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Evan Goldberg, founder and EVP of Oracle NetSuite, has dismissed the threat from smaller specialists operating in overlapping markets.
During a press conference on SuiteWorld 2022Goldberg was asked if he was concerned about the potential that NetSuite could be surpassed by more agile players focusing more on a single solution.
“I’m not worried about [smaller players] because of the tremendous capabilities we have, the depth of the suite and how we can scale,” he commented. “We’ve made huge investments over 23 years, so I’m not worried about being outflanked.”
“However, we need to make sure that customers don’t lose anything when they come to us, and that they continue to get all the benefits they had with their small business package.”
NetSuite ERP
The NetSuite ERP platform offers a wide range of functionality, spread across accountancy, CRM, HR, e-commerce and more. The idea is that users can complete critical business processes from a single platform, instead of struggling with dozens of different applications.
However, as emphasized during the press conference, it could be argued that suppliers specializing in a single category (e.g QuickBooks) are better equipped to deliver advanced features within their niche.
While Goldberg was willing to nurture the concept, he nevertheless said he was confident in the NetSuite approach, which takes advantage of the close relationships between the portfolio’s components.
Goldberg also suggested that NetSuite serves a slightly different customer demographic than the point solution providers, which are primarily made up of medium-sized, high-growth companies.
“Our customer base is focused on people who are growing, companies that have outgrown their existing accounting solutions. We try to prime these companies for success as they grow,” he explains.
“Customers get the most out of NetSuite when they use the full suite. That has been the idea from the start. What suffocates companies is that they are stuck in many different systems. As customers adopt more of the suite, they reap exponential value.”