“We’ve always believed in meeting businesses where they are—inside the systems they already trust.” – Lacerte
At SuiteWorld 2025 in Las Vegas, René Lacerte, founder and CEO of BILL, discussed how AI, automation, and embedded partnerships are transforming the financial operations landscape for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Lacerte described AI’s evolution in finance as a shift from do-it-yourself workflows to do-it-with-you solutions—and now toward do-it-for-you capabilities powered by agentic AI. He emphasized that automation isn’t about replacing humans but about eliminating friction in back-office tasks like payments, reconciliation, and collaboration, enabling finance leaders to focus on higher-value strategy.
The conversation also touched on BILL’s newly announced embedded partnership with NetSuite, which integrates BILL’s payment automation directly into the NetSuite platform. Lacerte said the move reflects BILL’s long-standing approach of meeting customers where they already work—whether through banks, accounting firms, or software partners. With more than 500,000 businesses and 8 million vendors on its network, BILL processes about 1% of U.S. GDP annually, positioning it at the forefront of intelligent finance for SMBs. Looking ahead, Lacerte believes AI will continue to unlock creativity and strategic capacity for business leaders by removing the grind of financial administration.