NetSuite is widely seen as the first cloud software company established, founded in 1999 and beating Salesforce to it by just one month. Today, NetSuite continues to be the leading cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) provider in the global market. It’s also one of Oracle’s biggest growth stories.

Oracle chairman Larry Ellison is not just the former boss of NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson but also a primary investor in the cloud company. This relationship has long fuelled speculation that the two companies would eventually merge. In 2016, the acquisition was unanimously approved and was valued at $9.3 billion.
With complementary cloud applications, the Oracle acquisition of NetSuite promised to be a match made in heaven. NetSuite stood to benefit greatly from the global scale and reach of Oracle. Oracle’s global presence helped make NetSuite’s cloud solutions available in more industries and in more countries.
Since the acquisition, NetSuite has remained autonomous and is classed as a separate business unit of Oracle. Oracle kept NetSuite’s product strategy intact but has helped boost its global growth by allowing it to leverage Oracle’s scale, capital, R&D, global sales presence, and other resources. Today, Oracle NetSuite is firmly established as the leading provider of cloud-based business management software in the world.
The Oracle NetSuite venture has enabled advancements in cloud business management. We explore the most recent developments and take a look at what’s in the pipeline.

Since the 2016 acquisition, Oracle has continued to invest in the growth of NetSuite. It has placed emphasis on research and development to enhance NetSuite’s capabilities. Oracle’s global scale enabled NetSuite to penetrate small and medium business markets in the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) segment, an area in which they’d previously lacked presence.
Access to Oracle’s technology and R&D efforts also meant NetSuite could expand its cloud portfolio. This gave them a foothold in a market dominated by two cloud platforms: Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Oracle has signed over 22,000 Cloud ERP customers, including almost 6,000 for Fusion and 16,000 for NetSuite.
The acquisition and investments have certainly paid off, with NetSuite consistently gaining strong cloud subscription revenue. Business forecasts predict a continuing upward trend, bolstered by Oracle NetSuite’s ongoing global enhancements.

In the SuiteWorld 2019 Conference held in Las Vegas, Oracle announced that it’s making its latest technology available to NetSuite - these changes should significantly improve its platform performance.
Oracle NetSuite has also updated its analytics and cloud capabilities to enhance user engagement. The updates were delivered across various areas including HR, finance, digital commerce, marketing, and the supply chain.
Here’s our pick of the most exciting developments in store for NetSuite users.

Oracle is making its cloud infrastructure available for NetSuite, allowing NetSuite to utilize Oracle’s self-driving database which uses machine learning algorithms to automate routine tasks, reducing the time and risk involved. With both the infrastructure and autonomous database in place, NetSuite will also be able to encrypt data for added security against data theft and run software updates without user intervention.

NetSuite simplifies and streamlines the management of multi-subsidiary operations. Foreign currency exchange and global trade processes make facilitating global compliance easier. NetSuite’s new localized product capabilities empower users in major economies across Asia and Europe, giving them the ability to customize NetSuite to comply with local regulations, while boosting their global reach.

Launched in 2019, NetSuite Brainyard is a free software resource that can help enterprises improve their business processes. It provides them access to research, benchmarking data, and insights that can aid decisionmaking. ’We’re giving away the source code for business growth by providing unparalleled insights into every single critical business process,” says Oracle NetSuite’s Jason Maynard, SVP of Global Field Operations. “Companies tell us they want to benchmark their businesses, and we’re going to help them do that with Brainyard. Research firms and other vendors charge for this kind of resource, but we consider it part of our commitment to customer and partner success. We’re not just delivering bits with NetSuite: It’s not just about software; it’s about helping businesses grow.”

NetSuite has been working on integrating artificial intelligence into its system. Its new artificial intelligence and machine learning based capabilities enable businesses to get better insights and drive efficiencies, and benefits users across the organisation - from HR to Procurement, Customer Service and Supply Chain. Read NetSuite’s press release here.

Today, Oracle NetSuite is used to run the business processes of over 40,000 companies, organizations, and subsidiaries in more than 100 countries. Its growing clout in the ERP market is evident in its rapid adoption by retailers and non-profit organizations alike. Clients include Cisco, GoPro, Groupon, Hydro Flask, Nitro, and Snapchat.
Oracle’s CEO Mark Hurd has said that NetSuite will continue to remain its own platform. They are confident that with the latest developments and enhancements, NetSuite can strengthen the dominance of Oracle in the cloud ERP market.

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