I think the key thing is that there is no better time to begin trying AI in the context of your business, and particularly in NetSuite, we’ve made it safe.

– Craig Sullivan, Group Vice President of Product Management at Oracle NetSuite. 

Recorded live at SuiteWorld 2026 in Las Vegas, Heather Smith welcomes Craig Sullivan, Group Vice President of Product Management at Oracle NetSuite, to the Accounting Apps Podcast.

With nearly 27 years at NetSuite and a background in accounting, Craig brings a valuable perspective on how business software is evolving and what that means for accountants, bookkeepers and finance professionals.

As NetSuite moves towards autonomous business operations, the conversation explores how AI is changing financial workflows, accelerating software implementations and helping businesses access more meaningful insights from their data.

Craig also shares his perspective on the opportunities these developments create for accounting professionals, including how they can use their financial expertise to contribute more strategically to the businesses they support.

In this episode, we discuss:

• AI adoption across industries: Why businesses embracing AI are defined by their willingness to explore new technology, rather than the industry they operate in.
• Autonomous accounting and NetSuite Next: How AI-powered financial insights, natural-language dashboards and automated processes are changing the way finance teams work.
• Faster ERP implementations with NetSuite Suite Express: How AI-assisted implementations could reduce deployment times and costs, and what that means for consultants and implementation partners.
• Quick Start for technology startups: How NetSuite’s new offering uses AI to capture financial activity, allowing founders to review and approve transactions while focusing on growing their businesses.
• The future of accounting careers: Craig’s advice for accountants navigating AI, including using their financial knowledge to contribute strategically and experimenting with AI on familiar tasks where results can be independently verified.

Key takeaway

Craig’s message is practical: Start experimenting with AI using something you already understand.

By testing AI against processes and results they know, accountants and bookkeepers can build confidence, evaluate its capabilities and gradually expand how they use it.

As AI becomes increasingly embedded in business software, understanding how to work alongside these technologies will be an important skill for finance professionals.

Listen to this episode of the Accounting Apps Podcast for insights into NetSuite’s latest innovations and the changing relationship between accounting, technology and business operations.

Episode resources and links:

• NetSuite https://www.netsuite.com.au 
• Craig Sullivan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigssullivan/ 
• SuiteWorld: https://www.netsuitesuiteworld.com/home.shtml

Heather Smith

Hello and welcome to the Accounting Apps Podcast. I’m Heather Smith, and today I’m bringing you an interview recorded at Sweet World 2026 in Las Vegas. I’m joined by Craig Sullivan, the Group Vice President of Product Management at NetSuite. Craig has spent nearly 27 years with NetSuite, helping shape the company’s international product strategy, localization, and more recently, AI-driven product experience. At the start of the Suite World product keynote, the giant screens around us, filled with cartoon caricatures of all the leadership wearing khaki in a jungle setting, fighting the elements around them and navigating timely warehouse inventory ordering. It was a light-hearted way to introduce the product key modes. So, like me, Craig is a fellow of ACCA, and he brings a strong background in finance and business processes to his work in accounting technology. As AI reshapes how we interact with business software, I’m keen to hear his perspectives on where things are heading. Let’s hear what he has to say.

Heather Smith

Great, welcome to the Accounting Apps Podcast.

How has your morning been so far here at SuiteWorld?

Craig Sullivan

It has been the usual glorious busy time. We’ve had lots to talk about and a lot of people to talk to. So it’s great to see you again. It’s a year since you were here, and excited to chat.

Heather Smith

Fabulous.

For those who’ve never been to a SuiteWorld before, how would you describe the vibe of the event?

Craig Sullivan

Oh well, for me, not quite sure how to answer the vibe question, but there’s there’s a lot of positivity, a lot of excitement, and you know, unusually for a software you know conference, a lot of a lot of enthusiasm for what’s possible with NetSuite and what we’re seeing, you know, becoming possible with the types of announcements we’re making and the types of capabilities that we’re delivering to our customers, and one of my favourite parts of Sweet World is the Expo Hall.

Seeing that community of partners, you know, some of which have been partners of ours from the very early days, and sort of seeing that space grow year over year, and both now partners and customers that have grown their businesses as part of the NetSuite ecosystem.

That’s you know one of the think about vibe. That’s that’s sort of one of the most positive reinforcing vibes for me. Here is is the you know that engagement that we’re seeing.

