Unleashing NetSuite’s Power: Achieve Web Payment Processing Freedom and Control

This article is relevant if you want to enhance your customer portal experience by gaining more options and freedom by leveraging the extensibility capabilities of NetSuite to control and streamline web-based customer payment processing.

Background

Since 2015, we’ve helped our most ambitious clients achieve greater control and efficiency by fully utilizing NetSuite’s platform. Specifically, we’ve developed approaches that allow businesses to process customer payments through NetSuite-hosted web-based portals and webpages while keeping transaction costs exceptionally low. For organizations managing high transaction volumes, payment processing is critical for customer satisfaction and operational success.

Typically, clients come to us after struggling with the limitations of default payment solutions, which can lead to high costs, inflexibility, and an inability to deliver the seamless experiences modern customers expect. We often see where standard approaches fall short. These challenges become especially evident when businesses need payment capabilities deeply integrated into their customer portals or when they want more control.

Detailed Exploration: Leveraging NetSuite for Flexible Web-Based Payment Processing

Setting up NetSuite for automated electronic payments presents a range of options, each with merits and trade-offs. The sheer number of possibilities can confuse businesses, often turning selecting the right solution into a full-fledged project.  Compounding the challenge is that some critical limitations may not be apparent until after key commitments to payment providers have been made.

Our firm has developed a distinct approach to address these challenges: we aim to provide our clients maximum flexibility and control while keeping costs low.  By harnessing the extensibility of the NetSuite platform, we help clients avoid restrictive solutions or costly, locked-in arrangements that can hinder their long-term business goals.  The key is understanding that one does not need to buy any “extra add-on” offered by third parties.  Instead, the NetSuite platform, which they already own, will become an engine to drive a highly flexible customer payment solution.

Below, we’ll break down the landscape of payment processing options, common weaknesses, and why some clients opt for fully tailored solutions.

The Payment Processing Landscape in the NetSuite Ecosystem

The NetSuite ecosystem offers several approaches for implementing payment solutions, each with its own value proposition:

1. NetSuite Partnerships and SuitePayments Certified Providers: the most conventional approach.
   • NetSuite has partnered with providers such as Versapay to deliver turnkey solutions that promise ease of use and fast implementation.   This is analogous to how QuickBooks offers a payment option for those who just won’t pay attention to the payment processor selection process.
   • The SuitePayments Certified program ensures payment processors can integrate with NetSuite in a standardized way, offering a reliable path for connectivity. This opens an array of providers (outlined below) that offer different fee structures and capabilities.
2. Payment Provider Third-Party Bundles: many payment providers have built proprietary bundles to connect their systems to NetSuite. While these can simplify adoption, they often have limitations, particularly in terms of customization or processing approaches. Each one demands evaluation.
3. NetSuite’s Built-In Electronic Bank Payments: NetSuite offers a general-purpose feature for crafting bank files that trigger electronic fund transfers, allowing clients to manage payments directly with their banking institutions. Often not considered when thinking about Customer Web Payments, it’s essential to understand that work to activate this capacity can be fully leveraged (discussed below).
4. Emerging Payment Methods: Traditional payment options have included credit cards, bank transfers, and newer methods such as Pay Later and cryptocurrency, creating additional complexity when deciding on a solution.

For an overview of how these solutions can impact transaction costs and flexibility, Tim Blair White’s article, How to Avoid Really Bad NetSuite Credit Card Processing, provides insights for navigating this maze of options.

Our firm, Prolecto Resources, does not claim to stay up on all the options — instead, we let our clients pick the best backend payment processor while we urge them to minimize paying for extra portal or customer web payment add-ons as our approach will enable these capacities with no recurring costs.

NetSuite Customer Web Payments and Their Limitations

When it comes to customer portals, many payment providers now offer their own web-based payment platforms as value-added features.  NetSuite does as well and I help readers navigate this discussion in my article, Overcome NetSuite Payment Link Web Pay Challenges.

