There are many similarities between today’s AI and the beginning of the cloud computing era, and NetSuite remains at the forefront as both technologies change the way businesses operate.
What is common in every era is the need for technology that allows fewer employees to do more and accelerate business processes. For example, the transition from mail rooms to fax machines has significantly streamlined communications and reduced the costs of business communications.
Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president of NetSuite, founded the world’s first cloud software company (then NetLedger) in 1998.
“As soon as I got NetSuite up and started running my own company, I was a follower. When I saw that I had the information I needed about my business in one place, we were sure we could give entrepreneurs what they needed,” Goldberg says.
At the time, companies were skeptical of moving sensitive information, such as accounting data, to another company’s server.
“We were selling to CFOs and lending to essentially conservative people. But moving to the cloud was not a difficult case to make, as they are very reasonable people. All of their company information was sitting on a computer in the closet and anyone could access it.
“I was amazed at the number of companies willing to become early adopters of netsuits from all different industries. What they had in common was they wanted to have real-time access to business information,” he says.
Many of the Mega Cap Tech stocks today began living around the same time as NetSuite, driving its success.
“Google started the same year that consumers contributed to by launching and entering information on the Internet. In business, “If you’re responsible for managing your data, security and application updates, you’ll lose very powerful features and data management best practices.”
Cloud has been one component of NetSuite’s success, while the other is its ability to provide client software that enables end-to-end business management. NetSuite was the first software provider to provide a complete set of business features in the cloud.
“We started with accounting because it holds core business information, but it quickly expanded to CRM and e-commerce, and now we have a complete software suite,” Goldberg says.
Now, NetSuite customers have access to everything they need to grow, including a dashboard containing important information from every corner of their business.
“Every function works together and information flows seamlessly between every department and every person,” Goldberg says
Insights across decades and industry
One of the key benefits of NetSuite’s customers is the insights the team was able to incorporate into the platform from lessons they learned over 27 years with 41,000 customers.
In fact, that sweet sex methodology focuses on that. With nearly 30 years of experience, customers can implement technology and facilitate industry-specific, pre-built processes and capabilities.
For example, at SuiteConnect Sydney 2025, the company announced the netSuite As-a-Service (XAAS) edition. Other Suitesuccess editions available in Australia and New Zealand include industry-specific features for manufacturing, wholesale distribution, nonprofit organizations, software, services businesses, and high-growth startups.
“There are industry specificity, but many of the problems entrepreneurs encounter are the same in every industry. You can lend that experience to every customer,” Goldberg says.
Today, NetSuite customers are profiting as AI capabilities are deployed across the platform.
“We bake AI into the core of NetSuite. You don’t pay extra for it. The staff doesn’t need any special training. We make it very natural and easy. The overall idea of AI should be available at any time to help with advice and assistance,” Goldberg says.
The possibilities for AI are enormous and there are many unpredictable applications.
“It’s a time of incredible opportunity. Just like the internet revolution, there are then some amazing successes,” he says.
At SuiteConnect, NetSuite has also announced AI integrations designed to allow businesses in Australia and New Zealand to expand faster. The highlight is the NetSuite Suite Analytics assistant. This allows users to query the data in plain English.
“Mid-sized companies rarely have data scientists. Nowadays, sales managers can ask, “Why did your second quarter earnings go down?” And you get actionable insights without the need for coding or more tech-rich requirements,” Goldberg says.
Another breakthrough is NetSuite Financial Exceance Management, which abnormally flags in real time, including irregular transactions and inventory inconsistencies that humans may miss.
These are just some of the AI features that help businesses improve productivity.
“Just as the cloud is ubiquitous, AI disappears into the background and quietly increases efficiency across NetSuite’s platform,” Goldberg says.
NetSuite’s path from cloudpioneers to AI leaders has always relied on solving real problems rather than hypothetical problems. This focus continues through all technological revolutions.
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