NetSuite Plans SaaS Partner Summit

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Details about the partner summit are still emerging. But West expects NetSuite to alert partners about the conference sometime this summer. Sorry, The VAR Guy wasn’t able to nail down a date or location.

So far, roughly 125 US channel partners and 200 to 225 worldwide partners evangelize NetSuite’s SaaS-driven ERP and CRM offerings to customers. First-year deals generate 30 to 50 percent margin for VARs, with recurring 30-percent margins available to VARs when their customers re-up for NetSuite’s software.

“Our strategy hasn’t changed much since 2002 [the year West joined NetSuite] because we think it’s the right model,” says West. The typical partner-driven engagement ranges from a 5 to 10 user deployment up to at 15 to 40 user deployment in larger enterprise departments.

No doubt, NetSuite has been growing. First quarter revenue was $41.6 million, up 22% from Q1 2008. The company has aggressively evangelized its success over on-premise SAP deployments, forcing SAP itself to move faster into the SaaS market. And NetSuite has also made moves against SAGE.

Still, NetSuite in some ways was a victim of timing. The company launched its IPO in late 2007 — just as financial markets were crumbling. Most SaaS stocks performed terribly in 2008 but have since rebounded quite a bit in 2009, according to our own SaaS 20 Stock Index.

Targeted Partners

Next up, NetSuite is seeking to double-down on a partner recruitment push.

“We won’t make a pure volume play,” says West. “We need to be selective, and we’ll look at traditional mid-market partners and some larger strategic relationships. Also, NetSuite will “double-down on partner enablement. You’ll see us do some things to improve training and our partner portal.”

Sounds sweet. Oh, and if that partner conference requires Bermuda shorts and sandals, give The VAR Guy a call. He’s all packed to go…

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