While these offerings are designed to differentiate one processor from another, they come with inherent weaknesses:

1. Data and Integration Gaps: payment providers generally lack access to the underlying financial transaction data that lives where it belongs: in NetSuite. This means businesses must implement integrations (often supported by the payment provider) to ensure customer obligations, such as invoices or statements, are represented.  These integrations, when they shuffle data from one place to another, represent a risk of being out of sync from the actual source record in NetSuite.  We really want real-time presentation in these flows.
2. Limited Presentation Options: the ability to customize the presentation of payment screens varies significantly by provider, leaving businesses with few choices to deliver a seamless customer experience.
3. Restricted Logic Scope:  most provider-driven payment platforms focus exclusively on payment processing, ignoring broader business needs like integrating with custom workflows or supporting specialized business logic.  It’s understandable. They are not in NetSuite.
4. Additional Costs: providers will generally charge extra for advanced web payment capabilities, which can add to the overall transaction cost. The ignorant business buyer does not realize they can avoid these costs altogether if they have a game plan.
5. Payment Processor API Opportunities: on the upside, many high-quality payment processors offer APIs. These APIs create opportunities for businesses to build custom solutions that combine the best of the provider’s payment engine with the flexibility of NetSuite’s extensibility. Our firm derives its power through the payment processor API.

Why Clients Seek More Control Over Payment Solutions

For some NetSuite clients, the limitations of off-the-shelf solutions and bundled platforms create a need for greater autonomy and customization. These clients often have specific goals, such as:

1. Tailored  Presentation of Customer Data: businesses want the ability to present customer statements, invoices, and payment options in a way that aligns with their unique brand and operational priorities. They simply wish for freedom, and limitations are troublesome.
2. Cost Optimization: businesses can significantly reduce the ongoing expense of payment processing by minimizing or eliminating unnecessary program and transaction fees.
3. Requirement-Driven Specialized Logic: businesses usually require unique processing logic that payment providers don’t natively support, such as applying custom discounts, handling exceptions, or integrating payments into broader workflows.

Solution: A Fully Customizable Payment Processing Framework in NetSuite

For businesses that prioritize complete control over their payment processing, freedom to explore all possible options and the elimination of unnecessary program fees, a tailored solution built within NetSuite provides the ultimate flexibility. By working with an experienced NetSuite Systems Integrator such as Prolecto Resources, businesses can unlock capabilities that go far beyond what standard solutions offer.

Here are key concerns that drive organizations that want freedom and control:

1. Transaction Scope: A custom solution allows one to drive payments from any NetSuite record type, including Opportunities, Estimates, Sales Orders, and Invoices.
2. Target Financial Transactions: Payments can be directed to generate any type of cash receipt or related transaction, such as  Customer Deposits, Customer Payments, Cash Sales, Bank Deposits, Custom Transaction Types
3. Processing Logic: With a custom solution, you can automate advanced business workflows such as when a customer pays against an Estimate record, the system can automatically create a linked Sales Order and Customer Deposit, ensuring seamless processing and reconciliation.  Consider conditional logic that can allow for early payment discounts or partial payment allocations.
4. Presentation Freedom:  gain complete control over how payment options are presented to customers, which can include single transactions (e.g., a specific invoice or sales order) for payment or comprehensive customer statements combining multiple transactions (e.g., invoices and credit memos), where customers can select specific transactions and amounts to pay.  Further integration into existing portals via iframes, links embedded in emails, or even payment functionality embedded within PDFs open customer usage.
5. Add-On Charges: apply convenience fees or surcharges for payment processing to be automatically calculated and recorded with proper revenue accounting to give businesses a way to recoup processing costs.
6. Customer Communication: notifying customers of payment options and updating them throughout the payment lifecycle to ensure a smooth and transparent experience for building trust and customer satisfaction.
7. Security: by hosting all payment processing elements within NetSuite, businesses leverage NetSuite’s built-in security capabilities, including encrypted communications and robust data integrity.
8. No Third-Party Recurring Cost Add-On Tools: a solution that is open and built entirely within NetSuite ensures full administrative control, seamless integration, and the elimination of reliance on external tools to keep costs low and to empower administrators to maintain visibility and oversight of all processes.

