CRM News: CRM: NetSuite Rolls Out Slew of Vertical Apps

NetSuite Rolls Out Slew of Vertical Apps

By Erika Morphy
CRM Buyer
01/12/06 1:32 PM PT

NetSuite provides "a more stable environment than dealing with separate accounting and sales force automation and an e-commerce engine," said analyst Martin Schneider. "What NetSuite has going for it is that these applications are already running on a single platform. All the partner has to do is provide on-site integration."

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NetSuite has introduced more than 30 vertical applications that were developed by partners using the company's latest integration tool, the NetFlex Applications Program.

An integration platform, NetFlex was introduced almost a year ago to help customers connect the NetSuite application to third-party systems and databases. It also offered customization tools so that companies could tailor the resulting structure as they pleased.

Partners have been very eager to exploit the technology, Mini Peiris, vice president of product management at NetSuite, told CRM Buyer. "They are using the NetFlex platform to further extend their footprint within the enterprise," she said.

From Architecture to Shipping

For example, the telephony vendors that have built verticals for NetSuite now provide their traditional call-center services along with the option to facilitate orders via touchtone.

Professional-services firms can integrate project-management apps with NetSuite's front-office calendar, and back-office time and billing systems.

New versions of NetSuite have been introduced for such industries and functional areas as architecture and construction, application integration, collaboration, contact center/chat, data services, e-commerce, health care, productivity, professional services, retail and shipping services.

NetSuite partner and contact-center service provider LivePerson, for example, has developed LivePerson Chat for NetSuite, which includes multichannel sales and service functionality through LivePerson's operator interface.

Not Gadget Software

Because NetSuite is an enterprise suite, partners have an easier time building verticals on the platform, Martin Schneider, an enterprise software analyst at the 451 Group, told CRM Buyer.

"It is a more stable environment than dealing with separate accounting and sales force automation and an e-commerce engine. What NetSuite has going for it is that these applications are already running on a single platform. All the partner has to do is provide on-site integration," he explained.

NetSuite's range and quality of partner companies bring further credibility to its industry-specific offerings. In addition to LivePerson, NetSuite has partnered with Five9 and Contactual in the contact center/chat space. ChannelAdvisor and Mercent have built e-commerce verticals on the NetSuite platform; and Medibis has developed a health-care offering.

"NetSuite has a lot quality vendors in their stable," Denis Pombriant, principal analyst of Beagle Research Group, told CRM Buyer. "What is interesting to me is that they are not exclusively vendors of gadget software -- rather, they are providers of whole applications."

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