Oracle NetSuite's annual conference, SuiteWorld, took over Las Vegas last week, and our Managing Director, Vlad Kozak, was there to see what's next first-hand. There was plenty to take in, from Oracle's vision for the autonomous suite to AI agents that work in the background and a smarter way to run the month-end close.
This blog pulls out what matters most for New Zealand businesses running NetSuite. Much of what was announced will roll out gradually rather than all at once. The good news is that you don’t have to wait to get started. The AI Connector Service and SuiteSkills are available to NZ customers now. NetSuite Next and Ask Oracle follow early next year, with other features arriving gradually after that and NetSuite yet to confirm New Zealand timing for the rest. Here’s what was announced, what to try today, and how to prepare for what’s coming.
Key Highlights
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NetSuite Next is coming to NZ early next year. NetSuite Next, with Ask Oracle at its heart, begins rolling out to New Zealand customers.
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The autonomous suite is the destination. It is NetSuite's name for where its AI is heading: AI that coordinates and carries out work, with people keeping control of decisions.
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Control and trust came first. The AI is designed to work inside your existing roles and permissions, and answers show how they were reached.
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Ask Oracle goes beyond answers. NetSuite showed it drafting records, building saved searches and creating dashboard portlets, with the person approving each step.
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Agents are coming, with guardrails. SuiteAgents are designed to run in the background under your existing roles, and can be monitored or switched off with one click.
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Month end is set to become continuous. NetSuite showed reconciliation and exception management running through the month rather than at the end.
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Available now: the AI Connector Service and more than 45 SuiteSkills.[C2.1]
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Still to come: Ask Oracle arrives with NetSuite Next early next year, with AI portlets, AI Workspaces and industry agents to follow gradually as NetSuite confirms New Zealand timing.
What Is the Autonomous Suite?
At the opening keynote, founder Evan Goldberg introduced the autonomous suite, NetSuite’s name for where its AI is heading. The idea is AI that coordinates and carries out work across finance and operations inside your existing roles, permissions and approvals, while people keep control of decisions.
For Vlad, the most telling part was how NetSuite is approaching it. “What impressed me is that NetSuite isn’t treating AI as an add-on. It’s being built into how the whole suite works, from the way you ask questions to the way work is prepared and approved. And it all sits inside the roles and permissions businesses already have, which is what gives people the confidence to adopt it,” he says.
The autonomous suite builds on three things: Ask Oracle for working with your data in conversation, SuiteAgents for work that runs in the background, and the AI Connector Service for using assistants like Claude and ChatGPT with your NetSuite data.
As mentioned, the capabilities behind it will arrive in stages. Some, such as the AI Connector Service and SuiteSkills, are available now. Others will roll out gradually after NetSuite Next arrives, and NetSuite hasn’t confirmed New Zealand timing for all of them.
We’ll start with the principles guiding where NetSuite’s AI is heading, then move on to what it showed at SuiteWorld.
Three Principles Guiding NetSuite’s AI: Control, Trust and Confidence
Three themes ran through the whole product keynote. NetSuite built it around the questions customers now ask about AI: can we control it, can we trust it, and how do we start with confidence?
- Control. Ask Oracle is designed to work with the permissions of the person asking, so it only sees and does what that person already can. Agents are designed to run under roles you define, and system notes show whether a person or an agent made a change.
- Trust. Answers are designed to show the working behind them. In the demos, Ask Oracle named the report and assumptions behind a number and let the presenter open that same report to check it.
- Confidence. NetSuite's advice was to start small and start anywhere, often with questions about reports you already rely on.
NetSuite said early users of Ask Oracle followed a clear pattern. They started with questions they could answer themselves, built trust in the results, then moved on to asking why something happened and what to do about it.
Ask Oracle Goes Beyond Answering Questions
That trust matters because Ask Oracle is designed to do more than answer questions. At SuiteWorld, NetSuite showed it preparing work for people to review, which is what NZ customers can look forward to with NetSuite Next:
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Drafting records. In the demos, a supplier quote or customer PO was dropped in, or the need was simply described, and Ask Oracle prepared a draft purchase or sales order for review. Approval workflows, scripts and business rules still applied, and nothing was submitted until the presenter approved it.
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Admin help. An administrator described a saved search in plain English, such as overdue invoices above a set amount, and reviewed what Ask Oracle built. NetSuite says it won't change configuration or customisations without explicit approval.
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Skills. Skills capture the way your business does a task, such as checking a new starter has the equipment they need, so Ask Oracle follows the same steps every time. NetSuite says admins and business users can create them and share them across teams.
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AI portlets. In one demo, a user described what they wanted on their dashboard, sales against projection, and Ask Oracle built a portlet that keeps it up to date.
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Document analysis. In one demo, a PDF budget proposal was dragged into Ask Oracle, which was asked whether cash flow could support it. It read the document, pulled out the key figures and checked them against the business data in NetSuite.
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Canvases. When an answer needs more depth, Ask Oracle can move from a chat into a canvas, a separate workspace for ad hoc dashboards, charts and tables. In the demos, the analysis came back there with charts and links to the underlying reports and records, so the presenter could check the evidence.
Agents Are Coming, With Guardrails
Where Ask Oracle works inside a conversation, SuiteAgents are designed to work in the background. They respond to business events, take action, and bring a person in when approval is needed. NetSuite showed how one can be built by describing what you want to Ask Oracle, then reviewing it in SuiteAgent Studio before it goes live.