Implementation Approach: Prolecto Accept Customer Payment Technologies Accelerator Template

For NetSuite organizations with ambitious goals, our Prolecto Accept Customer Payment Technologies Accelerator Template provides a no-license-fee tailored foundation for implementing web-based payment solutions that address the concerns above. This approach combines our recognized expertise, proven algorithms, and best practices accumulated over years of delivering high-quality solutions.  Click the images above and below to better understand the concept and architecture.   

First introduced in 2015, our template has continually evolved to address the challenges faced by our clients, allowing us to jumpstart solutions that deliver both control and freedom. Below, we outline the key capabilities built into the Accelerator Template and how they drive results.

Key Capacities of the Accelerator Template

The template is designed to kick-start activation but can be tailored anywhere desired.

1. Drive User Experience and Customization:
   • Start with a template to serve as a flexible foundation that can be tailored to meet specific branding, messaging, and flow requirements.
   • The HTML presentation is entirely adaptable, so it may be refined to meet exacting requirements.
2. Select Transactions to Pay Automation:
   • Customers can choose which transactions they want to pay, whether it’s invoices, credit memos, or other eligible records.
   • Example: When a customer pays a deposit on a NetSuite Estimate, we trigger automation to convert the Estimate into a Sales Order, ensuring seamless progression in the sales workflow.
3. Criteria-Based Customer Statements:
   • Customer statements are dynamically generated based on defined criteria, displaying only the transactions you want customers to see.
   • For example, a credit memo reserved for internal use can be excluded from the customer’s view, maintaining clarity and accuracy.
   • Additional functionality, such as aged-category selection (e.g., overdue invoices), streamlines the process for customers.
4. Credit Card Wallet Management:
   • Securely manage credit card information directly within NetSuite’s wallet.
   • Customers can view, delete, edit, or add new credit cards, ensuring a seamless and secure payment experience.
5. Drive Messaging with Supercharged Advanced PDF Technologies: using our proprietary but license-free Content Renderer Engine, businesses gain full control over messaging, including:
   • Email announcements about payment options.
   • Payment confirmation messages and receipts.
   • Handling declined credit card payments with clear, actionable communication.
6. Multi-Currency and Foreign Language Support:
   • Send customer statements in the appropriate currency tailored to the customer’s regional needs.
   • Render the payment experience in different languages, automatically detecting preferences based on criteria such as currency, subsidiary, or other triggers.
   • Includes a language localization framework to meet global requirements.
7. No Login Required with Click Stream Logging:
   • Using NetSuite SuiteLet technology, customers can access the payment experience without logging in to a portal.
   • Track all customer interactions for audit and refinement purposes.
   • View a detailed log of what the customer saw to improve the user experience over time.
8. Link Promotion and Tamper Rules:
   • Use this opportunity to refine and enhance customer-facing invoice presentations for clarity and professionalism.   Provide customers easy access to payment links via PDFs, emails, or other means.
   • Prevent misuse of payment links by implementing rules such as expiration dates and usage restrictions, ensuring links are valid only for their intended purpose.
9. Minimal Investment Mode:
   • For organizations seeking a rapid deployment option, especially with NetSuite SuitePayments Certified processors, the template supports quick payment acceptance for NetSuite invoices and open balances.
   • A clean, functional web page to securely collect and process credit card payments.
   • Automatic storage of credit card information in NetSuite’s secure wallet.
   • Payments are automatically applied to invoices, minimizing reconciliation efforts.

Below, we outline the key elements of our advocated approach, which allows our clients to select any back-end processor:

Three Major Back-End Processing Approaches for Payment Integration

Our approach appeals when our clients want the flexibility to select their preferred payment processors while maintaining full control over the user experience and eliminating unnecessary costs or restrictions.  For instance, one client wanted to use Stripe as their payment gateway but was dissatisfied with Stripe’s native NetSuite integration.  They discovered that Stripe’s integration required exclusive installation and servicing by a single NetSuite partner, limiting their options and forcing a lock-in.  Yet, they wanted to leverage Stripe’s robust payment solutions for both U.S. and European markets.

Using our approach, we decoupled the user experience from Stripe’s supplied NetSuite integration, enabling the client to retain complete control over their payment workflows. Once the solution was implemented, there were no ongoing costs or obligations, demonstrating the value of a tailored NetSuite payment processing framework.

