Zach Nelson, president and CEO of NetSuite
SINGAPORE, 19 SEPTEMBER 2008 -- Managing business operations across multiple locations is not only challenging, but also costly, especially for SMEs (500 employees or less) seeking global expansion.
In response, NetSuite has launched ‘NetSuite OneWorld’, claiming that the on-demand business application allows SMEs to manage their operations in real time, across multiple geographies, cost effectively. The company said that the offering integrates customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning and e-commerce.
“NetSuite OneWorld delivers local control with global visibility, not just across financials but across every aspect of the business — from lead to forecast to order to cash collection,” said Zach Nelson, president and CEO of NetSuite. “Before OneWorld came along, SMEs that expanded across multiple countries had to migrate to high-end solutions like SAP at a high cost.”
According to NetSuite, typically only large companies willing and able to invest heavily could achieve the high levels of business integration needed for global operations. SMEs wanting to do the same would have to incur large expenditures on high-end systems like SAP or Microsoft Dynamics GP, the company said.
OneWorld was first released in the US early this year, and was recently launched in Singapore, NetSuite’s Asia-Pacific headquarters.
Meeting SMEs’ needs
According to NetSuite, OneWorld enables centrally located employees to handle operations across multiple subsidiaries and business units, cutting staffing costs. Enterprises using OneWorld will also be able to adjust for language, currency, taxation and legal compliance differences at the local level, the company said.
Additionally, dashboards provide real time visibility on key performance indicators, allowing the enterprise to make informed executive decisions and timely course corrections.
A Singapore-based provider of consulting services to manufacturers serving the healthcare industry, Clearstate, has deployed OneWorld to manage its multinational operations.
“I didn't have to put pieces of a puzzle together in order to handle finance, project management, and human resources,” said Tej Deol, managing partner at Clearstate. “NetSuite allowed us to launch our business on a single, integrated platform."
Excellent market potential
Nelson expects growing interest in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications in Southeast Asia to support regional adoption of NetSuite OneWorld. “This should help drive strategic growth for NetSuite in the dynamic Asia-Pacific market.”
Since NetSuite opened its first Southeast Asian office in Singapore in 2005, the facility has served as a hub for expansion into countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
The future looks bright for vendors like NetSuite in the Asia-Pacific SaaS market, which Springboard Research estimated to be worth US$274 million in 2007. By 2011, the figure is expected to hit some US$1.8 billion.
Industry analyst firm, Gartner, estimates that the Asia-Pacific SaaS market is growing twice as fast as the market for traditional on-premise applications.
Forces driving SaaS adoption
“Mobile computing will drive SaaS adoption,” Nelson said. “For example, you can get NetSuite services on smart phones like the iPhone, which has a large screen for practical usage in this area.”
Nelson believes that SaaS will fully replace traditional software because the on-demand service delivery model frees the customer from significant upfront investment costs. “Other reasons include ease of internet access and the wide choice of services available through SaaS.”
Nelson noted that users are now less concerned about information security issues arising from SaaS. “Unlike the past, people now want their data on the internet to improve communication efficiency with partners.”
“Mobile banking is the most personal transaction experience for the user, and it is becoming more popular,” Nelson said. “Such consumer acceptance has driven enterprise acceptance of doing business through the internet, including SaaS.”
