Oracle and NetSuite recently hosted a media and analyst event to share how they continue to support customers and partners, as well as a preview of what’s in store for 2024.
In attendance were local executives including NetSuite vice president and general manager for ANZ, Scott Wiltshire, Oracle regional managing director for Australia & New Zealand (ANZ), Stephen Bovis and Oracle head of applications, John Ferguson.
The panel highlighted NetSuite’s history as the first cloud company, having sold cloud ERP for 25 years, including 20 years in the Australian market, now working with around 37,000 customers around the world.
“We’re in a unique position because we have a phenomenal amount of expertise and IP built up in our business,” Wiltshire said.
“We’ve changed our engagement model. We deal with clients in a unique way as a leader and specialist in a range of industries. We work with fast growing companies and our goal is to get clients up and running quickly because we know businesses become fundamentally different if they undertake a two-year project, for example. We provide them with a platform to scale and continually iterate to align with their long-term growth.”
Wiltshire said NetSuite understands that fast-growing businesses often face unique challenges when it comes to managing change and scaling infrastructure, while balancing customer outcomes and back-end systems.
“A fast-growing company tends to be more sensitive to challenges and the overwhelming attribute is change. How do you manage change when you don’t have the infrastructure already in place to scale? Changing from being generalists to subject matter experts, putting processes and controls in place, that will futureproof your business as it evolves,” Wiltshire said.
“It’s about focusing on the customer outcome but also balancing the backend infrastructure to ensure processes, controls and systems are fit for the long-term and can deliver a single source of truth for full visibility across the business. This is imperative to make the right decisions, adapt and be agile, as well as continue to be competitive.”
NetSuite has embedded the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Generative AI service as AI becomes a larger focus for the company, with a philosophy around making AI ubiquitous across the platform.
“This means it doesn’t matter what type of user you are, you can action insights and analysis.
“One of our customers, automotive specialist, Speedmaster is growing rapidly, having doubled the size of their business. They have a lot of SKUs to manage across multiple countries and warehouses, as well as a lot of product descriptions, which they’re now using generative AI to create and manage the content so it remains consistent. Combine this with NetSuite’s Supply Chain Control Tower feature which can analyse what you need, when you need it and where you need it.
“Beyond our focus on AI, we’ve announced a raft of products, including Cash 360 and Customer 360, which gives businesses the ability to have a far better handle on cash flow. We know in this market, cash flow remains king. We’ve also made two strategic acquisitions and most recently, we introduced Field Service Management.
“We’ll continue to invest in products that we develop and make use of Oracle’s Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) suite. This is all with the goal to drive more value for our customer base, so they can do more with less.”
NetSuite customer, Basil Karam, founder of furniture and homewares retailer, Life Interiors, says NetSuite has been instrumental in the company’s growth and evolution as a business.
“NetSuite provides real-time data into our operation, from up-to-date stock levels to visibility across our inventory status and turnover, line of SKU’s and our supplier ecosystem,” he told Retailbiz.
“With one of our primary objectives to build a truly omnichannel retail experience for our customers, NetSuite has enabled us to bridge the gap between online and offline channels seamlessly by providing one centralised source of truth.
“NetSuite is not just a business management platform for us; it’s steering us through our continued growth by bringing innovation to our operation.”