Here are the three major processing approaches we use to accommodate a wide range of business needs:

1. SuitePayments Certified Processors: this model provides the most straightforward path to integration because SuitePayments Certified Processors are presented standardized, making them natively compatible with NetSuite’s payment infrastructure. Using this approach, businesses benefit from:
   • Simplified connectivity.
   • Uniform treatment of processors, enabling consistent logic across solutions.
   • Faster implementation due to pre-built NetSuite compatibility.
   • As of this writing, SuitePayments Certified Processors include the following:
     1. Adyen
     2. AltaPay
     3. BlueSnap
     4. Braintree (a PayPal service)
     5. Cybersource
     6. eWAY
     7. Fortis
     8. FreedomPay
     9. MerchantE
     10. SecurePay
     11. Square
     12. SumUp
     13. Versapay
     14. Windcave
     15. Worldpay
2. Non-SuitePayments Certified Processors: many businesses desire to integrate with payment processors outside the SuitePayments Certified list.  If the provider exposes their systems through conventional web APIs, it’s possible to build a custom integration that aligns perfectly with business requirements. Examples of Non-SuitePayments Certified Processors we have integrated with:
   • Stripe: known for its modern APIs and global payment capabilities, Stripe is an excellent option for businesses operating in multiple regions.
   • CardKnox: a flexible option with rich functionality for payment acceptance and processing. this approach provides businesses with complete freedom to choose their preferred payment gateway while our custom logic bridges the gap between NetSuite and the processor.
3. NetSuite Electronic Bank Payments: NetSuite’s Electronic Bank Payments module provides a customizable way to process payments by generating bank files that can be submitted to financial institutions.  This method is particularly valuable for businesses that already use the module and want to expand its functionality. Common use cases include:
   • ACH Payments: automating ACH payment workflows for streamlined fund transfers.
   • Custom Bank File Integrations: tailoring payment processing to meet unique banking requirements, leveraging existing NetSuite infrastructure.
   • Enhanced Payment Streams: this approach is especially useful for businesses with existing NetSuite Electronic Bank Payments configurations as it allows for seamless integration and expansion without significant additional investment.

NetSuite Prolecto Accept Payment Video Demonstrations

Since 2016, we have created a series of video demonstrations showcasing various usage models for custom payment processing solutions in NetSuite.  These videos highlight real-world scenarios and serve as inspiration for businesses looking to implement tailored solutions that align with their specific needs.

Below are examples of the video demonstrations we have crafted over the years to help readers understand the possibilities:

1. Prolecto Credit Card Suitelet Demonstration:
   
2. Prolecto Netsuite Customer Statement-Based Credit Card Payments:
   
3. Prolecto Accept NetSuite Credit Card Customer Deposit on Sales Order:
   
4. NetSuite Credit Card Statement with Convenience Charge:
   

These videos illustrate the extensibility of the NetSuite platform and provide a deeper understanding of how Prolecto’s Accelerator Templates can address unique business challenges.

Related Accept Payment Articles

Other articles I have written highlight elements of possible solutions:

1. Accept ACH from Customers via NetSuite Hosted Website
2. NetSuite Credit Card Payments with Additional Charges
3. Overcome NetSuite Payment Link Web Pay Challenges

Conclusion: Drive a NetSuite Customer Payment Solution Your Way

This article highlights the many possibilities for crafting a tailored customer payment solution within NetSuite. While it’s possible to start with the basics and set up a payment solution immediately, the true power of the platform lies in its ability to deliver a fully customized experience. Our clients recognize the value of having complete control over not only the customer-facing experience but also the internal logic that drives efficient processing. This reduces staff reconciliation time, streamlines payment management, and creates a seamless operational flow.

By partnering with Prolecto Resources, organizations can fully realize the promised value of the NetSuite platform.  By leveraging the Prolecto Accept Customer Payment Technologies Accelerator Template, we carefully shape payment processing workflows, tailoring them to meet unique business needs while building customer trust and satisfaction. Importantly, we also focus on keeping ongoing costs low and minimizing the growth of technical debt and unnecessary complexity.

If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you’re ready to get control and enjoy a NetSuite payment solution that works your way, let’s have a conversation.