SuiteWorld 2023 has just wrapped and it's abundantly clear that NetSuite has made significant strides in evolving its platform with AI, machine learning, and other advanced technologies. In fact, 2023 has been one of the biggest years for new products and enhancements, largely due to the array of new AI-powered solutions that promise to redefine capabilities of cloud-based ERPs.
You can explore all the product announcements as they happened over on IT Brief or read on to get up to speed on all that is new in the growing NetSuite universe.
The biggest announcements from day 1 and 2 >
The biggest announcements from day 3 >
Key takeaways and their impact on NetSuite customers >
Contents
AI integration across the NetSuite ecosystem
AI, security and the necessary safeguards
New and upcoming AI-powered solutions
NetSuite AI, advanced analytics & insights
NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (NSAW)
NetSuite Planning and Budgeting
NetSuite Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
Even more announcements from SuiteWorld
Annexa partner interviews at SuiteWorld
RF-SMART Mobile Solutions + Annexa
AI integration across the NetSuite ecosystem
NetSuite is not just dipping its toe into AI, they are diving in headfirst, fully committing to integrating intelligent capabilities across sales, analytics, planning / budgeting, financials, supply chain and operations.
Specifically, these new AI capabilities target several modules including CRM, SuiteCommerce, CPQ, SuiteBilling, and NetSuite EPM, among others. If that's not enough, they have an ambitious agenda that includes the roll-out of 80 new AI features.
AI, security and the necessary safeguards
That said, they haven’t gone in blindly. They have taken care to address valid security concerns. Built on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), their latest AI services are designed to operate in a secure environment that prioritises data protection and privacy. Specifically:
- Customer data is not shared with third parties, including machine learning providers.
- Custom models are exclusively for the client on whose data they were trained.
- Role-based security in NetSuite workflows restricts content to authorised users.
This ensures that customer data isn't exposed to third parties or used inappropriately, and enterprise-level data privacy and security standards are met.
“We’ve been building AI into NetSuite for several years to help our customers be more productive and successful. Recent breakthroughs in AI create the opportunity for a quantum leap in doing more with less. By taking advantage of Oracle’s best-in-class AI services and having unified data within a suite, we are uniquely placed to help our customers achieve immediate value from the latest AI innovations.”
- Evan Goldberg, Founder and EVP, Oracle NetSuite
New and upcoming AI-powered solutions
NetSuite Text Enhance
Powered by AI, NetSuite Text Enhance leverages data from the NetSuite platform to create or refine contextual and personalised content across various business functions including finance, HR, supply chain, sales, and customer support.
It could, for example, enable a sales team to quickly generate a highly relevant email to a prospect by automatically including the most current product descriptions, pricing, and availability based on the latest data in the system.
NetSuite Bill Capture
NetSuite Bill Capture’s AI-powered capabilities promise to streamline the invoice management process by using AI and machine learning to automate data entry. Vendor invoices can be emailed or dragged-and-dropped into NetSuite. The system then uses advanced document detection and OCR technology to automatically match bills with corresponding purchase orders and receiving documents, enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of the entire process.
NetSuite AI, advanced analytics & insights
NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (NSAW)
The relatively new NSAW is NetSuite's answer to the growing demand for robust cloud-based data solutions. This cloud-based data storage and analytics solution consolidates and centralises data from NetSuite, in addition to data from other cloud or on-premises applications, and guides users on their path to actionable insights.
Upcoming updates to NSAW include:
- More frequent data refreshes and the ability to schedule data refreshes by frequency and time
- New line-level details for sales orders and inventory analyses
- Single Sign-On (SSO) to NetSuite and NSAW
- Role-based access to dashboards, enabling a tiered view of data
If you’re interested in NSAW and want to learn more about how you it will benefit you, I suggest you watch our webinar replay:
> Webinar Replay: Accelerate Insights & Enhance Decisions with NetSuite Analytics Warehouse
NetSuite Planning and Budgeting
New AI-powered capabilities in NetSuite Planning and Budgeting promise to automate data analysis to improve and accelerate decision making. By employing predictive algorithms, this tool continually scrutinises your plans, forecasts, and variances to automatically detect and spotlight trends, outliers, and correlations.
