At SuiteWorld 2026, NetSuite’s founder outlines how AI is transforming business software—and what the shift means for CFOs.
When Evan Goldberg, founder and executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, declares that ERP as we know it is over, the statement carries particular weight. Goldberg helped pioneer cloud-based enterprise software in 1998, challenging the conventional wisdom about how businesses should manage their financial and operational systems.
Nearly three decades later, he sees artificial intelligence driving an equally consequential transformation.
Speaking with CFO Thought Leader at SuiteWorld 2026 in Las Vegas, Goldberg described a future in which ERP systems do more than organize information, automate transactions, and generate reports. Increasingly, they will anticipate problems, recommend solutions, and execute work—with human oversight.
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To Goldberg, the transformation rests on three developments: AI becoming the primary user interface, ERP becoming tailored to individual businesses, and software gaining the ability to perform more work autonomously.
The implications extend well beyond technology.
Goldberg believes finance teams will increasingly apply their analytical capabilities across the enterprise, identifying operational issues before they affect financial results. He also sees the traditional month-end close giving way to more continuous financial visibility.
Rather than focusing exclusively on achieving a zero-day close, Goldberg argues that CFOs should consider how accurately their systems can reflect the business throughout the reporting period.
That shift could fundamentally change how finance contributes to decision-making.
“We’re really trying to free up the CFO from firefighting mode to strategic analysis mode,” Goldberg explained.
For CFOs, the emerging opportunity is not simply to automate existing responsibilities. It is to redirect financial expertise toward decisions that shape business performance—while increasingly intelligent systems handle more of the underlying work.