NetSuite has had a consistent strategy that is unlike any other of its ilk in the industry. Led by the charismatic and hip CEO Zach Nelson, and the uberbrilliant co-founder and CTO Evan Goldberg, NetSuite hasn’t attacked the market with social features or been focused around innovation as its core. Its basic hardcore strategy has been to improve functionality so that you can do enterprise related operational work anywhere in the world in an on demand environment. They have been particularly focused on the upper end of the midmarket and have succeeded there very well. They have developed their One World edition that handles globalization and localization in one fell swoop in a rather effective way with a single interface. They went public at at time they should and even though they are of course affected by the recession, they are still in a strong financial position. They’ve fallen in the business platform pot like all their competitors. Unlike their competitors, though, their platform, NS-BOS is narrowly focused around developing industry specific applications - not just anything. Their pragmatic strategy has been historically part of their CRM applications, NetSuite CRM+, since day one with a core focus that extends back to their early days as financial software company NetLedger. They build their CRM applications around order management at the center. They are aimed at the upper end of the midmarket and squarely at SAP. They’ve even recently announced a “BusinessbyNetSuite” program for SAP customers to capture those customers who are exposed by the SAP Business by Design glitch. SAP needs to be concerned about NetSuite in this market. NetSuite is pragmatic and sound in their approach, they’ve had steady growth over the years and they try to not overstep their planned strategic boundaries. They are solid as a rock when it comes to their functionality. Finally, this is a company that knows how to market and communicate with the analyst community and press exceptionally well. Zach is a terrific speaker and a marvelous spokesperson in general for NetSuite - and a very, very cool, good natured guy. Mei Li, their SVP of Corporate Communications is not only known throughout the industry but extraordinarily well liked throughout the industry - not easy when it comes to cynical analysts and press and keeps the press and analysts well informed. I like this company and have for a long, long time. Yet, this doesn’t exempt them from what I see as some things they they need to do to become the breakout company they could, and I think it will take them until 2010 to do it. They still have some known customer service issues, though, commendably, they are working to fix them, from everything I’ve seen and heard. Additionally, I’ve always considered their channel program far too lean. Even with the excellent win of HP as a strategic partner, I don’t see rapid enough improvement here. This is an area, especially since they have a strong industry-specific focus to their strategy, that is absolutely vital to their future and its something I’d be jumping on right away and spending (their) money on. That said, they have some interesting partners - like Apple, CastIron and of course, the aforementioned HP. Finally, I think that they are going to need to start adding 2.0 functionality and I know from the horse’s mouth, that this is going to be the case for 2009. I have only one real complaint with them on the marketing side which I’ve always had - and this might just be me. I wish that they would stop their competitor attacks and competitive “we just won customer x from vendor competitor y” press releases and emails. Personally, I couldn’t care less who they took from whom, since I’m just as sure that the same vendor who lost the customer to them has taken one from them too. Win on your merits, NetSuite, which are formidable. I really have high hopes for them, but the things they need to do will take some time. They are a solid choice already, and always will be, but to get to the next level, they’ve got a busy year plus worth of work to do. But they are worthy of watching right now.
Source:blogs.zdnet.com/crm