The guardrails were the focus. Each agent is designed to run under an existing NetSuite role. A new agent trust protocol brings a person in when an action needs review. The SuiteAgent Management workspace shows what agents are doing, alerts you when something fails, and lets you switch an agent off with one click.
Finance: Closing as You Go
Finance is where NetSuite showed Ask Oracle and agents working together, built around a simple message: “always be closing”. By this they mean detecting, explaining and fixing issues as they arise throughout the month, not waiting and doing it all at the end of it.
In the demos, the Intelligent Close workspace showed every close task, whether done by a person or an agent, in one live view. Bank reconciliation agents matched transactions automatically and surfaced exceptions the day they happened. Balance sheet accounts were reconciled with an owner, sign-off and audit trail, Ask Oracle drafted explanations of reconciling items on accounts receivable for the preparer to confirm, and exception management flagged likely errors in real time.
NetSuite pointed to customers already closing faster. One health food retailer went from a 20-day close to three by redesigning its workflows and catching issues throughout the month, rather than at the end.
More Announcements Worth Knowing
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SuiteSkills. A library of more than 45 skills that package NetSuite's process knowledge, such as variance analysis or overdue invoice reviews. They're available now to use with assistants like Claude and ChatGPT through the AI Connector Service, and will also work in Ask Oracle once NetSuite Next arrives.
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Industry SuiteAgents. Agents for software, product and construction businesses are live for NetSuite Next customers in markets where it's running, with New Zealand timing still to be confirmed. Others, including services, healthcare and nonprofit, are to follow.
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AI Workspaces and Ask Oracle predictions. Workspaces, which NetSuite described as upcoming, bring people, agents and approvals together around an outcome, with Autonomous Close the first for finance. Predictions add forecasting from history in your NetSuite account.
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NetSuite Data Intelligence. The renamed NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, with new data tools and an agent you can call from Ask Oracle.
So what can you do now, and how do you get ready for what’s coming?
Where to Start: Use What's Available Now, Prepare for the Rest
Available Now:
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Connect an AI assistant. The AI Connector Service lets you use Claude or ChatGPT with your NetSuite data, with access governed by your existing roles and permissions. You'll need your own subscription to one of them.
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Try a SuiteSkill. Run a skill such as a variance analysis or an overdue invoice review.
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Test with different roles. Ask the same question from different roles to see how permissions shape what people can see.
Vlad's advice is to keep that first step simple. “Pick a process your team already knows well, try a SuiteSkill on it, and check the answer against a report you trust,” he says. “That is the quickest way to build confidence.”
To Prepare for NetSuite Next:
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Tidy the foundations. Review roles and permissions, clean up key data, and look over your customisations and navigation, because Ask Oracle, AI portlets and agents all work with what is already in your account. Our guide, NetSuite Next Starts Now: Five Ways to Get Ready for What's Ahead, covers each step.
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Build prompting habits. Asking clear, specific questions through the AI Connector now will make Ask Oracle feel familiar when it arrives.
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Plan your rollout. Talk to your NetSuite administrator about who should be first to try NetSuite Next, since access can be managed by role, and which processes are the best candidates for AI portlets and agents.
For a practical checklist to work through, read our guide, NetSuite Next Starts Now: Five Ways to Get Ready for What’s Ahead of if you'd like help working out where to start, get in touch with the Project Salsa team.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the autonomous suite?
It is NetSuite's name for where its AI is heading: AI that coordinates and carries out work across finance and operations inside your existing roles, permissions and approvals, with people keeping control of decisions. The capabilities behind it, including Ask Oracle, SuiteAgents etc. will be rolled out gradually.
When will NetSuite Next and Ask Oracle be available in New Zealand?
NetSuite Next begins rolling out in New Zealand early next year, with Ask Oracle arriving alongside it. Other features announced at SuiteWorld will roll out more gradually, and NetSuite hasn't confirmed New Zealand timing for all of them. Timing may change.
What can New Zealand customers use now?
The AI Connector Service, which lets you use Claude or ChatGPT with your NetSuite data, and the library of more than 45 SuiteSkills. You'll need your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription. SuiteSkills will also work in Ask Oracle once NetSuite Next arrives.
Do I need to reimplement NetSuite or migrate my data to use NetSuite Next?
No. NetSuite Next is an upgrade to the NetSuite you already run. Your data, roles, permissions, customisations and workflows stay as they are, and your administrator decides how quickly your organisation moves. You will also have the flexibility to switch back to today’s NetSuite so you can gradually get used to what NetSuite Next has to offer.
Can Ask Oracle or an agent see things I'm not authorised to see?
No. Ask Oracle is designed to work with the permissions of the person asking, and agents are designed to run under roles you define, so neither can see or do more than those roles allow.
Will agents act without my approval?
NetSuite showed Ask Oracle preparing draft records for review, and said a new agent trust protocol brings a person in when an action needs review. Agents can also be monitored and switched off with one click.
How can I prepare for NetSuite Next?
Start with the foundations it builds on: roles and permissions, key data, customisations and navigation. Our guide, NetSuite Next Starts Now: Five Ways to Get Ready for What's Ahead, covers each one, and you can start trying SuiteSkills through the AI Connector today.
NetSuite's features and rollout timing are set by Oracle and may change. This blog reflects publicly available Oracle NetSuite information at the time of writing.
