Oracle NetSuite has announced the addition of four new partners to its channel. The announcement comes after an extended quiet period following the acquisition by Oracle. The partners named are WithumSmith+Brown, Kranz & Associates, AdaptaLogix and Phoenix Systems Group.
The NetSuite Solution Provider Program has existed since 2002 and since the acquisition no further changes have been made to it. In fact Oracle are rumoured to be looking at the NetSuite channel program to see whether they can learn any lessons from it.
Net New channel?
What is interesting is that none of them are existing Oracle partners. In some ways this is surprising as one would expect some Oracle partners to want to join the NetSuite channel. Oracle partners should be an easy win for NetSuite as they look to expand their reach, especially outside the USA. Do Oracle partners see NetSuite as the sort of application they want to sell.
NetSuite sales are normally for a smaller number of licenses. The dividing line between an Oracle cloud sale and NetSuite is about 1,000 user licenses according to one source. This lack of apparent support for NetSuite by the existing Oracle channel could become a problem as they transition partners from selling on-premises to cloud based software. This was also an issue for HP and IBM partners as the initial revenue was lower per sale.
Channel partners with rapid growth challenges
AdaptaLogix was only founded in 2016 by partners James Neal and Allan Katstock. The company focuses on providing ERP solutions to small biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Neal formerly worked for Tribridge, an ERP company specialising in the pharmaceutical industry. They selected NetSuite as it enables pharmaceutical companies to scale rapidly once new drugs clear clinical trials and approvals. NetSuite also helps meet the regulatory requirements for each country that a company might wish to work in. Neal commented: “NetSuite gives our clients sophisticated financial infrastructure at an affordable price and on a quick timeline, without having to add more staff to manage software. There are a lot of very specific needs in the pharma world, and NetSuite is very well suited to be tailored to that industry. NetSuite makes it possible for us to deliver a faster implementation and better solution with less risk and reduced costs.”
Kranz & Associates has delivered financial services to venture capital backed firms since 1994. It includes a client list with some well known names such as Aruba Networks, Yelp and Palo Alto Networks. The challenge for startups that receive investments is that their organisational systems do not match their growth requirements. This is where Kranz advises NetSuite as those companies run up against the limitations of their first accounting solutions. Bud Austin, President of Kranz & Associates commented: “Start-up founders love having access to data on a mobile-friendly, cloud-based platform. NetSuite gives them the ability to manage expenses, revenue, and processes much better than a small business system would.” They have already transitioned a number of clients over to NetSuite.
For NetSuite, these deliver small companies onto the platform that are likely to grow substantially into significant revenue owners. For the end users, they get a solution that is proven to scale and delivers the flexibility that startups often require. That is especially with the emergence of new business models that SuiteBilling is able to address.
A more traditional partner
Withum+Smith+Brown (Withum) is one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the United States. With 14 offices and more than 800 staff across the US it is also a member of HLB International that gives it a reach outside the US in the global marketplace. The move to offer NetSuite services was client driven. Led by Walter Merkas, cloud practise leader and a trained NetSuite Consultant, it now offers implementation and optimisation services. Jim Bourke, Partner Technology Practice Leader at Withum commented: “At Withum, we believe our clients need more than the traditional tax and accounting services offered by most firms today. As trusted advisors to our clients, our NetSuite cloud ERP practice is a critical piece of our services offering.”
As businesses look to move their accounting solutions to the cloud, accountancy firms need to evolve. They need to consider their relationships with software vendors, especially legacy ones. Legacy solutions are rapidly being replaced by cloud based ERP solutions. As this happens, much of the work that accountancy firms have done before is automated, thus the firms need to become more business advisor based and that includes technology. It is no longer a case of using a third party to implement systems, they need to learn how to implement and update the cloud based solutions to offer a full service to clients.
Technological partner
Phoenix Systems Group (PSG) has developed and supported software systems for direct marketing, catalog and eCommerce since its founding in 1994. It has decided to take its software and migrate its IP (Intellectual Property) onto the NetSuite platform. There are clear benefits for PSG in doing this. It no longer needs to consider many of the hosting issues that it may have had before. It also opens up the NetSuite customer base to its solutions. PSG IP includes the optimisation of package dimensions and shipping rates for deliveries. Jeff White, PSG president and CEO said: “We live in a unified commerce world today, and NetSuite’s comprehensive solution greatly reduces complexity for ecommerce vendors. Because NetSuite is already a single unified system, it eliminates most of the cost and complexity associated with ecommerce, while still giving us tremendous opportunities to customize and configure for every client.”
For NetSuite this changes what may once have been a competitor to SuiteCommerce into a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
There was a concern when the acquisition completed that NetSuite would lose a proportion of its channel. The reverse seems to be true, with NetSuite adding some significant partners on this list. The addition of PSG is probably the most interesting. It might start a trend amongst some of the other smaller ERP players in the market. It is no longer cost effective trying to deliver a point solution in isolation. Companies can either integrate with several larger vendors using API’s or migrate their IP onto a platform such as Netsuite.
