Generative AI is already shaking up coding, design and marketing. But what happens if you embed it in enterprise applications? Could that really undermine the need for small business software?
That at least was the subtext from Evan Goldberg, founder and EVP of Oracle NetSuite, in a recent interview with Scale100.
Scale100: Do you think then we'll have a big consolidation? I mean, you won't need a Xero or QuickBooks if you can just go with –
Goldberg: How cool would that be? “The last ERP system you'll ever have to use.” When that florist goes public, they're still on NetSuite. (Laughs)
Scale100: But why not?
Goldberg: That is definitely a vision that we have.
Scale100: So are you redrawing the TAMs? Is this real?
Goldberg: More to come.
What's behind the theory? Generative AI has already proven it can slap a child-simple interface on top of absurdly complex software. The large language models (LLMs) behind ChatGPT and its peers are so opaque that even their creators don’t fully understand how they work. But that hasn’t stopped 100 million people from using them every day to generate recipes, love letters and blog posts (no, not this one).
If you can drive a chatbot, you can drive an ERP – at least, that’s NetSuite’s bet. An LLM trained on the sum of human knowledge can produce remarkable results. So why couldn’t it handle something more constrained, like your company ledger? The interface doesn’t have to be a chatbot, either. It could be a spreadsheet-based wizard or an AI agent that acts on your behalf.
“If you're a business owner and you know the data’s in there, then just ask the system and it tells you. I think there's a revolution coming in usability,” says Brian Chess, Oracle NetSuite’s head of technology and AI.
It’s the Wizard of Oz model of ERP. The sales manager doesn’t need to peek behind the curtain. They just ask, and the system responds.
This might all sound a bit far-fetched – especially since generative AI still struggles with consistency, a core requirement in finance. But Goldberg believes the technology will eventually earn enough trust to write to financial records. He compares the journey to that of self-driving cars. In San Francisco, Goldberg's home, Waymos now drop off passengers every night outside packed nightspots.
These robotaxis are restricted to geo-fenced zones – a long way from the dream of free-roaming autonomy. But maybe that’s the right analogy for how AI agents will enter business software: tightly bounded at first, then expanding over time.
AI apps are already sitting on top of Xero and QuickBooks, answering basic business queries. And Xero and QuickBooks have rushed out their own (middling) AI interfaces. But NetSuite’s focused on the next phase: making software usable by both humans and AI agents.
“If you start from the idea that AI needs to be built into the foundation, it takes you to some interesting places,” says Chess. “You need a user interface that’s manipulated by both a human and AI at the same time. There are all kinds of UX ramifications… I don’t think I would have predicted this a couple of years ago.”
If AI agents can run the software, and users just talk to those agents, why maintain a separate system for sole traders? What’s to stop Oracle from releasing “NetSuite Solo” to compete with QuickBooks Solopreneur? Or launching a florist-friendly “NetSuite for Small Business”?
So far, NetSuite is playing it cool. The first steps are modest: embedding AI in features like exception management. But the medium-term ambition is clear.
“We are definitely interested in making NetSuite so easy to use that implementing it in a very small company becomes more viable,” says Goldberg.
This story is about accounting, but it could play out across every software category. If generative AI leads an interface revolution, enterprise software makers could expand into markets they’ve historically ignored. Not by building new apps, but by transforming the user experience.
It’s the stuff of dreams for ERP giants, but will it become reality? Goldberg, who first studied AI 30 years ago for his PhD, is already drawing up the plans.
Image credit: Generated by ChatGPT
