LAS VEGAS -- Evan Goldberg has a legitimate claim to be on any list of computer industry pioneers.
In 1998, he founded NetLedger, which introduced what is generally regarded as the first cloud application software. The name was later changed to NetSuite, then to Oracle NetSuite when the ERP and database giant bought the company in 2016. It was a full-circle moment for Goldberg, who had worked for Oracle before starting NetLedger.
Goldberg sat down for an interview with TechTarget at the company's SuiteWorld conference, co-located with Oracle AI World, the parent's annual user conference. The previous day, he presented the opening keynote and extolled the many ways AI is infused through NetSuite Next, the company's newest generation of ERP software.
The interview was edited for length and clarity.
In your keynote, the words "the end of ERP" were in big letters on the screen.
Evan Goldberg: As we know it. That's an important modifier.
The experience of implementing and using ERP has so radically changed that it's nothing like what we've gotten used to over decades.
How has it changed?
Goldberg: A couple of different ways. First off, just for an everyday business user, you have access to so much power without training, without navigating complex UIs. You can very, very simply ask questions, describe what you want done, and it happens. It's much more accessible to everyday business users.
ERP wasn't designed to help admins. It helps executives, but really it's mostly there to help people do their job better. Now, it's just fundamentally reshaped how that is going to happen for everyday users.
The other thing is it's going to be so much easier to implement ERP and fit [it] into your business. We can develop what we call "ERP for you," which is a combination of all the best practices that we have from thousands of companies across so many different industries, with the knowledge of how your particular business operates. When you put those two things together, you can get an implementation that's a fit quickly, easily and inexpensively. That's super, super exciting, and it's going to make ERP accessible to so many more companies.
What do you consider the most important introductions from NetSuite this week?
Goldberg: Number one is Suite Express, our new approach to implementing ERP, which is a combination of a great fit for you, the knowledge that's been built over decades and thousands of companies, and doing it fast and easily.
Number two is AI Portlets, which are more of a simple feature but hugely powerful and a great entry point to AI. It makes it easy to put the information you want on your dashboard. To get that information, you just describe it in natural language. That makes the great insights that can come from AI in NetSuite and the actions that it can perform on your behalf so much more accessible to an everyday user.
The final one is SuiteSkills, which are a way to sort of seed the AI, whether it be the AI in NetSuite or Claude or ChatGPT with the knowledge of how NetSuite works, how it works in different industries and across different functions, so it is more accurate in its answers. AI is always very confident in its answers. SuiteSkills give it a basis for that confidence.
What are you hearing from NetSuite customers about their challenges in deploying AI, but also justifying the expense?
Goldberg: One of the things I promoted yesterday in the keynote was the fact that all this powerful AI functionality is included in NetSuite. To get started, it costs you zero over your existing NetSuite subscription. There's really no barrier to giving it a shot inside NetSuite.
Outside of NetSuite, of course, you're maybe paying for ChatGPT or a cloud subscription, but we're just hoping to give you the tools to get the most out of that ChatGPT and cloud subscription.
We're hearing a few different things from customers. They certainly want to be able to trust the answers, and they want security. They want to make sure AI can't access things that it's not supposed to. So, the way we've integrated AI has been based on our extensive roles and permissions infrastructure that is already in place for companies to prevent employees from seeing things they shouldn't. AI works on your behalf, not as this super-agent, but as an extension of what you're already doing.
The fact that customers can start using it very easily and see how it does with questions, and then expand, is giving them comfort. They can switch on NetSuite Next for particular roles or users and go back and forth. They always know that they have a fallback.
What's the role of Ask Oracle?
Goldberg: Ask Oracle is the orchestrator of everything in NetSuite Next. It's your entry point for everything you want to do: asking questions, of course, but also generating new content on your dashboard and creating agents. You can just name an agent that you created and communicate with it through Ask Oracle.
For most things in the future that you're doing, you'll say, "I want to do this thing," and Ask Oracle will create a user experience for you. It really becomes synonymous with NetSuite Next. They're sort of one and the same.
The word transformation is overused in this industry, but it's clear AI really is transforming ERP. How would you describe what ERP is becoming now, and how it might look in three years?
Goldberg: I really do think it's your pervasive intelligent assistant for running your business. It's there when you want it, and it's not there when you don't want it.
In the past, ERP was looked at as something you had to do as the price of admission for running a business as a group. You outgrew your initial accounting program, which was probably pretty easy to use, but couldn't handle your business and all the processes you were starting to develop as your business got more sophisticated. You had to go to ERP.
We launched QuickStart last week, which is for tech startups from the very, very beginning, when all they have is a gleam in their eye and a business plan. You're getting the power that maybe was only available to bigger companies or if you hired a bunch of experts. I look at it as the great equalizer for businesses as they grow. You're using the same models, the same power that the biggest companies are using, but it's tailored to you.
The AI front ends, UXs and agentic automation major vendors are rolling out are meant to make ERP easier to use, but also more useful. At yesterday's press conference, someone suggested this could change the traditional definitions of SMB, midmarket and large-enterprise ERP. How much will AI shake up the market?
Goldberg: I certainly think it expands the availability of NetSuite to many companies that weren't able to have it before. Implementations nowadays are obviously very inexpensive or even free in some cases. That alone will eliminate a barrier to entry.
We can start with companies when they're very small and only expose the capabilities they need right then. These systems can become wider in their appeal to businesses that didn't think they could have such a powerful system because it cost a lot to implement, was hard to learn and wasn't tailored for exactly the stage they're in.
“These systems can become wider in their appeal to businesses that didn't think they could have such a powerful system.”
Evan Goldberg
Founder and EVP, Oracle Netsuite
The 10th anniversary of the acquisition is coming up on Nov. 7. Oracle has its own full SaaS ERP suite. How do you advise people on choosing between NetSuite and Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP?
Goldberg: Oracle is definitely working on making Fusion easier, but it's still a very sophisticated product for companies with very deep needs. It's not a fit for a fast-growing SMB.
That's why Oracle has two products. They need to keep an eye on the biggest companies in the world and their needs, and we're keeping an eye on the next generation of the biggest companies in the world. If, someday, a company becomes so big and sophisticated, we're going to make it super easy to go from NetSuite to Fusion.
We have companies that have been on NetSuite for decades. I still think it's a good mix to have these two different approaches. We're also working very closely with the Fusion team because a lot of things are common and we want to use the same approaches. Our approaches to AI are very similar and we're always comparing notes.
Nobody seems to dispute NetSuite's claim to the first cloud ERP. SaaS is now the preferred deployment model of every ERP vendor, and AI -- which pretty much has to run in the cloud -- is transforming ERP and all of business technology. Do you feel vindicated by what's transpired over 28 years?
Goldberg: We're absolutely proud of the pioneering work we did for cloud ERP and building a suite for more than just finance, but really everything you need all in one place for the different parts of your business, acquiring and growing customers, creating and delivering products and services, hiring and empowering employees, and of course, still optimizing cash and profits.
The cloud was an enabler of the suite. You can only have that kind of system if everybody all over the world at any time of day can access it. That's what the cloud gives you. What we're most excited about right now is that the foundation we built is the foundation that AI needs to succeed in your company. It needs unified data and the context of all the experience we've gotten with so many companies and industries, making sure that it has confidence in its answers.
I'm just looking forward. It's fun to look back, but I spend most of my time looking forward to how we can build on what we pioneered to create the best system to run a business.
David Essex is a senior editor who creates in-depth content on enterprise applications, emerging technology and market trends for TechTarget's CIO group.
