Presented by Oracle NetSuite
When a company tells you this is its biggest product launch in nearly three decades, it’s worth listening. When whoever says it founded the world’s first cloud computing company, it’s time to take note.
At SuiteWorld 2025, Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, did just that, calling NetSuite Next the company’s biggest product evolution in nearly three decades. But behind this radical vision lies a more discreet change, focused on how AI behaves, not just what it can do.
“Every company is experimenting with AI,” says Brian Chess, senior vice president of technology and AI at NetSuite. “Some ideas hit the mark, some don’t, but each one teaches us something. That’s how innovation works.”
For Chess and Gary Wiessinger, senior vice president of application development at NetSuite, the challenge lies in governing AI responsibly. Rather than reinventing its system, NetSuite is extending the same principles that have guided its strategy for 27 years to the AI era: security, control and auditability. The goal is to make AI actions traceable, permissions enforceable, and results verifiable.
This philosophy underpins what Chess calls a “glass box” approach to enterprise AI, where decisions are visible and each agent operates within human-defined guardrails.
Built on Oracle Foundations
NetSuite Next is the result of five years of development. It is built on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), which many of the world’s largest AI model providers rely on, and integrates AI capabilities directly into its core rather than being added as a separate layer.
“We are building a fantastic foundation on OCI,” says Chess. “This infrastructure provides much more than computing power. »
Built on the same OCI foundation that powers NetSuite today, NetSuite Next gives customers access to Oracle’s latest AI innovations along with the performance, scalability and security of OCI’s enterprise platform.
Wiessinger highlights the team’s “needs first, technology second” approach.
“We don’t take a technology-driven approach,” he says. “We take a customer-needs-first approach and then figure out how to use the latest technology to better meet those needs. »
This philosophy extends across the entire Oracle ecosystem. NetSuite’s collaboration with Oracle’s AI Database, Fusion Applications, Analytics and Cloud Infrastructure teams helps NetSuite deliver capabilities that independent vendors can’t match, he says – an AI system that is both open to innovation and rooted in Oracle’s security and scalability.
The advantage of data structure
At the heart of the platform is a structured data model which is a key advantage.
“One of the benefits of NetSuite is that because the data comes in and is structured, the connections between the data are explicit,” says Chess. “This means that AI can begin to explore the knowledge graph that the company has built.”
Where general LLMs sift through unstructured text, NetSuite’s AI works on structured data, identifying precise connections between transactions, accounts and workflows to provide contextual insights.
Wiessinger adds: “The data we have spans financial, CRM, sales and HR. We can do more for customers because we see more of their activities in one place.”
Combined with built-in business logic and metadata, this scope allows NetSuite to generate accurate, explainable recommendations and insights.
Oracle’s Redwood design system provides the visual layer for this data intelligence, creating what Goldberg described as a "modern, refined and intuitive" workspace where AI and humans naturally collaborate.
Design for Responsibility
One of the downsides of enterprise AI is that many systems still operate like a black box: they produce results but provide little visibility into how they got them. NetSuite is different. It designs its systems around transparency, making visibility a determining element.
“When users can see how the AI made a decision – tracing the path from point A to point B – they don’t just check for correctness,” says Chess. “They learn how the AI knew how to do this.”
This visibility transforms AI into a learning engine. As Chess says, transparency becomes a “fantastic teacher,” helping organizations understand, improve, and trust automation over time.
But Chess warns against blind trust: “What’s disturbing is when someone presents something to me and says, ‘Look what the AI gave me,’ as if that gives it authority. People need to ask: “What founded this? Why is this correct?»
NetSuite’s answer is traceability. When someone asks, “Where did this number come from?” » the system can show them the complete reasoning behind it.
Governance by design
AI agents within NetSuite Next follow the same governance model as employees: roles, permissions, and escalation rules. Role-based security, built directly into workflows, helps ensure agents only act within authorized limits.
Wiessinger puts it clearly: “If the AI generates a narrative summary of a report and it is 80% of what the user would have written, that’s great. We will learn from their feedback and improve it further. But posting to the general ledger is different. It has to be 100% correct and that’s where controls and human review are really important.”
Algorithm audit
Auditing has always been part of the DNA of ERP, and NetSuite is now extending this discipline to AI. Every agent action, workflow adjustment, and code snippet generated by the model is recorded within the system’s existing audit framework.
As Chess explains, “It’s the same audit trail you could use to understand what humans did. The code is auditable. When the LLM creates code and something happens in the system, we can trace it.”
This traceability transforms AI from a black box into a glass box. When an algorithm expedites a payment or flags an anomaly, teams can see exactly what inputs and logic led to the decision – a critical safeguard for regulated industries and finance teams.
Safe extensibility
The other half of trust is freedom: the ability to extend AI without risking data exposure.
The NetSuite AI Connector service and SuiteCloud platform make this possible. Through standards such as Model Context Protocol (MCP), customers can connect external language models while protecting sensitive data within Oracle’s environment.
“Businesses are hungry for AI,” says Chess. “They want to start implementing it. But they also want to know that these experiences can’t be derailed. The NetSuite AI Connector service and governance model gives partners the freedom to innovate while maintaining the same auditing and authorization logic that governs native functionality.”
Culture, experimentation and safeguards
Governance frameworks only work if people use them wisely. Both leaders view AI adoption as a top-down and bottom-up process.
“The board tells the CEO they need an AI strategy,” says Chess. “Meanwhile, employees are already using AI. If I were CEO, I would start by asking: What are you already doing and what is working?”
Wiessinger agrees that balance is key: “Some companies rely on a centralized AI team while others let everyone experiment freely. Neither works on its own. You need structure for major initiatives and freedom for grassroots innovation.”
He offers a simple example: “Write an email? Go crazy. Touch financial data or employee data? Don’t go crazy with it.”
Experimentation, both emphasize, is imperative. “No one should wait for us or anyone else,” says Wiessinger. “Start testing, learn quickly, and be determined to make it work for your business. »
Why Transparent AI Wins
As AI becomes more entrenched in business operations, governance will define competitive advantage as much as innovation. NetSuite’s approach — extending its legacy of ERP controls into the era of autonomous systems, built on Oracle’s secure cloud infrastructure and structured database — positions it as a leader in both areas.
In a world of opaque models and risky promises, the companies that win won’t just build smarter AI. They will build AI that you can trust.
Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that pays for publication or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they are always clearly marked. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.
