"The best AI comes from the best data” - why NetSuite thinks AI is changing everything, but its “secret sauce” could be just what your business needs

As AI tools continue to transform the world of work, companies of all sizes are clamoring for the most effective platforms to get the most out of their data.

NetSuite’s wide array of accountancy and finance tools for businesses appear to be an obvious one for AI to not just influence, but transform, and at its recent SuiteConnect London 2025 event, the company announced a host of new tools and features to address some of the biggest pain points affecting finance professionals today.

After his keynote, I spoke to NetSuite Founder and Executive Vice President, Evan Goldberg, as well as Senior Vice President, EMEA, Nicky Tozer, about the role AI is set to play in the company’s future, as well as insight into what really keeps them focused.

Suiteness

Goldberg mentioned the idea of “Suiteness” in his keynote speech at SuiteConnect London 2025, the idea that having all your data available across all your business to easily access and connect - something he later tells us, “has been our secret sauce since the beginning."

Goldberg harks back to the very start of Oracle and NetSuite, when he worked with the former’s founder Larry Ellison, who wanted the latter company to start with accounting. Goldberg says he argued sales were the more important focus, with the end result that NetSuite built a suite that has everything - all the data, and everything you need as an entrepreneur.

"That's what we're always thinking about - there's a lot of tentacles in your business, typically, as things get complex, and when you start to grow," he says, "you really need data from all over the system...that's the capability NetSuite was uniquely suited for.”

"The premise of NetSuite has always been, if you have a unified business platform, that is running your business, then all of your data is in the same place, and all of your users are using the same data,” Tozer agrees, “so everybody is saving time...everyone is looking at the same data.”

“Quite often, customers know that AI is good, they know they can make use of it, but they need some guidance on where they're really going to add value fast"

Customization has always been a big theme, Goldberg adds, "everything we do at NetSuite, we build in with this level of customization that lets you really tailor it.”

“The best AI comes from the best data - and the best data comes from a unified suite.”

Goldberg notes that the company is able to try and push its work with AI further due to its relationship with parent company Oracle, which provides the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) backbone that takes much of the heavy lifting.

This includes the company’s recent move into the latest trend in the whole of AI software and computing as a whole - agents.

NetSuite’s offerings seem perfect for adopting agentic processes and tools, but as I mention, the very definition of “agents” themselves seems a bit tired - something Goldberg agrees with.

"I don't know that the agent term is you know, "term du jour" - and in a year, we won't be saying agents in a year or two,” he laughs, “but I do know that the next step beyond these large language models that are really good at one particular type of task is combining different components to build something that's more sophisticated.”

"With NetSuite, people already spend a lot of time doing "agent-like" tasks," he notes, "which could potentially be made much more easier and put the users in a more supervisory or approval type role, rather than a manual, entry sort of role - I think everyone will welcome that.”

I ask him what he’d prefer these new tools to be called, if not agents.

“If AI becomes so ubiquitous, does it really need a name?” Goldberg laughs again.

“Things are changing so fast, we're going to have to see where it goes, he adds, “maybe it will cause us to reconceive what they are...it's just software, ultimately, from our perspective - the next generation of software - whatever is going to make it more productive for our users, and give them better insights - that's just what we do.”

"I'm pretty optimistic that just like before, we're going to be able to figure out how to use AI hardware super cost-effectively, just like we've been able to figure out how to use traditional hardware.”

I ask Goldberg and Tozer if their success puts somewhat of a target on NetSuite’s back, but perhaps unsurprisingly, they don’t seem phased.

“We have a start-up mentality at the core of our company,” Goldberg says, “I'm still here, and we are not going to be easily disrupted, because we are constantly thinking about how to re-invent ourselves - and you’re going to see, over the next coming months and years, the fruits of that.”

“But we’re definitely thinking about how AI is changing systems at their very very core - and we have to do that, because it can change everything.”

“We have to assume that almost every process NetSuite is involved with is going to be potentially radically changed by AI…that’s the mentality that we have to have, and that's what keeps us operating like a startup!”

"Last year we were talking about doing more with less,” Tozer adds, “and we're still talking about that…but when you have years and years of disruption, you can't just settle for being efficient - you've still got to find ways to grow.”