Coen: 0:22

Joining us is Nickyi Tozer. She's Vice President at Oracle NetSuite, and we are discussing what GenAI can bring to ERP. Welcome, nikki. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. You're welcome. We know what GenAI is for about 18 months now, I guess. What do you think of GenAI in general?

Nicky Tozer: 0:44

Well, obviously it's another new phenomenon that's going to possibly be as big as the internet or the cloud in their own right, and it's still early relatively in its evolution and I think it's got massive potential for everybody. And I also think at the moment people are still kind of working out what it's going to mean for them both now and in the future. But I think it's very exciting.

Coen: 1:07

Yeah, some people call Gen AI an iPhone moment, where the world was before the iPhone and after the iPhone.

Nicky Tozer: 1:14

Yeah.

Coen: 1:14

Do you think the same of Gen AI?

Nicky Tozer: 1:16

Quite possibly. Yes. I mean, if you think about, you know, the explosion of chat, GPT and all of the conversations that created and everybody trying it out and like realizing the power of it. Now we need to harness that power and work out how we can actually use it meaningfully. But yes, I think it's a great moment in technology yeah, and you are here for NetSuite.

Coen: 1:38

You've just introduced, I think, your first Gen AI features with text-enhanced right yeah, that's right.

Nicky Tozer: 1:43

Yes, we, we launched that in North America and we'll be bringing it to the UK very shortly.

Coen: 1:49

And Ireland right.

Nicky Tozer: 1:51

At the moment it's UK. I'm not sure about the Irish bit actually We'd need to check on that but definitely the UK because of the data sovereignty for the UK location. That's why it's UK only now, and not in some of the other countries in.

Coen: 2:04

Europe. Mix it up with some other enhancement no problem. Okay, what does text enhance bring to your platform?

Nicky Tozer: 2:12

Well, I mean text enhance is kind of, I suppose, what you might imagine.

Nicky Tozer: 2:20

So, for example, if you're writing some sales orders, for example, or you want to create some campaigns for customers, text enhance will allow that, to create the body of that text for you, and then you can edit it to be something that's meaningful. We had a great example earlier as well that if you're in a support organization, for example, and you've talked to a customer about whatever challenges they have, then text enhance can produce the report for you that you can then edit. And what that means for an end user is it takes hours, potentially out of the day, or even minutes, but you know they don't have to sit there and generate that entire report themselves. The system will create that text for you based on the context of what's in the system already. So it's time saving for the end users, which means they can either if they were a support consultant, example, they could do more of those support cases or if it was a finance user, for example, they would then be able to use that time that they're not spending generating that report to do some more value-add activities.

Coen: 3:18

Okay, so text analysis is really connected to the customer data, so it can get the context of where the conversation needs to be about and what the last conversations with a customer were, for example.

Nicky Tozer: 3:30

Yes, correct, and I appreciate the listeners may not have seen the examples that we sent earlier on, but what we showed was a reflection of a summary of a discussion that someone had had with the customer and producing a written reply to that via email or whatever, and that incorporated all of the data that we had about that particular customer or whatever in the system so that that email got generated for them and then they could just edit it before they send it out to make it more relevant yeah, and this is just the beginning of AI and Gen.

Coen: 4:03

AI in general, Even your colleague Brian Chess, I think he is responsible for all the AI that is created within NetSuite's data disk. I don't want to go down the roadmap of NetSuite, just for the listeners to know. But I am wondering because you talk to a lot of customers and you talk about what might be possible in upcoming years, you know because, they have challenges and they may be looking for AI Like is that a solution for us or not?

Nicky Tozer: 4:34

Yes, yeah what do you envision?

Nicky Tozer: 4:39

Well, I think we have to listen to the customers to find those use cases that solve problems that genuinely save time.

Nicky Tozer: 4:47

It's in an ERP system, so it's running a business and customers are genuinely finding use cases that mean something to them.