NetSuite Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
NetSuite users will soon have access to Oracle's Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) suite, expanding their financial automation capabilities. The solution serves as a unified system that consolidates key financial and operational tasks like planning, budgeting, account reconciliation, profitability management, and more. Notably, EPM employs AI and machine learning to offer 'narrative reporting’ for contextual insights into raw financial data, making data more accessible and actionable for decision-makers.
While there's no specific release date for Australian customers, these capabilities are highly anticipated and expected to bring transformative changes in financial management.
Native bank feeds for ANZ
Native bank feeds for Australian organisations are now available, filling a much-needed gap for NetSuite customers.
Benchmark 360
Benchmark 360 promises to provide a clearer picture of how a business stacks up to its competition. It works by gathering extensive data within the NetSuite ecosystem, then utilises AI and machine learning to generate a comparative view of performance metrics against industry standards, identifying trends and offering actionable insights. This allows businesses to pinpoint areas of excellence or improvement, helping them to strategise and stay ahead of the curve in their respective industries.
So, for example, if a manufacturing company wants to understand why its revenue growth has stalled, NetSuite Benchmark 360 can use comparative operational and financial data to pinpoint the problem. In this example, the firm discovers that the revenue per employee lags behind the industry average for its geographical region. Armed with this information and the tool's recommendations, the focus can be shifted to improve productivity through training programs or process automation.
Field Service Management
The acquisition of Next Technik, a leader in field service management, aims to enhance the efficiency and customer satisfaction levels of field service operations. The offering focuses on improving communication between field staff and the office by streamlining scheduling and dispatch procedures. It also automates inventory and customer asset management, offering real-time data visibility to drive informed decision-making.
Interface & user experience
A new user interface based on Oracle Redwood promises a more intuitive, cleaner, and modern user experience.
Even more announcements from SuiteWorld:
- NetSuite CPQ subscription options - NetSuite's Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) tool includes subscription options to accommodate recurring billing or service models.
- NetSuite Capital: A new service facilitating early invoice payments to improve cash flow.
- Transaction Line Distribution app - distributes a single financial transaction across multiple entities such as subsidiaries, departments, or product lines.
Annexa partner interviews at SuiteWorld
RF-SMART Mobile Solutions + Annexa
With an impressive seven-year tenure at RF-SMART, Seth King, the VP of Sales, offers invaluable insights into what ANZ customers can anticipate in the warehouse management space. Tune into this video to hear him unpack pivotal market trends - from the increasing role of robotics and automation to tackling warehousing challenges. Seth also sheds light on RF-SMART's fast-growing customer base, their strategic acquisition to elevate label printing, and the new features on their roadmap aimed at enhancing user flexibility. For an insider’s perspective of both current conditions and future possibilities in WMS, make sure to watch the full interview.
To learn more about their RF-SMART solutions watch our webinar replay:
Webinar Replay: Combating Warehouse Inefficiencies With RF-SMART + NetSuite >
Celigo + Annexa
George Polyzos and Mark Simon, the VPs for APAC and Strategy respectively at Celigo, discuss trends, challenges, and future plans in the ever-adaptive world of Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS).
Mark touches on the surge of interest in AI and data warehousing and emphasises the value of integration and automation in achieving operational efficiency, especially as businesses reassess their digital strategies post-pandemic. George provides an update on Celigo's growing presence in Australia and New Zealand. Over the last 12 months, the company has built a comprehensive in-region team and is tailoring its offerings to meet the unique needs of the ANZ market.
Zone & Co + Annexa
Zone & Co specialises in extending the capabilities of the NetSuite platform, through billing and AP automation. Chief Knowledge Officer, Owen Carlson, shares insights on the rise of AI in industry solutions, revealing that Zone & Co is actively incorporating AI into its products with a goal of not only improving efficiency but also allowing products to adapt and improve over time. This includes a new AI-driven capture product set to be released at the end of the year.
The partnership between Annexa and Zone & Co has proven valuable for both companies and their customer base, and you can learn more about the capabilities in replays from our latest two-part webinar series Faster Finance for NetSuite. Watch both parts on-demand here >
