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Oracle NetSuite is beefing up the AI capabilities across its ERP offerings, giving IT leaders an opportunity to make use of the features at no extra cost — for the time being, according to an industry observer.

The series of AI and generative AI updates was announced at the company’s SuiteWorld conference in Las Vegas on Monday, accompanied by a new procurement solution and a connector for NetSuite customers who also depend on Salesforce as part of their enterprise mix.

“We are embedding AI-powered capabilities across the suite so customers are benefiting from it as soon as they log in,” Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, said in a statement. “By ensuring AI is built into existing business processes and not bolted on, we are helping our customers achieve immediate value from the latest AI innovations at no additional cost.”

Scott Bickley, research practice lead at Info-Tech Research Group, noted the novelty of this approach, as compared to most enterprise vendors’ strategies when it comes to AI additions.

“NetSuite is taking an uncharacteristic approach akin to Workday by embedding AI functionality into its products at no additional cost. Essentially, NetSuite customers will have the opportunity to try before they buy,” he said.

Bickley expanded on that point, saying he expects customers will have to pay more for these improvements later: “My opinion is that Oracle will seek to monetize this functionality through removal or reduction of discounts upon renewal, moving customers closer to the NetSuite list price for their solutions,” he said, speculating, “Oracle could also rebundle the functionality such that it requires a higher-level product purchase such as the NetSuite Enterprise solution once people are dependent on the new products.”

Where new AI features do lead to increased cost, Bickley said, “I would encourage vendors in the ERP space, Oracle’s NetSuite included, to provide an outcome or value-based model that ensures their customers only have to pay where value-add is realized. It’s time for these vendors to put up or shut up when it comes to gen AI.”

An Oracle representative reiterated that the AI capabilities in NetSuite “are embedded and come at no additional cost,” adding, “We do not have plans to increase NetSuite subscription prices due to the addition of AI capabilities.”

NetSuite’s AI additions come nearly a year after the company first injected generative AI across its ERP suite, with a Text Enhance update to its gen AI capabilities coming in March of this year.

What’s new from NetSuite

In addition to the AI updates, NetSuite is now offering NetSuite SuiteProcurement, which the company said will help customers streamline their indirect procurement processes, control costs, and gain access to preferred pricing and other benefits from suppliers. The offering contains features to assist in the automation of functions such as approving purchases, creating orders, invoicing, and reporting.

For customers who also use Salesforce, there’s a new NetSuite Connector for Salesforce, which automatically shares data between the two systems.

“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.”

NetSuite SuiteProjects is also getting enhancements. NetSuite SuiteProjects Pro, formerly NetSuite OpenAir, is an AI-powered extension that, according to the company, delivers user experience improvements and new AI capabilities to help customers monitor the health of projects through risk analysis, as well as match projects with the right talent and resources and accelerate project planning.

AI updates

Many other components of NetSuite’s portfolio are receiving further infusions of AI, including developer tools such as Prompt Studio and SuiteScript, which allow customers to embed AI in their own NetSuite customizations and extensions.

A new user experience (UX) is also on the roadmap. Oracle Redwood Design System, which currently provides the UX for NetSuite Enterprise Performance Management and NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, will roll out to the entire suite, starting with NetSuite SuiteProjects Pro and Customer 360. Beginning with the most widely used areas of the suite, such as dashboards, lists, and forms, it adds global search, role-specific, actionable task lists, and a home page for key metrics, KPIs, and charts.

To help customers with their training needs, the company is introducing its NetSuite Guided Learning Managed Service.Building on NetSuite Guided Learning, the service includes support from NetSuite Education experts to “create step-by-step guidance embedded in NetSuite that is tailored to a customer’s unique business processes,” according to the company. Analytics reports help customers further tailor training by evaluating interactions with the learning guides. 

“We designed NetSuite to be the foundation of business growth, with a platform that can evolve and expand to meet changing needs and a data model that connects a customer’s entire business,” said NetSuite’s Goldberg. “We continue to extend NetSuite’s capabilities to further strengthen that foundation. As customers scale their businesses on NetSuite, AI innovations and workflow optimizations help them gain intelligent insights, improve productivity, and simplify collaboration.”