The Product Keynote at this year’s SuiteWorld was given by several key members of NetSuite that each brought insights into how the system will be “better, smarter, and suiter” moving into the future.
Gary Wiessinger, SVP of NetSuite Application Development at NetSuite, opened the Product Keynote address with a new theme for this year: All Systems Grow. This means making NetSuite “smarter, easier, deeper and suiter” for the end users. Wiessinger says, “Smarter, by adding AI across the Suite…easier means making it faster and more intuitive and enjoyable to do your jobs; deeper is helping solve more problems and adding more functional depth and sophistication; and Suiter means adding more magic that comes when you run your entire business in one system.”
He started by explaining what “Suiteness” means as it relates to some of NetSuite’s features. He first delved into NetSuite Customer 360 and how blending it with the ERP system gives a much more holistic view of the customer. This data can only be available when all business processes exist in a single system. Next, he spoke about CPQ + Manufacturing + SuiteBilling and how everything is automated to help you work more efficiently. He reiterated that this level of automation can only be achieved when all workflows exist in a single platform.
Wiessinger then brought three NetSuite clients to the stage – Trace2, Packer Fastener, and Municipal Emergency Services to the stage to talk about their successes with the system both inside and outside of work. They were able to talk about their companies, their growth and how they maintain a healthy work/life balance with their families. They mentioned that they’re able to access NetSuite on the go, which helps them to unplug and plug back in when they need to.
Craig Sullivan Dives into Financials
Next on stage was Craig Sullivan, Group VP of Product Management. He began by talking about NetSuite Pay, which is powered by VersaPay, and how it allows user customers to directly pay companies from an email invoice, which saves time by offering the option on the same screen. His talk continued with Bill Capture, which is powered by AI to offer more accuracy and reduce manual effort; he revealed that more NetSuite users have been adopting it and achieving great results, and that it will soon support vendor bills from other countries.
Sullivan said that Cash 360 has been enhanced with new additions, one of which is calculating forecast based upon day sales outstanding and days payments outstanding from the user’s actual data. These forecasts are drillable to reveal the differences between those raw numbers and calculated numbers. There’s also a new feature where installment payments expected from invoices are also being factored into the forecast.
Sullivan then continued by talking about Financial Exception Management to which they are continuously adding more enhancements. Upcoming releases include a dashboard of Exceptions that are drillable and solvable. He then moved on to chat about NetSuite SuiteProcurement, which Evan touched upon the previous day when he announced that Amazon Business and Staples were the first to sign on. This makes indirect procurement both easier and cheaper, whether you’re buying from small businesses or some of the largest companies in the world.
eInvoicing, introduced last year, was initially created to help meet evolving compliance standards and deadlines, but now it has more efficiency and automation in the sales and receivables processes. They’re now working on making NetSuite the first ERP system to adopt the new DB&A standards in the US.
It was also announced that entering credit card expenses from a corporate account is being enhanced with Credit Card Automation. On the Credit Card Activity Page, credit card transactions are all brought into the system and are categorized for review. On the Transactions to Review tab, the system has already done work for the user, so that all they need to do is select them to be categorized. This shortens review time greatly and will be coming to NetSuite soon.
He then spoke about NetSuite’s vertical offerings, which the company is continuing to expand. Its most recent, Healthcare, earlier this year, received 3rd party attestation with HIPAA. Its Compliance 360 dashboard identifies KPIs that are drillable to identify things such as outliers. Once a user looks into an issue, whatever that may be, they can look at the audit documentation that relates to it (a new feature!) and make notes within. This helps greatly with meeting compliance obligations.
Allison Auclair Goes “Deeper”
Sullivan then handed over the stage to Allison Auclair, Group VP of Product Management, who spoke about the “deeper” aspect mentioned above. Auclair continued with Customer 360 and mentioned that the company is continuing to add more scenarios over time that will enhance the AI capabilities and make insights even deeper for users.
