NetSuite on the Rise

martinwolf Managing Director Seth Collins and Associate Ryan Reuter from the New York office recently attended SuiteWorld and have gathered some of their most pertinent insights below.

From the keynote speeches to our individual partner meetings, the atmosphere at NetSuite SuiteWorld was electric. As the first SuiteWorld since Oracle’s $9.3 billion acquisition in November, the scale of the conference mirrored its global aspirations—and attendees were energized by the strong future potential of the #1 cloud ERP platform. Below, we’ve captured some of our key takeaways into a survival guide for what should be the company’s biggest year yet.

Here to Stay

The scale of the #1 cloud ERP conference made a splash, making clear Oracle’s vision of rapid growth. To more than 10,000 attendees, speakers unveiled plans to leverage the power of Oracle’s resources by making NetSuite’s offerings available across any size, vertical, or country. Oracle Co-CEO Mark Hurd set the tone by vowing to “go much, much deeper and much, much faster than we have ever gone before.”

While maintaining that NetSuite would be given the freedom to operate and develop on its own, Oracle has committed to NetSuite’s success with the end goal of global expansion. By scaling within existing markets (such as its main base of small-to-medium sized businesses) and broadening its availability outside non-core markets, NetSuite plans to more than double both its data center footprint and field office presence across the world.

Hurd also emphasized the strength of NetSuite’s brand, saying, “I view that we will maintain these two products forever. Forever. I’ve tried to come up with a term that is longer than forever, but I couldn’t come up with one. But I wanted to avoid any fear, uncertainty and doubt.”

Our partners echoed the same enthusiasm. In one meeting, a partner told us, “NetSuite is permanent, and we’re going to see a lot of growth in the channel.”

From Localization to Globalization

Our partners also addressed strengths in NetSuite’s globalization strategy, saying they “see additional opportunities through combined synergies.” As part of its plan to increase its international presence, NetSuite has been focusing on excelling in localization, addressing intricacies like local compliance requirements and cultural expectations. NetSuite will be delivering localizations to more than 20 countries over the next few years, and it has been acting already. OneWorld, its business management platform for large enterprises managing multinational and multi-subsidiary operations, has been localized in the Nordic countries, for example.

In addition, its services offering, SuiteSuccess, a suite of pre-built solutions, should be expected to gain more momentum. SuiteSuccess highlights the developments of NetSuite’s customization—it has already been launched for eight different industries, ranging from advertising to financial technology, and 12 micro verticals within those industries. SuiteSuccess addresses another key aspect of the shift in business model: building up recurring revenue—and using SuiteSuccess to obtain more subscription license revenues—signals a move toward Oracle’s compensation model.

A New Generation

The NetSuite channel is relatively immature and fragmented compared to its competitors. Recognizing this, NetSuite reaffirmed the need to invest in and strengthen its channel partners. One such initiative is a change in the NetSuite sales teams’ service compensation plan, which will result in more services business through the channel.

Another welcome activity is the increase in the number of ISVs looking to NetSuite as a core component of their growth strategy. This ISV developer community will bring new and greater functionality to the NetSuite solution and provide the channel with more opportunities.

With partners bullish on the acquisition and Oracle following through on Mark Hurd’s commitment to fully support NetSuite, a bright future lies ahead. If NetSuite can continue on this path and strengthen its channel, it will secure a meaningful advantage in the ERP race. As it begins to reap the full benefits of Oracle’s scale and tap into uncharted territory, we can expect the company to reach its highest potential.