Business Software

An independent research study conducted by SPI Research reveals that companies using NetSuite’s (News - Alert) cloud-based business software -- in particular the PSA and SRP business software offered through NetSuite’s OpenAir affiliate -- are among some of the highest performing when measured against peer organizations competing in the professional services market.

SPI's 2010 Professional Services Maturity Model Benchmark Report, which surveyed more than 225 professional services organizations (PSO), finds that seven of the top 15 'best-of-the-best' professional services organizations rely on NetSuite and NetSuite OpenAir software to drive key business processes across finance, human resources and customer relationship management.

 

'With more than 10 years of research on PSA and SRP, SPI's findings clearly illustrate the benefits of PSA systems, including increased project margins, resource utilization and overall revenue,' said David Hofferberth, managing director at SPI Research, in a release. 'The Best-of-the-Best results speak for themselves, and we congratulate NetSuite and OpenAir on helping their customers to garner 7 of the top 15 honors for 2010.'

 

'Benchmark and maturity reports like SPI's help organizations of all sizes learn from the best practices of leading PSOs,' said Edward Marshall, NetSuite's SVP of Product Strategy for Professional Services Automation. 'We believe that services are the future of the world economy and we are thrilled to be at the forefront of the PSA space as it continues to grow and enable services organizations to do more with less.'

As per the report, NetSuite is the dominant PSA solution provider with 32 percent of survey participants leveraging one or more NetSuite or NetSuite OpenAir solutions. Organizations surveyed said they experienced an average 12.8 percent annual boost in project margins using a PSA solution.

 

OpenAir Inc., an affiliate of cloud-based business software provider NetSuite, made news on TMCnet in December when it announced availability of its OpenAir Mobile solution on BlackBerry (News - Alert) AppWorld.

OpenAir’s PSA/SRP software suite lets project-based businesses efficiently manage their projects, resources, time and expense tracking, and billing and invoicing processes in the cloud. OpenAir claims the solution enables companies to convert more prospects into clients by allowing them to more effectively manage the prospect pipeline and utilize relevant historical data to optimize revenue and margins on future projects.

The OpenAir PSA/SRP solution is actually a suite of solutions including business development, resource management, project management, knowledge management and project accounting software. It also sports numerous reporting tools. The solution comes in three editions: OpenAir Team Edition; OpenAir Professional Edition and OpenAir Enterprise Edition. All three feature automated time and expense tracking and billing; robust reporting; basic project management and work breakdown structures; QuickBooks and salesforce.com connectors; and free NetSuite connector, among other features – but the professional and enterprise editions add even more advanced features and capabilities.

 

In August NetSuite announced that OpenAir had secured four new customers in the APAC region -- including AIPEX, Waugh Infrastructure Management, Fronde and Matsco Solutions. About two weeks later it announced that Australia-based technology consultancy AIPEX had started reselling and supporting OpenAir’s cloud computing professional services automation (PSA) and services resource planning (SRP) software in the land down under.

 

OpenAir claims it is the first and only PSA software company that makes it possible for services professionals to run their businesses via BlackBerry. The solution only requires a client's OpenAir credentials to sync with their account.

This new application, combined with the recent release of OpenAir Mobile for iPhone (News - Alert), provides the mobile services industry with ubiquitous access to key business metrics.