Scaling, once a matter of adding people and processes, is now being redefined by technology. For Sam Levy, SVP – Growth Strategy & Execution at Oracle NetSuite, the question for a company is not how big but how intelligently it expands. At NetSuite’s SuiteWorld 2025, Levy unpacked the mindset that separates firms that merely grow from those that scale, companies that build leverage, not layers, by embedding AI, automation and clarity into every part of their operations.
“Scaling isn’t optional; it’s survival. Every company hits a wall, the question is how fast you break through it,” Levy said.
From Growth to Scale
Levy drew a vivid contrast between the “old frontier” and the “new frontier” of growth. In the past, organisations equated expansion with adding more people, processes, or overhead. Headcount often grew in direct proportion to revenue. It worked, until it didn’t.
“That model could only take you so far. It was like the covered wagon, reliable but limited. Today, AI is the rocket,” Levy noted.
In the new model, AI and machine learning are rewriting the growth equation. Businesses can now scale output, reach, and complexity without scaling cost or human effort at the same rate. The idea of one person handling one task is being replaced by the concept of one person orchestrating multiple automated agents, each embedded into the business platform itself.
“The outcome is a new economics of growth, one based on leverage, not labour,” Levy said.
Automation isn’t just efficiency but your growth strategy: Sam Levy
The Scaling DNA
From NetSuite’s vantage point, after studying hundreds of its fastest-growing customers, three defining patterns emerge in what Levy calls the organisation’s scaling DNA. At the foundation is what he describes as platform-first thinking. The companies that scale fastest are those that have moved away from fragmented systems and manual workarounds to run their entire operations on a unified platform. This integration provides real-time visibility and a single source of truth, allowing them to pivot with speed and precision.
Levy’s second observation is the growing role of automation, not as a cost-saving tactic, but as a deliberate growth strategy. By automating repetitive processes, leaders can free up their teams to focus on innovation, strategic partnerships and building deeper relationships with customers and suppliers. Automation, he argues, should not be confined to the back office; it must sit at the centre of how a business scales.
The third element of this scaling DNA is industry differentiation. As Levy explained, companies are no longer competing on the features of their products, but on how well they execute. By tailoring workflows and performance metrics to their specific sectors, businesses turn operational excellence into a genuine competitive advantage. He said, “Automation isn’t just efficiency. It’s your growth strategy.”
The Shopify Equation
An interesting validation of Levy’s thesis came from Bobby Morrison, Chief Revenue Officer at Shopify, who joined him on stage. Morrison described Shopify’s decade-long relationship with NetSuite as a partnership built for scale, crediting it for enabling the company’s global expansion and IPO readiness.
“Our mission is to make commerce better for everyone, and commerce means everywhere, not just ecommerce,” Morrison said, adding, “Online, in-store, social, and now in the world of AI.”
He shared the formula that guides Shopify’s growth decisions, and said, “Rate × Volume ÷ Friction × Leadershipⁿ (to the power of AI).”
The core message, Morrison explained, is that most companies obsess over rate and volume but overlook friction, the operational inefficiencies that quietly erode scale. “Friction hides in your back office, in your policies and tools. NetSuite helps us remove that friction,” he said.
For Levy, that approach is emblematic of the new growth mindset, where businesses must now think less about adding resources and more about removing resistance.
Commerce means everywhere, not just e-commerce: Bobby Morrison
From Manual to Machine-Augmented
Levy’s argument for AI-driven scaling is not about augmenting people. By embedding intelligence into core processes, companies can refocus human talent on creative and strategic work, the areas where judgment, empathy, and innovation still matter most.
“Top executives today are ruthless about automation. They treat every repetitive task as an opportunity to scale capability, not headcount,” Levy observed. The new generation of businesses, he said, is scaling 300–500 per cent faster while keeping their teams relatively flat. Transaction volumes are rising, but operational complexity is not, a fundamental shift in the economics of enterprise.
Collective Intelligence As Competitive Advantage
Levy also spoke about the growing network effect of NetSuite’s ecosystem. Every customer transaction on the platform adds to a shared reservoir of insight, a kind of collective intelligence that sharpens the benchmarks and recommendations available to all.
“NetSuite is the pulse of your business. As the platform expands, so does every participant’s potential,” Levy said.
For enterprises across regions like India, where the next wave of mid-market and digital-first businesses are scaling globally for the first time, this connected intelligence becomes particularly significant. With AI-enhanced visibility, CFOs and founders can make faster, data-backed decisions without adding management layers or infrastructure overhead.
Scaling Without Limits
In closing, Levy framed NetSuite’s philosophy as an open invitation: to treat scaling not as a linear process but as a compounding one. “Every business can become a high-velocity business. The platform, the automation, and the industry focus, when those three gears move in sync, that’s when no limits become real,” he said.
His words resonate beyond the product ecosystem. For a new generation of growth-stage companies, especially in markets like India, the path to scale is not paved with more people or bigger budgets, but with smarter systems, seamless automation, and AI-driven orchestration.
As Morrison put it, “The future of commerce is frictionless.” Levy’s version of that future extends the idea to business itself, frictionless scale powered by intelligent systems and human ingenuity working in concert. |