Heather Smith

It’s the ripple effect of how many people and how many businesses you’re able to actually impact, isn’t it?

Craig Sullivan

That’s right, and it’s not lost on on us and and me certainly that you know in some cases those businesses bet on NetSuite when we were a much smaller organisation, both as a customer and as a partner, and so to see them thrive, and to see them grow as our business has grown, and we’ve had now 44,000 customers worldwide running on our platform, that’s that’s really you know that’s what really excites me. So, excited vibe, perhaps.

Heather Smith

Excited vibe from the expo hall, and I enjoy the expo hall as well, walking around and sort of feeling that sense of what people are doing.

Heather Smith

Over the past 12 months, NetSuite’s messaging has shifted from AI-assisted workflows to autonomous business operations. What is changing to make this possible, and what can customers realistically expect?

Craig Sullivan

It’s a great question. So last year, roughly this time, we introduced and announced NetSuite Next, which was, you know, as we describe it, the the largest announcement in NetSuite’s history since its founding, and that we were bringing AI to to the business and embedding that into Internet Suite in one of a couple of ways, and so you know over the course of the last 12 months, I think it’s apparent, particularly as you saw from Evans’ keynote today, we’ve delivered on that promise and then continued to innovate, and so I think what what what customers are seeing is that we’re actually bringing we’re not just bringing AI to their business, but we’re delivering AI that understands their business and can help them, you know, very rapidly and very effectively take advantage of that AI to. You know, to run their business operations more efficiently, to get deeper, richer insights in a in a controlled, trusted manner, to help them, you know, accelerate their success, if you will.

And so that’s one of the most exciting things that you know I think is going on for our customers right now is is the fact that we’re bringing this technology to them, and making it possible for them to adopt it at their pace, which is you know a key thing that we’re hearing from our customers is where do we start? How do we think about you know embracing this clear potential with these technologies?

You know we’re not we’re not just you know putting it out there and you know challenging them to figure out themselves. We’re actually articulating how it can benefit them at whatever stage they are in in the adoption curve.

Heather Smith

So tomorrow, you are. We’re looking forward to the product keynote, which with you on the stage.

What are some of the product announcements that you’re excited about this year that you think the accountants and the bookkeepers need to know about?

Now I’ve got a few that I want to ask you about, but I’d like to hand that floor to you initially.

Craig Sullivan

Well, you know, as as a you know, I’m an I’m an accountant by background by profession, so it’s always the finance capabilities that that are most interesting, and I think which will you know resonate with with your audience, but also largely with our our customer base, because you know the reality is is that it’s having those accurate financials, having confidence in the numbers that enables or or actually provides the fuel, if you will, for the AI to be able to generate the answers and to take actions for you.

So you know this notion of the autonomous close that Evan talked about today, and being able to actually show progress that customers have already made with the capabilities that are already available to them right now, and that’s actually a distinction that we’re making this year in the product keynote. Is that everything we talk about tomorrow is actually a feature that’s available to our customers today or or tomorrow?

Heather Smith

That is fantastic.

Craig Sullivan

Yeah. So you know, so you know, that’s that’s that’s a change, if you will, from some of the things that we’ve talked about in previous years, but there’s so much capability in NetSuite, and what we’ll be talking about actually is some examples of customers that have taken that that first step perhaps ahead of others, and have seen tremendous benefits from it, and so we want to share those stories and make sure that more customers understand what’s possible right now, and then also you know introduce them to some things that again are available today that they may not be aware of.

AI portlets is an example that Evan covered today also, which you know is an astonishing new capability that you know any user that is is operating in NetSuite Next can you know using natural language just add you know these AI capabilities to their to their to their dashboard or their workspace and ask it in natural language you know refine the refine the request based upon what it responds and then immediately they have the benefit of these tremendous insights and potentially agentic capabilities as well, right there on their on their dashboard.

Heather Smith

And it made they made very clear from the keynote today that the natural language will work in multiple languages, which I imagine for and the United States of America, you come across a melting pot of different cultures and languages, and even someone who says they’re speaking English, you’re like, “Who are you?”

Craig Sullivan

Right.

Heather Smith

So that is a good thing that they can go in and use it, and I imagine it will just get better.

Craig Sullivan

100%. Yeah, and you know today already, you know it handles both proper English as well as American English, and and any other language ultimately that the the users need to you know need to operate in because we as we know we’ve got lots of multinational businesses who will be able to benefit from these capabilities as well.

