At Oracle Netsuite's recent SuiteWorld conference in Las Vegas, TechDay sat down with the company's Senior Vice President of NetSuite Application Development Gary Wiessinger. Fresh from a keynote presentation featuring him and other Oracle NetSuite executives as AI-generated Archer-esque secret agents on the Jumbotron (followed by the same execs taking the stage for real, elegantly dressed in tuxedos), Wiessinger was on a high. The topic du jour? Innovation in ERP applications. With NetSuite founder Evan Goldberg stressing the necessity for going all in on AI, we asked Wiessinger:
TECHDAY: Let's start with innovation in ERP. How you innovate in the ERP ecosystem? These are systems of record, not known for being flashy and fancy?
WIESSINGER: These processes and systems have been around for a very long time. And so there are kind of known ways that these things should work. And so sometimes, if we come up with what we think is a better way, or even is a better way, the users say 'that's not how I'm familiar with doing it and I don't want the better way'. That's something that we have to think about in any of our innovations, not just, 'is it better', but what's the user attitude going to be? Are they going to see it as better? How do we help them get there?
That's something very much on our minds about how we apply AI. And we talked about today. How we can make AI work in the ways people want to work. Some people are going to embrace the conversational interaction. But that isn't the only way to engage in AI and NetSuite.
TECHDAY: So, you're engaging with users and asking them what they want and how they like it? That's an approach all too often absent from software development, where users are sometimes treated with fear. I had a guy approach me last week asking for help with developing a software application, and I said to him, Have you gone to your customers and asked them if they will actually use this product? And his response was, Oh, shit. I didn't even think of that. It happens so often. So the fact that you are engaging with your users and reflecting on that long history of ERPs...**
WIESSINGER: [laughs]. No, we're passionate about doing everything - this preceded AI - from a customer-centric, user-centric perspective. We believe in design thinking, which is a mindset and approach and process that starts with empathy, and that word is chosen very intentionally, to deeply understand them and their problems, and then we figure out how to solve the problems.
Of course, we're not perfect at it, no one is. So, when saying 'look, we can do this with AI', the first question has to be 'Okay, that's cool, but what important problem is it solving?' Sometimes you have to step back and to the basics, look at the most important tasks people need to complete, the things that take the most time. And figure out how you can use AI to make those things better.
TECHDAY: That's a crucial point isn't it. For many of us, it feels like we're having AI forced upon us when we don't necessarily want it. What you've just said in terms of AI that kind of more subtly, not imposes itself, but introduces itself to your workflow…I would imagine that's a better way, perhaps, to get people seeing the benefits and getting on the train?
WIESSINGER: That's what will drive the adoption. This is obviously my opinion, as no one knows for sure exactly how AI adoption is going to evolve, and it's going to vary. Not everyone is the same. Not every person and company has the same attitudes about it, and not every task is the same, so we need to give companies and people flexibility to adopt at their pace. We have to be careful to make a great experience for somebody who wants to use lots of AI, and for somebody who doesn't want to use any AI, without making it not great for anyone. So what we're doing with NetSuite Next is enabling a preview mode, so you can turn it on and see, and turn it back off.
But it isn't one size fits all, and that will make it easier for them to adopt it in the ways they want to.
TECHDAY: I think one of the crucial factors with AI of any kind, whether it's ChatGPT or embedded AI like Ask Oracle, is knowing when, how, and where to use the tool. Because you come short if you don't apply your mind to those things. And I think one of the key differentiators, as well as if you outsource your thinking, you may well find yourself in a lot of trouble very quickly. What's your view on that?
WIESSINGER: I agree 100% that some people are like, well, it's going to be entirely conversational. It's just going to be basically, just going to get a box like you do with Claude or ChatGPT, and you're just going to tell it what you want to do, and then that's going to be the entire UI for an ERP system. I don't agree, that's crazy. In some cases a conversational interface is going to be fantastic, and in some cases, it would be awful, making it much harder to do the job. And so you're right. It depends, the experience, the interface depends on the task.
TECHDAY: And Gary, beyond AI, what sort of innovation is happening in enterprise applications or the enterprise applications space?
WIESSINGER: AI is our focus, everyone's focus right now. And I think it should be, especially generative AI. It's exploding so quickly right now that I think anyone who isn't basically all in on figuring out how to use it is making a mistake.
And so, yeah, innovation takes many forms, but AI is definitely our number 1, 2, 3 priority on the list.
TECHDAY: Do you know what my view is, Gary? I think you're going to have more differentiation from (NetSuite's new US design) Redwood than you are going to have from AI and Ask Oracle.
WIESSINGER: It definitely is when you see a screen, like most of what you see is Redwood, it's not Ask Oracle. Now when you start interacting with it, that changes, and the two really are not separable. For us, you can't have Redwood without Ask Oracle or vice versa. But I agree with you, the initial reaction is more about what you see, so you're right. I mean, creating a sales order that I may not use AI to do that, the activity of doing it is going to be significantly different because of Redwood. So, I agree, initially they'll get a bigger benefit from it, and it's a huge benefit.
