Exclusive: How Oracle's AI agents are driving a new era of enterprise automation

Techday NZ

27-04-2025

Oracle's AI-powered agents are reshaping business automation, with finance teams seeing both dramatic efficiency gains and cost savings.
When Rondy Ng joined Oracle as a developer back in 1990, the idea of artificial intelligence running enterprise processes was the stuff of science fiction.
Today, as EVP of Applications Development at Oracle, Ng witnesses Oracle's AI evolution firsthand - overseeing a sweeping transformation in the way global businesses operate.
"We have more than 14,000 customers on our Fusion platform," Ng explained to TechDay during a recent interview. "More than 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies run on Fusion Cloud ERP."
Ng's role now spans far beyond product development.
"My job is not just about building technology, but about helping the world's largest companies - CIOs, CFOs, and CEOs - transform their businesses. And that's exciting, especially now with the rise of AI."
AI agents, he explained, mark the next major shift in enterprise automation - especially in finance departments that have historically relied on complex, manual processes. Oracle has already embedded over 50 AI agents throughout its Fusion Cloud Applications Suite.
"These agents automate end-to-end workflows, personalise insights, and act on behalf of specific roles - all within the context of the business," he said.
Ng gave a striking example of how the technology works in finance. "In accounts payable, you might receive thousands of invoices in different formats - PDFs, images, even handwritten notes. Our Document IO Agent reads and interprets all of these, then enriches the data and creates invoices, journal entries or payment instructions ready for review."
Crucially, he added, these AI agents go well beyond traditional rule-based automation.
"They're powered by large language models, so they can carry out multi-step processes, understand user roles, respond to natural-language prompts and adapt to new scenarios."
Ng believes the arrival of AI agents will redefine how people interact with enterprise software.
"In the past, finance users had to learn complex systems just to do basic data entry. Now, they can use natural language - just like texting on a phone - to tell the system what to do. It's a complete change in user experience."
He gave another example: "Let's say you want to change a cost centre across a group of invoices. You no longer need to go into multiple screens. You just say it - 'Change the cost centre on these invoices to this one' - and the AI agent does it for you."
This kind of innovation, he said, is only possible on a true SaaS platform that's constantly updated. "We push updates quarterly. Everyone is on the latest version, and customers can choose when to turn new features on. It's like your phone's iOS updates - seamless, with innovations ready when you are."
The flexibility of Oracle's platform has attracted major clients like Hearst, one of the world's largest media companies. Hearst uses Oracle's AI capabilities to automate invoice processing, drive intelligent payments and unlock dynamic discounting with suppliers.
"With Intelligent Payments, Hearst could offer early payment proposals automatically, saving hundreds of thousands in costs," Ng said. "And their invoice matching accuracy jumped from 70 percent to 95 percent over time - dramatically reducing manual effort."
Ng was quick to point out that businesses still clinging to legacy systems are likely to be left behind. "Many of our customers are still in the early stages of moving off legacy platforms," he said.
"But to get the full benefits of AI, you have to simplify and standardise your processes first."
He warned against delaying the shift. "If your data is fragmented across ten different systems, AI can't help you much.
You need a unified SaaS platform as a prerequisite. Don't wait until your competitors have already moved and are reaping the benefits."
He believes many businesses misunderstand the urgency. "I know some CFOs are thinking, 'My current system is good enough.' But AI is moving fast. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to catch up."
Oracle's AI agents are already proving their worth, but Ng sees this as only the beginning.
"The long-term vision is for AI agents to fundamentally change the way work gets done," he said. "We're heading towards a future where agents communicate with each other - across departments, across functions - to automate even more complex processes."
His early instincts about the value of AI have only deepened with time.
"We've been building automation into our systems for years," he said. "But AI makes it simpler, smarter and far more powerful."
Despite the hype around AI, Ng stressed that this isn't a passing trend - it's a tectonic shift. "We're still at the beginning," he said. "But this is the direction the enterprise world is going. And there's no turning back."
Ng ended with a message for decision-makers weighing the move to AI: "My recommendation? Don't wait. It's now."