So you know, one of the things that’s really exciting is that you know it’s not just for the United States and Canada. You know, we’re in preview right now in the UK and ANZ, and you know, before the end of this year, customers will be using NetSuite Next in their production environments in both of those regions, and it will then you know expand rapidly from there.

Heather Smith

It’s very exciting.

Heather Smith

So I think the one thing our our audience will be really interested in is QuickStart by NetSuite. So it’s built for the founders of high-tech startups.

Craig Sullivan

Right.

Heather Smith

And they can use it, and it will be a sort of a runway that they can graduate onto NetSuite as they grow.

Craig Sullivan

Correct.

Heather Smith

And starting off; it’s free.

What else do I need to know about NetSuite QuickStart?

Craig Sullivan

Yeah, so it’s it’s really you know a great offering. You know, we want to provide that leg up for for you know those very early stage businesses, frankly, to not have to worry about running business software, it’s really about you know enabling them to focus on building the business, on refining the product, and and and you know winning winning customers to to grow that business, and we’re using the power of AI to in essence capture those those those those activities that are occurring, you know, as part of the other other things that they’re doing, whether it’s from the the bank or their credit card or or their email, you know, through the power of the AI connector capabilities and MCP, QuickStart is essentially monitoring all of those activities, so that the users themselves don’t have to enter those transactions, they can review and approve.

But in essence, they go about their day running the business, and Quick Start is is basically keeping track of the of the financials behind the scenes.

And so, you know, particularly for those you know those brand new startup businesses, you know, all of the conversations that we’ve had are, you know, they’re often not, at least at that stage of the business, they don’t have the expertise in house, and so, you know, taking advantage of of these rapidly improving AI capabilities to to take care of the books, if you will, while they take care of the business, you know, we see, and the market is showing as a as a great opportunity for them to get to get going and growing, and then obviously you know when they’re ready, be able to have that seamless migration and upgrade to the full NetSuite offering.

Heather Smith

So maybe I’ve misunderstood something here. It was the focus was it was for high tech startups.

Is that really about their attitude towards using technology, rather than we could have a plumber, we could have a doctor, and then we have a high-tech startup? Is it more about the attitude towards technology?

Craig Sullivan

No. it’s focused more on the high-tech. So companies that are that are starting with you know some a high-tech software application, perhaps something that they’ve used AI to help them vibe code and create, you know, an offering, you know, themselves pretty rapidly.

And so that’s where we’re starting with that offering because, you know, those people that are starting companies with an AI offering of their own are thinking about how can they leverage AI to help them run that business as it grows too. So there’s a direct correlation there.

But what’s really interesting, if I can go back to sort of you know the mainstream NetSuite customer base, is you know inspired by your thought there, is that you know what we’ve seen is adoption of AI that spans all of the industries.

So it’s not just the high-tech software businesses that are thinking about how they can leverage AI, but it’s Johnny Pops, the you know the the popsicle you know maker, and it’s you know companies in manufacturing and it’s companies in in service-based businesses, and and that’s actually been something that you know we’ve been very interested to see is that actually the the early adopters of AI are not defined by whether they are AI businesses themselves, but it’s about those forward-thinking leaders saying there must be a better way for me to run the back office. There must be a better way for me to get more efficiency and be more effective with my team, and empower them to do to do more with with their business systems that have led the charge with the adoption of our AI connector service and Claude or ChatGPT to help them with those those tasks.

So that’s actually sort of you know a very interesting insight that we’ve that we’ve seen is that actually you’re not defined by what business you’re in. You’re defined by your openness to and willingness to explore and adopt these new capabilities.

Heather Smith

No, that is a that is an interesting insight and and strategy.

Will it be available in Australia and New Zealand?

Craig Sullivan

Initially, we’re starting in the U.S. as we as we usually do. But you know, our expectation, as as as we’ve done with our other offerings is that over time we’ll we’ll roll that out into other markets as well.

There’s definitely high tech, you know, vibrant high tech startup communities in in many other countries. So so yeah, over time I anticipate that. Although we don’t have any any firm plans right now.

Heather Smith

Well, it will be interesting to see it roll out and see see. The ripple effects of that.

How do you see the product announcements impacting the wider ecosystem that we were talking about?

For example, the one that you talked about, not that you that was mentioned, that NetSuite Suite Express will massively minimise the implementation time, which is wonderful, and that will massively reduce the cost of implementation, which is wonderful. But all of those consultants that do it might not think it’s so wonderful.

