ONE of the biggest news to come out of this year’s Oracle CloudWorld-SuiteWorld 2024 was probably the announcement of NetSuite to connect with longtime enterprise business rival, Salesforce.
Aptly called NetSuite Connector for Salesforce, it is part of the Netsuite Connector app that enables users to quickly map data between NetSuite and leading e-commerce, marketplace, third-party logistics and point-of-sale (POS) systems.
“In the past, joint customers had to conduct manual batch updates or use third-party integration products to harmonize data between the two platforms,” said Gary Wiessinger, senior vice president of Application Development, Oracle NetSuite. “With NetSuite Connector for Salesforce, joint customers can align data in both applications to expand visibility into order details, customer and contact information, order fulfillment details, and financial information like invoices, payments and sales. As a result, customers will be able to improve both the speed and accuracy of business processes and decision-making.”
Evan Goldberg (right), founder and executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, gives some insights at SuiteWorld 2024 on how artificial intelligence (AI) helps startups and small and medium business enterprises. PHOTO by JING GARCIA
The new integration will help joint customers “enhance data management, streamline processes, expand business insights, and improve decision-making” by sharing data between NetSuite and Salesforce to “reduce data silos, accelerate order-to-cash and revenue recognition processes, and expand business insights.”
“Together, Salesforce and NetSuite will help businesses get the most from their data regardless of where it resides,” said Nick Johnston, senior vice president of Strategic Partnerships at Salesforce. “The ability to share and unify data between our platforms will provide a foundation to enable improved CRM experiences, from automated workflow to AI-powered agents.”
AI for SMEs
In a roundtable interview with news media from the Asean region, Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, gave some company insights on the tech giant’s business direction, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) helping startups and small and medium business enterprises (SMEs).
“AI is going to allow us to deliver the real promise of business systems by advising and assisting users,” said Goldberg. “In the past, systems recorded business information but didn’t accelerate anything. AI will help smaller businesses that don’t have large teams to do everything.”
“I believe AI is as big of a change for business applications as the cloud was when NetSuite began,” Goldberg added. “That’s why we’re investing heavily.”
The application suite records all major functions of a business, from sales to optimizing cash and profits. The executive said that the data collected is the raw material that AI uses to make conclusions and provide suggestions.
Goldberg said that AI might not always be 100 percent right, but if it “offers useful ideas, it adds tremendous value, especially for smaller businesses that don’t have access to data analysts.”
“I don’t have specific numbers [for Asean], but it’s the fastest-growing segment,” said Goldberg. “These SMBs are often first-time movers into ERP, and it’s all about education. People think ERP takes forever to implement, but it’s not the case. We focus on quick and simple implementations.”
Across Asia, small businesses often use local systems that work well within their home country, but according to the NetSuite executive, when they try to expand or hire employees in other countries, “those systems fall apart.”
“NetSuite was built to be global from the start, allowing transactions across various countries, and it’s available in over 20 languages. This enables businesses to scale globally more easily than ever before,” Goldberg said.
AI-powered project management capabilities
Another major announcement from September’s Oracle CloudWorld-SuiteWorld in Las Vegas was the delivery of a new AI-powered extension to the company’s project management solution, NetSuite SuiteProjects.
Previously called NetSuite OpenAir, NetSuite SuiteProjects Pro includes a “new user experience and advanced capabilities that will help organizations reach their goals more quickly and efficiently by helping them reduce risk, optimize resource allocation, increase productivity and profitability, and scale operations.”
“As businesses expand, their needs become more complex, and projects require more intentional monitoring and resourcing to maintain project profitability and meet key milestones,” said Goldberg. “NetSuite SuiteProjects Pro enables project-based businesses to take advantage of the latest advancements in AI to improve the speed of workflows and increase efficiency by automating staffing, scheduling, budget tracking and billing.”
The new AI-powered project management app expands upon the capabilities of NetSuite SuiteProjects, a professional services automation (PSA) solution embedded in NetSuite ERP that “supports the project delivery lifecycle and enables growing services businesses to manage project planning, staffing, billing, and reporting and increase the speed and profitability of operations by optimizing the entire project delivery lifecycle, including AI and automation designed to maximize project efficiency.”
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