Nicky Tozer: 4:56

So, if you listen to our customer, bloom and Wild, earlier today, they are using AI to help to increase their sustainability.

Nicky Tozer: 5:06

So wastage I think the industry standard is about 40%. They're using AI to help them bring that wastage number down to 10%, which is meaningful to their business, both in terms of financially because they're not wasting so many of their flowers and stems but also is good for sustainability and the universe. So, you know, I think there's real world examples like that that customers will bring to us. You know, maybe some of them will be specific to a customer that isn't relevant to our entire customer base, so we may not introduce them, but you know that's really going to help from that input from our customer base as to how we go, which direction we go in with this AI technology. You know, I think we will identify some of those use cases as we go forward, but I think it's going to be really important to get that input for those visionary customers and people who are experiencing those challenges on a day-to-day basis as to how we actually use it within the ERP system.

Coen: 6:00

Yeah, so sustainability, waste. Are there any other topics you think AI might help?

Nicky Tozer: 6:05

Well, we have I mean I talked about the support case earlier on. I think we're actually doing that in our own organization is to look at Evan was talking earlier on with the customer roundtable in how you can actually use AI to generate that report data for you, enrich it so that those support consultants aren't having to generate that themselves, genuinely saving them time in how many customers they can respond to. So that's another use case we're aware of. But I think we also see that in financial reporting, for example. Our expectation is that we will see the completion of those kind of reports reduce the time to create those kind of things as well. So you know we had previously spreadsheets that made reporting faster and made made financial you know, accounting faster than the introduction of a cloud-based, centralized, single, unified application to run your business, like NetSuite made things faster, and I think this kind of AI could also bring that reporting process faster so that those financial people can be providing the value-add analysis.

Nicky Tozer: 7:11

So you know we're talking about generative AI today, but you know there's the analytic AI side of it. If you look at the enterprise performance management tools that we were announced today also, those finance users then have that time to look at that kind of advisory piece of AI that says, okay, now I'm looking to predict what else I can do with my business by providing scenario analysis, building faster, more accurate, forward-looking plans so that I can extend what my business is doing and accelerate that in the future. So I think it's end-to-end. It's not just this what is generative AI going to produce, but also then how can we improve the business with that analytic AI after that?

Coen: 7:50

That's very interesting what you're saying, because I do wonder now Gen AI is kind of making AI normal for the general public and more acceptable. Does that also mean that an organization like yourselves will invest more in, let's say, traditional AI, Because, yeah, there's more awareness for it. More organizations are more open and acceptable to AI.

Nicky Tozer: 8:17

Yeah, and we'll have more time for the more traditional AI, I think. So you know, we made planning and budgeting available to our NetSuite customers quite a while ago, and it's been accelerated across the region and now we're bringing more of that EPM capability to our customers, and the more time, the shorter they get the detail bit done, the reporting bit done, the reporting bit done, the more time they have to use that kind of traditional AI as well. So I think it's very positive for all of our customers. It's about harnessing. How do we then make it as useful as we can for the sorts of things that our NetSuite customers are doing?

Coen: 8:55

What benefits do you see for organizations with AI? Is it purely being more productive or more efficient, or do you think there are more benefits that you can give?

Nicky Tozer: 9:06

Well, I think Brian Chess, earlier on in our keynote, was talking about, you know, assisting with AI and then advising with AI.

Nicky Tozer: 9:14

And the assisting bit really is about productivity and efficiency and speed and that kind of thing, and the advisory piece then is about you know, what can I, what can I tell you about your business that you might be missing if you're just looking at data?

Nicky Tozer: 9:28

So, rather than just looking at data, um ai either from a, actually from the generative and from the analytic ai can help to surface things that look wrong, for example, or things that anomalies that you might see in the data that might encourage you to go. Actually, that number seems out, let's go and have a look at it and drill into it in more detail. And that's, you know, nicely, leads us to the analytics warehouse piece that we talked about today as well, which allows you not only to look at your NetSuite data, but data that you might have stored in other applications or data warehouses that you have, or indeed more than one NetSuite instance. That allows you then to bring all that data together so that you can start to surface more of that analytic piece and, again, more time and energy to do that if the generative piece is doing that. So the assist piece and the advice piece, productivity, then you know, giving you that vision as to what can you?