Craig Sullivan

Well, that’s an interesting. It’s an interesting situation because it it sort of it’s behooven on the on the consulting practice to to listen to our customers and listen to you know what the what the needs of the businesses are you know Evans said today it’s the end of ERP as we know it and one facet of that is, you know, these lengthy, endless implementation efforts that you know that can span multiple years in in you know in many other business systems cases.

Heather Smith

And they’re a nightmare. And and and there’s these horrible stories out there, not not about specifically NetSuite.

Craig Sullivan

Correct.

Heather Smith

But just that there are stories of people going through.

Craig Sullivan

And so Suite Express, you know, really creates that opportunity where, you know, by virtue of leveraging these AI-based tools and this new approach, we can actually accelerate the implementation timeline for our customers. We can make it easier on them because AI can help consume and digest, you know, everything that they know about their business and help them through that that task, and you know, deliver an implementation much more rapidly and at lower cost, and frankly, that is more expansive in the first instance.

Now, what that really does is it creates opportunity for the consulting community, both the NetSuite community and our own teams, as well as the implementation partners. Is now they can actually handle more customers, and you know I don’t think if you were to you know to talk to any of the consulting organisations that are here this week, that they would tell you that they, you know, that they had spare capacity available to them, because the demand for you know these solutions we see is is increasing over time.

So, giving them the tools to do more with the same number of people, and actually end up with happier customers faster, means that they can handle a higher volume of throughput. So, you know, it’s a change, but it’s one that is being you know pulled you know pulled by those customers that are looking for that more rapid implementation.

And you know, so far as you’ve seen, the you know the benefits are the benefits are proven.

Heather Smith

So, Craig, that we both have an accounting background, and there’s a rhetoric out there that AI is going to replace accountants.

What would you say to the young accountant out there to future-proof their career?

Craig Sullivan

It’s a great question. I think the the the big thing is to ensure that they see the benefit, and particularly in you know in the context of the ACCA, that they see the opportunity to use their finance education and professional qualification as a foundation for understanding the business, and you know, particularly as we think about how AI is benefiting our accounting back office users in the context of NetSuite, you know, it’s rare for us to encounter a finance team that has spare time.

You know everyone’s very busy, as Evan says. You know, you know you’re focused mostly on the urgent things and struggle to get to the important things.

And so, you know, look at it as an opportunity for the team that you’re part of in the finance function to actually add even more value to the business by you know being able to both empower other users, so that you yourself don’t have to do, you know, the the more boring aspects of the accounting function. It can actually be thinking more about your strategic contribution to where the business is going and how you can serve business strategy.

Heather Smith

Yeah, absolutely. So our time is up and we need to wrap up.

Heather Smith

But what is one thing you would love listeners to take away from your thoughts today, your conversations, and what’s happening right now?

Craig Sullivan

Yeah, I think, I think the key thing is that there is no better time to begin trying AI in the context of your your business, and particularly in NetSuite, we’ve made it safe. If you’re a NetSuite user, all of the AI operates within you know the roles and permissions that your admin has defined, and so start using it.

Start you know identify a a problem that you frankly know the answer to, and try the AI connected to you know to NetSuite or within NetSuite, and test it, and you know you can easily validate it, and then you know as you get more comfortable, start you know expanding those those scenarios that you try.

It is you know it is the truth that you know the business applications of the future will have AI as part of them, and so learning how to operate in that environment is is is paramount to not just the success of an individual in their career, but also in supporting the the business as as as it goes forward.

Heather Smith

And that’s such great advice. Try something you absolutely know the end result of, and work it through, and test it out.

Craig Sullivan

100%.

Heather Smith

Thank you so much, Craig, for joining us on the Accounting Apps.

Craig Sullivan

Thank you, Heather. Great to see you again.

Heather Smith

We really enjoyed having you. Cheers.

Craig Sullivan

Appreciate it.

Heather Smith

Thank you for listening to the Accounting Apps podcast. If you enjoyed the conversation, please subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss future interviews with people shaping accounting technology. And if you’d like to stay up to date with the latest Accounting Apps news, product updates, and industry insights, subscribe to my Accounting Apps newsletter at accountingapps.io. You’ll find the links in the show note. I’m your host Heather Smith, and you can find me and connect with me on all social media channels. Thank you for listening, and I’ll catch you in the next episode.