With the newly launched CRM Specialized User, NetSuite is getting more people engaged by allowing sales, marketing, and service employees to get what they need. She said they are also unlocking more intelligence with NetSuite CPQ + SuiteBilling, which now work seamlessly together to enable users to configure subscriptions. This will let users configure their products, services and subscriptions all in one place, unlocking hybrid business models. This is all made easier with the CPQ Intelligent Assistant – she then showed both in action. In plain English, the user can simply ask what a customer is looking for and it will deliver the right solution. If it needs more information, it will start a conversation with the user to dig deeper to complete the configuration and the amount that will need to be paid. All that’s left is to send it to the customer, which can be generated with Text Enhance (that can also be translated to other languages).
Auclair then went on to talk about New Sales Order Status Design, which helps with transactions – especially sales and purchase orders that have a lot of downstream transactions. They’re working on a future design that will bring it all together. The new design will bring in the fulfillment and invoicing information together on one screen on the sales order. In the case where a customer wants to know when they will be receiving their products, the user can see what has been shipped and when, as well as tracking numbers.
Next came a brief overview of NetSuite Analytics Warehouse with AI (NSAW) and how it can be proactive in fixing certain issues. That, along with the Oracle Analytics Assistant (coming soon!) can be asked direct questions to help solve problems that are viewed in the NSAW dashboard. She demonstrated how features such as the Churn Prediction Model can help show crucial information about customers without the need for being tech savvy. Information such as this can help better inform users on what to upsell or cross-sell, bringing back the customer into the fold.
In her next segment, she explored how the “deeper” capabilities help with products and services. She brought up Hybrid Business Models and spoke about how products and services are now being offered with subscriptions, and that product companies are now offering services and vice versa. She mentioned how NetSuite offers many automated processes that allow users to sell, bill and deliver all in one place for these hybrid companies. Updates to this are many, including adding a logo to a shipping label and customizable email templates. She also spoke about NetSuite Projects Pro, and how companies get smarter with AI – which is what Evan spoke about the day before. The AI helps alert the user as to which projects need attention and proactively take action.
Hanif Ismail Discusses SuitePeople
Next to take the stage was Group VP of Product Management, Hanif Ismail, who started by talking about hiring and empowering employees with NetSuite SuitePeople. It offers capabilities such as full-service US payroll, HR administration, workforce management, engagement, and analytics. They run $6B in payroll transactions, demonstrating how trusted the platform is. The new enhancements they are making will help users grow the business by effectively managing labor costs and boosting employee productivity. He spoke about how health benefits make up a large portion of labor costs, which is expected to rise by 7% this year. He says that it is crucial to find a way to manage these costs and announced a strategic partnership with SimplyInsured that will allow users to shop and enroll employee benefits right within NetSuite. Once the employee selects the plan, deductions are made automatically in payroll.
He then spoke about productivity, and said NetSuite is currently working to automate “a highly legislative complex process that’s associated to garnishing employee wages in payroll. This feature is expected to help 55% of our existing customer base.” This will greatly reduce time spent on payroll administration and will improve compliance management.
Ismail then moved on to talking about the employee onboarding process and experience, which should be standardized across the board, and can lead to 50% more productivity. NetSuite will be enhancing its onboarding solution to offer a more engaging experience for new hires. Personalized messaging, videos and rich content will be able to be added, as well as leveraging external sources. He says the future of employee productivity lies in the NetSuite Digital Assistant, where features like reaching out to others with generative AI messaging helps save time, or even asking questions like how much money they made in overtime.
Covering the topic of technology and next to the stage was Brian Chess, SVP Technology and AI. He began by saying that with over a million users, a billion transactions per month, and a trillion database queries each day, NetSuite is clearly a powerful platform. Chess announced that now, 100% of users are on its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and that it has expanded its global reach, totaling 36 data centers in 17 OCI regions around the world.
He revealed that Oracle software works best together and enables NetSuite to scale and get customers to where they are today.
To listen to the full Product Keynote, log onto On Air and see the Home Page.
