NetSuite's AI Gap: What Distributors Should Know Before Waiting for Oracle

NetSuite's 2025.2 release introduced multivariate forecasting, AI-powered close management, and conversational quoting. Oracle's "Ask Oracle" feature promises natural-language interaction with ERP data. According to ERP Today, 2026 is "set to be the year those foundations start operating at scale."

That sounds promising—until you look at what distribution operations actually need.

NetSuite is a solid cloud ERP. More than 40,000 organizations run on it, and Oracle's investment in the platform is real. But there's a meaningful gap between Oracle's AI roadmap and the specific requirements of mid-market distributors, and that gap has practical consequences for companies trying to decide whether to wait or act.

What NetSuite 2025.2 Actually Delivered

Oracle's recent AI features fall into three categories: analytics and forecasting, workflow automation, and natural-language querying. According to Forvis Mazars' February 2026 analysis, the SuiteCloud AI enhancements focus on "helping businesses tailor ERP without heavy development" and enabling teams to "interact with NetSuite in natural language."

These are genuine improvements. But they share a common trait: they're horizontal features designed for every NetSuite customer, not vertical capabilities built for distribution.

Here's what's missing for distribution specifically:

Voice interfaces for field operations. Distribution field reps need hands-free access to inventory, pricing, and order entry. Oracle's AI investments focus on screen-based analytics and forecasting—not conversational interfaces that work in a truck cab or on a warehouse floor.

Distribution-trained intelligence. NetSuite's ML models are generic. They don't natively understand seasonal ordering patterns by customer segment, branch-level demand variation, or the difference between a customer who's churning and one who's on a seasonal pause. That domain knowledge has to come from somewhere.

Real-time mobile experience. NetSuite's mobile app has improved, but it still reflects a desktop-first design squeezed onto a phone. Field reps dealing with 50+ customer visits a week need purpose-built mobile workflows, not responsive web pages.

Proactive alerting. Distribution operations generate signals constantly—inventory hitting reorder points, customer ordering patterns shifting, margins degrading on specific products. NetSuite can report on these after the fact; it doesn't proactively surface them in the workflow.

The Enhancement Approach vs. the Replacement Trap

Panorama's data makes the case for enhancement over replacement. With 68% of ERP projects failing to meet objectives and average cost overruns approaching 200%, ripping out NetSuite to get AI capabilities is almost never the right answer.

The smarter path: keep NetSuite as the system of record and add an AI layer on top of it.

NetSuite's integration architecture makes this practical. SuiteQL provides SQL-like query access through REST APIs. RESTlets allow custom endpoints for specialized scenarios. Token-based authentication provides secure, scoped access. These aren't afterthoughts—they're mature, well-documented integration points.

A well-architected AI enhancement follows four principles:

• NetSuite stays the system of record. All transactional data lives in NetSuite. The AI layer reads and writes through supported APIs—no shadow databases, no data duplication.
• Graceful degradation. If the AI layer goes down, users can still work directly in NetSuite. Enhancement, not dependency.
• Security parity. NetSuite's role-based permissions carry through to the AI layer. A sales rep sees their accounts; a branch manager sees their branch.
• Upgrade resilience. Integration through supported APIs means NetSuite upgrades don't break the AI layer. No unsupported hacks that create upgrade anxiety.

What Enhancement Makes Possible

Conversational data access. Instead of navigating saved searches and report builders, a rep asks: "What's Metro Supply's current balance?" or "How many SKU-4892 are in the Dallas warehouse?" The AI translates natural language into SuiteQL queries, retrieves the data, and responds conversationally—via voice or text.

Voice-enabled order entry. A field rep places an order by speaking: "New order for Johnson Industrial—100 units of bearing assembly, standard pricing, ship to Northside." The AI creates the sales order in NetSuite via SuiteTalk, validates inventory and pricing, confirms the details. No screen required.

Proactive monitoring. Rather than running daily reports to spot problems, the AI layer watches NetSuite data continuously and alerts when it matters: inventory falling below safety stock on key items, a top-20 account that hasn't ordered in 30 days, margins dipping below threshold on a product line.

Purpose-built mobile. A mobile interface designed for field conditions—large touch targets, essential data first, workflows optimized for speed—powered by NetSuite data through SuiteQL. Not the NetSuite UI on a small screen, but a native experience built for how field reps actually work.

Why Oracle Probably Won't Close the Gap

Oracle's AI priorities are clear from their release cadence: analytics, forecasting, and workflow automation for broad enterprise use. These are valuable features, but they reflect Oracle's incentive structure—build for the largest addressable market.

Distribution-specific voice interfaces, mobile-first field tools, and domain-trained intelligence serve a narrower market. Oracle has 40,000+ customers across every industry; distribution-specific features compete with finance, manufacturing, retail, and services for development priority.

According to Gurus Solutions' January 2026 analysis, AI features in ERP have "shifted from nice-to-have to baseline expectations." But baseline expectations and distribution-specific intelligence are different things. Oracle will deliver the baseline. The question is who delivers the rest.

The Timeline Question

Distributors evaluating their options face a straightforward calculation. Oracle's AI roadmap is measured in years. Enhancement solutions deploy in weeks. The competitive advantage of AI-enabled operations compounds over time—every month of waiting is a month of falling behind competitors who aren't waiting.

NetSuite is a capable foundation. Keeping it and building intelligence on top is the path that delivers AI capabilities now without the risk, cost, or disruption of a full platform change.