Reflections from Evan Goldberg on Oracle NetSuite and the challenges of the holiday season during a pandemic

It’s that time of year again when I usually look forward to catching up with Evan Goldberg, the EVP and founder of Oracle NetSuite, at their annual user conference, SuiteWorld. Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, we had to resort to a virtual conversation. Just like last year, we find ourselves trying to navigate the holiday season amidst a pandemic. However, this year things are even more challenging due to a global logistics situation that adds an extra layer of complexity.

Now, let me share with you an edited transcript of a portion of our conversation. If you want to listen to the full conversation, just click on the embedded SoundCloud player below.

Brent Leary: What are we facing now, and how is it different from last year? How will the things you have implemented and are currently implementing help businesses fulfill people’s shopping needs and ensure timely delivery for Christmas this year?

Evan Goldberg: We’re currently dealing with a unique challenge where both supply and demand are moving in opposite directions. To tackle this, we have been at the forefront of developing a solution called the supply chain control tower. This tool is essential for avoiding any collisions or disruptions. It helps identify areas where orders may be at risk and provides a scorecard for evaluating a vendor’s ability to deliver. This allows you to prioritize your purchases and make necessary adjustments when required.

What we always aim for at NetSuite is to give you a clear view of everything that affects your ability to provide for your customers – which is exactly what you want to do. You want to deliver the right product to them at the right time, and at the right cost for your business.

Brent Leary: How can companies ensure that they explain enough and provide sufficient information to set customer expectations? It seems like this will be a significant challenge, at least until next year.

The other part of it is I really need to understand my product lines. For a long time, everyone was all about just-in-time (JIT) inventory, you know? But now, that’s just not going to work in many cases. So, I have to figure out which items in my entire product line are the most important to have extra of, and which ones I can handle some delays with. I think it would be wise to prioritize the items that bring in the most profit or the ones that my customers rely on the most. That way, I can have more of a just in case inventory strategy. This is something that all kinds of product companies need to think about.

Brent Leary: If I had to sum up what you said this year and last year, it’s really about making things easier, understanding things better, and being able to move quickly. These seem to be the main ideas that are emerging from this year’s SuiteWorld. How have the meanings of these three things changed because of everything happening right now?

Automation, like our Suite Banking capabilities, takes away a lot of the boring stuff involved in handling cash management. This frees you up to spend more time strategically analyzing insights. You can focus on what’s happening in your supply chain and what matters most to you. You can ensure that you can deliver the best possible service to your customers. Plus, you’ll have the flexibility to adapt your plans based on the information you gather. These three superpowers work together to make you a true superhero.

Brent Leary: Well, with everything going on right now, I think we all could use a superhero in our lives. How have your customers been doing during the pandemic? Are they ready to use these superpowers and make the most of them?

Evan Goldberg : We’ve got lots of super interesting stories about companies that made changes that may have seemed temporary but are now becoming permanent. Dealing with a hybrid workforce, it used to be entirely remote. Now, it’s starting to shift to a mix of remote and in-person. How do we keep up that level of collaboration? The tools we use to collaborate are going to be even more important as we have a more diverse workforce in every way. I think this is a permanent trend. We’re also seeing companies using new ways to sell, sometimes changing how they thought they’d reach their customers.

So here’s the situation: before, we used to sell our products through retail stores. But then something happened and that couldn’t work anymore. So we had to come up with a new plan. We decided to start selling directly to you, the consumer. And guess what? That’s actually been working really well for a lot of companies. Even as stores open up again, they still want to have a presence in those stores and use those channels. But because they’ve been doing so well online, they’re like, I’m going to mix things up a bit and sell in different ways. It makes things more complicated for them, but that’s where we come in. We believe that NetSuite can really help with all of that.

Evan Goldberg: When Oracle welcomed us into their family, we started something special called advanced customer support. It’s a service where we have someone dedicated to helping you get the most out of NetSuite. We’ve been doing this for a while now, and we’ve gained a lot of experience helping companies through big transitions like going international, going public, or changing their supply chain. We’ve seen it all and learned a lot, so now we can give you the best advice and support more efficiently and effectively. This is one of the advantages of being part of a bigger company like Oracle.

Speaking of Oracle, they have amazing technology that we can use to our advantage. We get to take advantage of their database technology and their infrastructure, which helps us operate NetSuite globally. We’ve set up new data centers in Europe, North America, and Asia, which is really exciting. But it’s not just about the technology. Our relationship with Oracle has also allowed us to create new products specifically designed for our customers. One example is the NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, which is built on Oracle’s data warehouse technology. With this, you can combine your NetSuite data with other important data for your business, like data from your website or your own operational systems. Nowadays, companies have so much data, but the real challenge is being able to make sense of it all. That’s where our insights come in, helping you uncover the hidden gems behind your data.

And we’ve got some great examples of customers who are already doing this. They’re taking their Google Analytics data from their website and figuring out how people’s browsing behavior on the site is influenced by or affects various things in NetSuite. They’re connecting these two different sources of data. It’s been a fantastic result of collaborating with Oracle.

Brent Leary: I’ve heard the term customer 360 used by many different vendors in different contexts. But I recently heard you talk about it for the first time. What does customer 360 mean from NetSuite’s perspective?

Evan Goldberg: We believe we have a lot of credibility in this area because our whole mission has always been to provide a single place where you can find all the important information for your business. It’s a place where you can go to know what you need to know and do what you need to do to make your business grow. We have a wealth of data about customers, and if you use a significant part of our suite, you’ll have financial data, sales data, service data, and web data. The idea of customer 360 is about tying all of this data together on an individual customer basis. It’s about getting a complete picture of each customer. It’s about knowing what’s been happening with that customer recently, what the top headlines are, whether they’re a profitable and growing customer, and whether there are any issues that the salesperson needs to be aware of, such as shipping or any other concerns. In essence, it’s about providing a reimagined user experience that revolves around the data that has always been available in NetSuite.

Brent Leary: So, when we consider all the various sources of data that we have access to, we’re able to offer our customers a much broader view of their business. This goes beyond the usual customer-focused data and encompasses different perspectives that people may not typically think about.

But why is this important? Well, having a wider range of data allows me to better understand your needs and preferences as a customer. By gaining insight from multiple angles, I can tailor our services to serve you even better. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle – the more pieces I have, the clearer the picture becomes.

Let’s take a deeper look. Say, for example, we have data on customer buying habits, feedback from customer service interactions, and even trends from social media. When we combine all these puzzle pieces, a more comprehensive picture of your business emerges.

By using these different data points, we can identify patterns and trends that might otherwise go unnoticed. This enables us to make better-informed decisions and recommendations based on a holistic understanding of your business.

Ultimately, this enhanced level of insight helps us provide you with more personalized and effective solutions. We can anticipate your needs and proactively tailor our services to meet them. It’s all about maximizing the value we can deliver to you as our customer.

Evan Goldberg : No matter what your role is in the business, if you interact with customers, it’s important to understand their entire customer journey. The more you know about the experiences of the customers you deal with, the better you can understand and serve them. I believe the most powerful way for companies to build lifelong customer loyalty is through personal interactions. If handled properly, you can quickly mend a damaged customer relationship. But to do that, you need to have all the information about how the customer feels about you at that moment.

This is an interview with thought leaders. The transcript has been edited for publication. If it’s an audio or video interview, click on the embedded player above, or subscribe via iTunes or via Stitcher.