Upcoming NetSuite AI Enhancements

Oracle is prioritizing investment in Artificial Intelligence to improve functionality in upcoming NetSuite updates. The company plans to roll out numerous new technologies, breaking down their goals into four categories, which they believe AI will help them reach:

1. Acquire and Grow Customers
2. Create and Deliver Products and Services
3. Hire and Empower Employees
4. Optimize Cash and Profits

Oracle NetSuite AI developments can be further segmented into three distinctions: Assistants, Advisors, and Agents. NetSuite AI Assistants will prioritize helping system users manage repetitive tasks. NetSuite Advisors will use analytics developed by AI to identify trends and make predictions to deliver insights. NetSuite Agents are powered by Machine Learning to identify your business’s use cases, and with authorization from a NetSuite user, will begin to complete tasks automatically.

NetSuite Assistants will help users handle repetitive tasks. Using Machine Learning capabilities, NetSuite AI Assistants will learn a specific customer environment’s business processes over time and flag potential mistakes in manual processes. NetSuite Assistants will use past transactions and entities as context for future data. Use cases that NetSuite Assistants can help with include bill entry and scanning, payment selection and automation, invoicing automation, collections, period close, forecast reporting, and more.

NetSuite’s AI Advisory will leverage AI-driven analytics to highlight consistencies, make predictions, and give users insights that otherwise would not have been noticed. Additionally, it will have the capability to identify potential AP fraud and risk exposures, AR credit policy risk and discounts, and give period close status reviews.

NetSuite’s biggest investment in AI comes in the form of NetSuite Agents; these developments seek to simplify the processes of the average NetSuite user. Oracle’s plan with NetSuite Agents centers around training technology to operate as a human would in NetSuite. Then, leveraging Generative AI, NetSuite Agents will consume information specific to a company’s environment and learn to mimic how NetSuite users operate and eventually create tangible output on its own. Here are some of the following AI developments Oracle mentioned:

• Text Enhance: A writing automation process is in development that can create item descriptions, write template emails, and more.
• NetSuite Expert: A specialized version of SuiteAnswers, NetSuite Expert understands questions in the context of your individual NetSuite environment/user role and provides pointed answers. The NetSuite Expert will have the ability to look into a user’s file cabinet at documents, videos, and pictures to summarize/analyze specific findings. It can also locate information on documents that cannot be found manually.
• Copilot for SuiteAnalytics: Users in NetSuite will have the ability to verbally speak to Copilot for SuiteAnalytics to ask specific questions based on your NetSuite instance.
  • Example 1: If a new user of NetSuite needs to create a report to show customers past their due dates, Copilot will listen to the NetSuite user’s needs and create a text file that walks the user through the steps of creating the report they need. In the future, Oracle looking to create a Copilot voice that can speak back to the user in real-time. Copilot learns from the data and processes within the NetSuite instance and mimics the actions of other users to create these instructions.
  • Example 2: A NetSuite Agent for collections can be developed that writes collections letters for specific customers who are overdue and what products or services they need payment for. These letters will be entirely customized based on balance overdue, date due, days overdue, and customer name. This should be ready for testing around May 2024.
• Anomaly AI: Anomaly AI will be able to detect if certain manual entries are inaccurate based on past PDFs.
  • Example: If a linked PDF for a purchase order has an item listed at $100,000 but the purchase order record has a price of $10,000, Anomaly AI will detect the discrepancy and alert the user.

Oracle is also giving developers the opportunity to dig into the machine learning codes in NetSuite. The company plans to roll out AI developments into NetSuite quarterly or even monthly due to AI’s rapidly growing pace. Oracle has also discussed a potential future partnership with OpenAI for more NetSuite AI advancements.

This technology is largely still being developed, with the goal of most capabilities being fully functional and ready for testing at the next SuiteWorld conference in 2024. All machine learning algorithms that are being developed include custom fields and scripts in your NetSuite environment. Oracle has repeatedly emphasized that these AI developments are created to supplement, not replace, the manual user experience. Generative AI learns based on the processes that humans create; without NetSuite users to standardize these processes, the AI will not function properly.

Oracle plans to make this AI functionality available with current licensing at no additional cost. All users must opt in and turn it on to allow AI and machine learning capabilities to fully function. Oracle’s upcoming AI-driven advancements for NetSuite promise to deliver a transformative experience and signal a significant leap forward in the software’s efficiency and productivity.

If you are interested in learning more about how to leverage AI in your NetSuite environment, reach out to our team at RSM!

Kevin O'Neill

Kevin is a certified NetSuite ERP implementation consultant at RSM US LLP with experience supporting both independent and private equity backed middle-market firms in the Business Professional Services, Life Sciences, and Not-For-Profit, industries. Kevin is passionate about how technology can be leveraged to streamline business operations, optimize financial and accounting processes, and drive growth.