Coen: 10:21

look for in your business. It's a vision on details and knowledge to help you make better decisions.

Nicky Tozer: 10:26

Yeah, exactly that, exactly that.

Coen: 10:29

What do you think that organizations should invest in if they want to get on this Gen AI trend, or Twain, or however we want to call it? Yeah well, we're all learning about it.

Nicky Tozer: 10:40

But I think what's clear now is that you know, the better your data is and the easier it is to access your data and the more linked together it is, the easier it is for generative AI to work on that data. So you know, for us, our customers are looking at a single integrated platform with NetSuite to run their business. That makes it much easier for the generative AI piece to be useful to them because it's you know all the financial, customer data etc. Supply chain inventory in that one platform. The more of a consistency you have in that respect makes it easier. So that's you know, if you're a very small customer to a very large customer, you're going to be on some kind of evolution for that data and it might not be relevant for everybody, but if you're thinking long term and visionary for your business, that's a great place to start, I think, to be in a better position to take advantage of that AI capability?

Coen: 11:36

And what would you say to organizations who are a bit afraid of AI, because that's also something that keeps coming back?

Nicky Tozer: 11:42

Yeah, well, I think it's really natural, first of all, to have a bit of, you know, fear or uncertainty or doubt at least, about it, and one of the things we were talking about in one of the sessions earlier on is that you know, if you look at the Internet, you look at cloud technology we all had some fear about that internet. You look at cloud technology, we all had some fear about that. You know. I remember I joined NetSuite in 2012 and we were one of the. We were the first application in the cloud and people are going well, you want me to put my financial data in the cloud? And we were saying well, you know, it's actually secure and safe. But we had to go through and explore that with everybody, prove it, demonstrate it. And now people don't talk to us about that anymore.

Nicky Tozer: 12:19

So I think it's very natural. We're learning about AI still, of course, people are going to be going well, hang on a minute, what's happening to my data? So I think we're working with a lot of the security partners. We have Oracle in the OCI piece with all of that protection, but I completely understand that people have to get comfortable with the fact that actually, it's data about data, really. So I expect that there will be a lot of analysis and scrutiny over that and then six months, 12 months time, there'll be a more comfortable level of security around that. So I'm sure it will constantly be evaluated, but perhaps not as much as it is right now, because it's new to everybody.

Coen: 13:05

Yeah, and for the listeners that don't know how secure is the data within the NetSuite platform and when it's being used by AI.

Nicky Tozer: 13:15

It's very secure. It has all of the standard industry and all of the differentiated Oracle technology around that to protect that data. So we're not looking at individual customers' data. We're looking at the data about the data. So we're not able to see anybody's specific data and there's lots of security around that from the cohere partnership that we have to make sure that it's very secure for all of that and that's what customers can look at as they start to build their AI journey.

Coen: 13:45

Yeah, so their privacy is safe.

Nicky Tozer: 13:47

Exactly that. Yeah, Data privacy, all of those rules and regulations, yeah.

Coen: 13:52

What is the most common question you get from your customers at this moment surrounding AI?

Nicky Tozer: 13:57

Well, I think, actually, probably the most common question is I'm really excited about this. What does it mean to me? The most common question is I'm really excited about this. What does it mean to me? You know, I think and I think we have all, if you think it's only really been six months to a year we've been talking about it. It's accelerating at an incredible pace and I think that's what we're excited to bring answers to that, examples of what AI can bring to customers. But I think that's genuinely the most common question that we get is what does this mean to me and how can I make my business better as a result?

Coen: 14:27

And you are responsible for the whole EMEA region. Do you see difference in the region on how they look at AI or how they adopt AI?

