SAN FRANCISCO – The release of SuiteCloud 2.0, the next version of NetSuite Inc.‘s (NYSE: N) cloud development platform, was more about dispelling the customization myth for channel partners than delivering a new way of creating cloud business applications.
From company CEO Zach Nelson, to founder and CTO Evan Goldberg, all the way down to former NetSuite Canada GM Marc Huffman, the software-as-a-service pioneer wanted to hit home the message that channel partners can and will make money customizing on the cloud.
SuiteCloud 2.0 will be multi-tenancy and always-on specific for accounting, ERP, and CRM. It will feature seamless cloud-to-cloud integration with single log-in, which means users just need one password to access all modules. A new graphical workflow manager enables channel partners and ISVs to click custom workflows without writing any heavy code. NetSuite has also added various development tools for third-party channel partners to design new cloud-based applications that are Web-friendly and vertically based.
SuiteCloud 2.0 will be an important part of the company strategy to go up-market as well.
Huffman, who is now NetSuite’s worldwide senior vice-president of sales, said NetSuite is trying to go up-market and attack subsidiaries of multi-national organizations along with remote market customers around the world. NetSuite has always had mid-market at its core, but Huffman said some industries are so complex that SuiteCloud 2.0 could address those customer pain points.
“I want the channel to know that NetSuite gets it with optimized distribution. We’re a direct sales organization and we’re evolving and looking for new ways to optimize distribution worldwide. I know you can’t flip the switch overnight, so we’ll look to utilize the channel ecosystem to accomplish our broad objective,” Huffman said.
Adaptive Planning, a NetSuite partner based in Mountain View, Calif., currently uses the SuiteCloud platform for integration of applications.
“We leverage SuiteCloud for other applications in our best in class SaaS-to-SaaS app. In five minutes, a user can integrate NetSuite with Adaptive Planning 6.5, insert credentials, match dimensions such as geography and organizational name, import actuals and export budgets, plans and away you go,” said Greg Schneider, vice-president of marketing for Adaptive Planning.
The company got started in 2003 and has Canadian customers. Its solutions start at US$600 per user, per year. SuiteCloud 2.0 will enable the company to boost its subscription-based model along with its implementation services. They currently partner with NetSuite and this increases Adaptive Planning’s distribution reach.
SuiteCloud 2.0, coupled with the recently introduced SP 100 program where solution providers get 100 per cent margins on first year sales, present a revenue opportunity for the channel, Huffman said. In turn, Huffman expects the channel, along with ISVs, to sell more complete business solutions than ever before, which plays into NetSuite’s go to market strategy.
“With these types of tools, partners such as Rootstock Software can build a material requirements planning or MRP platform which was jointly developed, demonstrated and sold,“ he said.
Rootstock’s MRP system is for sales orders and forecasting that produces a bill of material helping to balance inventories, generate supplies in real time
Huffman added that solution providers can build solutions that can be repurposed. “This can differentiate you from the other stone-age software providers and it enables you to say yes to more business automation opportunities than ever before,” he said.
