NetSuite offers fresh CRM

Version 10 of software will help resellers drive up sales and margins, vendor claims

Version 10 of NetSuite's hosted CRM and ERP software offers numerous benefits to resellers, according to its developer.

NetSuite claimed resellers can boost margins by "swapping out" existing customer infrastructure replacing it with NetSuite hosted software services.

The latest version, which went on sale earlier this month, allows resellers to build a complete view of their customers' e-commerce habits, track business processes and performance and develop marketing campaigns based on generated reports, according to the vendor.

"[Version 10] allows resellers to centralise businesses' information storage and drive up their sales of hardware and support," claimed Dean Mansfield, vice-president at NetSuite EMEA.

The software, packaged under the slogan 'Know more, sell more', incorporates e-commerce, CRM and ERP disciplines into a single database that holds detailed information on customers.

"NetSuite is marketed through both direct sales and resellers which have undergone full training and accreditation. The channel is very important to us because it provides reach and focus," said Mansfield.

He claimed that resellers can gain up to 30 per cent margin on the product.

Randy Chapman, sales manager at reseller Oracle Solutions, said: "NetSuite opens up more opportunities for resellers, such as upgrading businesses' connections or adding firewall equipment, at the same time as providing NetSuite services.

"Version 10 is ripe for the picking, which is why we sell it, although its core focus will always be SMEs and not the larger companies."

The web-based software also integrates an intelligent agent that automatically mines a customer's database of purchase transactions to suggest cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

Mansfield claimed NetSuite's software has "huge" advantages over unhosted versions because businesses avoid having to buy and maintain expensive storage equipment to run similar software internally.

"Customisations of previous versions can be carried across to version 10 because a business's changes to the package are stored centrally in our data centres," Mansfield added.

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