SuiteWorld: Oracle NetSuite Pushes into Europe with Partner Recruitment Drive

Oracle NetSuite is undertaking “a really big push” into Europe. The campaign involves a partner recruitment drive to bolster its presence across the region.

NetSuite’s Chris Norfolk

NetSuite Senior Director Chris Norfolk revealed the plans at the SuiteWorld customer and partner event in Las Vegas.

Norfolk said he couldn’t divulge how many partners the ERP software has globally, or how much business goes through the channel. However, he confirmed the current push to expand in Europe.

“One of the key drivers for growth is getting more partners on board,” he said. “So I’m trying to get as many partners as we can into those markets because there’s such an opportunity. The only thing that will slow us down is by not having enough people out there to sell.”

In terms of partner recruitment, Norfolk said he is after “a diverse selection of partners.”

“The spider’s web approach doesn’t work anymore, where you just put a web out and see what you can catch. You have to be specific. You have to say, ‘I am fantastic at manufacturing.’ ‘I am fantastic at retail.’ And have the credibility to back it up. So I’m looking for partners who can fit those for me.

“But across the entirety of EMEA, we have a big push for more and more partners. That’s what’s going to drive growth in the next five to 10 years.”

To support this push, NetSuite has “significantly” increased its internal headcount this year, said Norfolk. “We’re now starting to see the fruit of that with a recruitment piece of new partners across all territories.”

“I need to be able to support the existing customer, so I’ve extended out my account management organization. And then on the partner manager side, [we’ve increased] that a with a focus on recruiting partners in new territories.

“Before we had a lot of our business being managed out of the UK, which was fine to a certain point. But Europe is diverse, so you need to be able to support it locally,” said Norfolk. “People who speak the language, can understand the nuances in the marketplace.

“So now I’ve got people now based in in France and Germany, the Middle East, more people up in the Nordics and Benelux.”