforce and your ERP system can remove bottlenecks in the quote-to-cash process Salesforce and improve how teams work every day. Here are some of the benefits you can expect:
- Faster workflow. Manual steps like re-entering orders or updating invoices are reduced or eliminated. Sales, finance, and operations teams spend less time on repetitive tasks, which speeds up the entire process from quote to payment.
- Accurate data in both systems. Orders, product information, prices, and inventory are synced automatically. This reduces errors caused by outdated or mismatched information, so Salesforce and your ERP always have consistent data.
- Quicker customer responses. Because information moves directly between Salesforce and the ERP, teams can respond to customer requests faster. Invoices, shipping updates, and payment confirmations reach customers without unnecessary delays.
- More confident and productive teams. When data is reliable and processes are automated, teams can focus on their core work instead of correcting mistakes. Sales can focus on deals, and finance can focus on revenue collection.
- Reliable revenue and forecasting. Accurate and up-to-date data means management can make decisions based on real information. Revenue forecasts, cash flow projections, and reporting are more dependable.
Even small steps in automation, such as syncing orders or invoices between Salesforce and NetSuite, can produce significant improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and team satisfaction.
Final Thoughts on Fixing Quote to Cash Bottlenecks
Quote to cash works best when Salesforce and your ERP operate as one system. Without automation, manual work slows processes, causes errors, and frustrates teams. Connecting the systems keeps data accurate and gives a clear view of orders, invoices, and payments.
Key improvements include syncing product and pricing data, creating orders in Salesforce that appear in the ERP, updating invoices and payments automatically, and tracking progress in reports. To see how Salesforce and NetSuite integration works in practice, teams can get a free trial, for example, Breadwinner offers that option.
Review your own process, identify manual pain points, and start automating. A connected process saves time, reduces errors, improves customer experience, and helps your business grow.