Nicky Tozer: 14:35

I think it's a bit early to tell that right now, but I can foresee that there will be differences because our region is very varied from the UK, which is a very mature technology market, to say, for example, africa, which is a massive region of hundreds of small countries but a very mobile centric nation continent. I should say so I think there is an evolution between one to the other. I don't think we have enough experience of AI and use in those countries at the moment, but I would imagine there would be a bit of a disparity as we go on that journey.

Coen: 15:07

That's also an interesting fact. You say because they're very mobile. Do you think all the AI functions will work on mobile as good as they will on a normal computer?

Nicky Tozer: 15:15

Actually, one of the things Evan and I were talking about earlier with some of the customers was that some of those countries that are perhaps on a on an evolution towards a more mature market, might leapfrog us because they'll start with that kind of technology. And I think we also talked about some industries may adopt AI more quickly than others. So you know, obviously software technology companies are going to be more likely perhaps than you know, perhaps a manufacturing company, I don't know, even though manufacturing companies could probably make a huge benefit, or those that have more strict data privacy policies, etc. But I do think we'll see that some of those things accelerate a bit faster. But yeah, no reason why the mobile access to the? In effect, the mobile is just accessing the same data services, so I don't think that should hold them back. It should be a positive thing.

Coen: 16:03

NetSuite is positioned for the mid-market. That means that I think many mid-market organizations won't be able or will invest so much in developing their own AI or their own GenAI features because they don't have the biggest IT teams usually. And that means, yeah, they look at you and at other companies. So I also wondered how important are your NetSuite partners in this? Because they can maybe also develop. Ai solutions on top of NetSuite.

Nicky Tozer: 16:36

Yeah, really important, and some of them are already doing that. We're also talking about, at the relevant moment, giving those partners access to our prompts, for example, and being able to add to what we're already developing. So I think it's good point about the partnerships, and I think what's interesting is for our customer base. You know small to medium customers. You know they're going to be able to benefit from AI even more because, as you say, they can't develop it themselves, but they also don't have an awful lot of people in some of these organizations. So to have this AI capability almost doing the work of two or three people for them, maybe it gives them a lot more scope to do to expand and grow their businesses. So it's a great market for us. I I think in that small to medium business and with the partnerships that we have as well.

Coen: 17:21

And the NetSuite partners. Can they bring their own models when they use AI, or do they need to leverage the Oracle?

Nicky Tozer: 17:27

Well, I think, where we are at the moment, they would need to leverage the Oracle model. But, as I say, in the future we will look to give them further access and I think that's something we'll have to wait and see, but I think we're open to what these futures could look like. For now, we need to deliver what we have and get people using it and providing those use cases and showing how it's going to be powerful, going forwards.

Coen: 17:48

So for the more industry focused, you probably have to look at partners for filling that gap.

Nicky Tozer: 17:54

I don't think we know that right now, but yes, I think we're open to what that future might look like, and you know we use partners to support us in various markets and industries, and I'm sure that's what we'll continue to do with AI as well.

Coen: 18:07

And how important is Oracle in this whole play.

Nicky Tozer: 18:11

Hugely important. I mean I think you know we're leveraging the Oracle partnerships. We're also leveraging the work that Oracle is doing with OCI. You know all NetSuite customers are now on the OCI data. So I think you know hugely important Our development teams work really closely with the Oracle development teams and it means that you know we have access to what's already been done. We don't have to recreate it. So hugely speeds up and accelerates our AI capability as well.

Coen: 18:40

Okay, I'm running out of questions. Is there anything I missed? You want to add about AI that you think is really important in discussion with your customers?

Nicky Tozer: 18:50

I think we're just really excited with what it can bring to our customers. They have a single integrated platform to run their business. This is just going to enable them to speed up what they do with that even more and make time for that value-add analysis that they can use from the EPM solutions we're providing as well. Okay, thank you very much, nikki. Thank you, coen, nice to talk to you.

Coen: 19:08

Yeah, this was Coen. Live from SuiteConnect in London.