CRM Software

It was announced Monday , that CRM Software provider NetSuite is increasing its efforts to recruit channel partners to resell its on-demandERP applications, raising the margins and resources it began offering solution providers last year under its "SP 100" program.

The new NetSuite (News - Alert) SuiteStart Service includes waivers of first-year $5,000 program enrollment fees, a free license for partners to use NetSuite ERP and CRM applications to run their own business, and more marketing resources such as marketing plan templates and sales leads, an article from CRN revealed.

NetSuite launched the SP 100 initiative last year to encourage solution providers to try Software-as-a-Service applications. The program was designed to let partners keep 100 percent of first-year revenue from new contracts and 10 percent of annual renewals -- a deal that offers resellers a great percentage of up-front revenue, as compared to NetSuite's previous offer of 50 percent of a contract's first-year revenue and 30 percent of annual renewals.

The goal of the partner program enhancements is to help new partners get up-to-speed more quickly, particularly those who are new to the concept of cloud computing, without huge up-front expenses. "We are knocking down some of the fiscal barriers," said Craig West, NetSuite vice president of channel sales, in an interview. "We're investing around [partner] enablement."

NetSuite's partner base increased to a staggering 40 percent in 2010, mainly because of the SP 100 initiative, although West did not give specific numbers. "It was a wildly successful initiative for us," West said.

Even though NetSuite will end the 100-percent-of-first-year-revenue offer at some point, West said no end-date has made yet. The 100 percent first-year/10 percent renewals option does mandate a minimum two-year contract, and West said partners choose that option over the 50/30 option on a contract-by-contract basis.

The new offerings for partners include free first-year training for three sales representatives and free first-year training for an unlimited number of employees in cloud technology implementation methodologies. West said NetSuite is also assembling a global enablement team to work with partners.

NetSuite also will provide new partners with sales leads to help them get started and offer "top-performing partners" access to ongoing sales leads, according to a NetSuite statement.

"We have had our eye on the cloud computing space for some time, and with the newly added enhancements made by the NetSuite SuiteStart Service, I knew the time was now for us to make the move," said Bryan Majewski, managing partner at solution provider Baker Tilly, a recent addition to NetSuite's partner program. "Between the flexible revenue sharing and the comprehensive program support, we are confident we will be successful partnering with NetSuite," Majewski said in a statement.