TMCnet News
CRM Vendor NetSuite Announces E-Commerce Features By David Sims TMCnet Contributing Editor On-demand CRM vendor NetSuite sure has been busy recently, announcing a host of new functionality extending their Software as a Service applications to mid-sized companies' e-commerce operations. The new features -- including multi-channel, multi-store, multi-currency, and multi-language support, and automated Amazon.com (News - Alert)-like upsell/cross-sell capabilities -- are designed to "enable mid-sized companies to automate e-commerce operations and avoid the cost and pain of developing complex custom applications," NetSuite officials say. NetSuite's bread and butter is selling hosted on-demand products for companies with Web stores of up to $10 million in revenue. They currently claim over 1 The new set of NetSuite advanced features emphasizes globalization, multiple Web stores and multiple companies and their subsidiaries. Additionally, NetSuite tweaked the business process customization to "meet the specific needs of larger, more complex businesses and their industry requirements," company officials say. Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, touts his product as one where "one system manages transactions placed on the Web as easily as those placed in person or via the phone -- for businesses large, medium and small." Some of these new e-commerce features are generally available immediately with the standard NetSuite service, some require add-on modules. NetSuite starts at $499 per month per company, then $99 per user per month. Website Assistant & Manager and Multiple Sites/Multiple Companies are currently in Beta and will be generally available in the second quarter of 2007. NetSuite claims "1,901,844 Web transactions totaling more than $290 million sold through NetSuite-powered websites in 2006." The company has also announced the ability to manage online sales with eBay (News - Alert) from within the NetSuite on-demand business management suite. The NetSuite eBay integration, company officials say, allows sellers" to sell on eBay as easily as they do on their own Web sites or with their internal sales teams. Additionally, it also offers powerful capabilities for users to manage all business operations such as inventory, warehouse management, accounting, direct sales, telesales, keyword marketing, e-mail marketing and site hosting." Earlier this week NetSuite announced that Kevin Thompson has been appointed to NetSuite's board of directors. Thompson brings nearly 20 years of corporate finance, strategic planning and executive management experience to the NetSuite board. He currently serves as chief financial officer at SolarWinds, a vendor of Windows-based network management, network monitoring and network discovery software applications. Prior to SolarWinds, Mr. Thompson was senior vice president and chief financial officer at SAS (News - Alert), the largest privately held software company in the world. Before that, he was chief financial officer, treasurer, and an executive vice president of Red Hat (News - Alert), Inc. David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page. |
