Oracle NetSuite unveils AI-driven platform with new SaaS metrics

Oracle NetSuite has announced the introduction of NetSuite Next, a new generation of its AI-powered ERP platform complemented by a suite of features designed for SaaS and subscription businesses, including Subscription Metrics.

AI and autonomy

NetSuite Next incorporates conversational artificial intelligence, agentic workflows, and natural language search as part of its suite-wide enhancements.

A central component of this release is Ask Oracle, a natural language assistant that enables users to interact with NetSuite data by querying, analysing, and initiating actions in plain English. The intention is to enhance how users extract value from enterprise software, making it more intuitive and capable of automating both routine and complex tasks.

"NetSuite Next puts AI to work for businesses by making it a natural extension of the way they already work," said Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president, Oracle NetSuite. "With the latest AI innovations built in, NetSuite Next can deliver powerful insights as well as autonomously complete repetitive and complex tasks, all with enterprise-level reliability. Every insight and action is rooted in data and governed by the existing roles, permissions, and policies our customers depend on. It enables users to discover patterns in their business and engage with NetSuite in their own words, all while understanding an individual user's context, so it can deliver answers and actions that provide immediate value."

The Ask Oracle assistant is designed to work across core software configurations, existing customisations, and available partner applications, ensuring the new interfaces do not conflict with current deployments. The system is hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, utilising a unified data model and the Redwood Design System. This approach aims to maintain a seamless experience while introducing explainable and auditable AI features intended to identify operational opportunities and risks, automate a range of tasks, and provide users with contextual responses.

New functionalities

The NetSuite Next platform features several new elements:

• AI Canvas - a collaborative environment to transition data into actionable workflows, allowing teams to analyse problems and brainstorm within a visual space.
• Narrative summaries and insights - automated explanations and trend identifications surfaced within forms and reports to help uncover correlations before issues arise.
• Agentic workflows - proactive, AI-driven processes capable of automating tasks such as payment proposals, vendor selection, and reconciliations, enabling either user approval or autonomous execution by agents.
• Document and knowledge integration - application of language models to extract and validate information from multiple document types, aiming to reduce manual entry and improve workflow accuracy.

Users can adopt NetSuite Next with existing system customisations intact, and no separate migration process is required.

Subscription Metrics for SaaS

The company also introduced NetSuite Subscription Metrics, a solution tailored for companies operating subscription-based business models. The tool presents financial and operational metrics in a unified dashboard, targeting Chief Financial Officers and Chief Revenue Officers who require a consolidated overview of performance, including recurring revenue growth, customer churn, and lifetime value.

"NetSuite has long been the system of choice for the fastest-growing startups and hi-tech companies - in fact, 77% of the Forbes Cloud 100 rely on NetSuite to support their growth," said Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president, Oracle NetSuite. "From pre-revenue startups to global enterprises, software businesses can't afford to operate without real-time intelligence. With Subscription Metrics, we're giving CFOs and CROs out-of-the-box metrics, actionable AI-generated narratives, multi-national reporting, and insightful visualisations in a unified dashboard. Equipped with these insights, finance and operations leaders can understand where their business is today, anticipate where it's headed, and make strategic decisions faster."

Subscription Metrics features include:

• Tracking of standard SaaS indicators such as MRR/ARR growth, lifetime value, net revenue retention, and more.
• A SaaS metrics dashboard providing a single view of company performance via visual graphics and extensive reporting filters.
• Roll-forward reporting to monitor changes in recurring revenue over time.
• Cohort analysis heatmaps for understanding the impact of business decisions on retention and churn.
• Constant currency support for global companies to standardise financial reporting.
• Integration with the NetSuite AI Connector Service, enabling deeper analysis and prescriptive recommendations through linkages with external AI models.
• AI-generated narrative summaries to deliver actionable recommendations and simplify the analysis of complex metrics, with availability planned within the next 12 months.

Comprehensive historical data capture forms part of the offering, equipping finance teams with insights from all transactions and subscription arrangements. The solution is available to existing NetSuite customers at no additional cost.