Looking to bring end-to-end application integration to mid-size companies, NetLedger today announced NetSuite, a Web-based service designed to automate front-office and back-office functions.
NetLedger, according to the company’s president Zach Nelson, defines mid-size as companies with 500 or fewer employees. The objective of NetSuite is to provide automated business process integration for enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounting, warehousing, customer relationship management (CRM) and other business applications.
NetLedger, which has been best-known for producing the Oracle Small Business Suite, has been busy recently expanding its application architecture and its features set to tap mid-size businesses.
In August, the San Mateo, Calif.-based ASP announced NetCRM, a product designed to compete with Web-based vendors such as Salesforce.com (see NetLedger Enters CRM Fray) and in September it unveiled an advanced accounting applications built to compete with Microsoft Great Plains (see NetLedger Sets Sights on Microsoft Great Plains). NetSuite, in essence, offers all the features available in NetLedger’s modular product line.
“NetSuite is an important offering reflecting two trends,” said Mary Wardley, an analyst at research firm International Data Corp. “First, there are gaps between the low-end software packages and high-end enterprise applications in terms of functionality and price. NetSuite is positioned to bridge that gap. Second, the NetSuite offering reflects the important need among mid-range organizations to have certain back-office processes, such as accounting integrated with CRM functionality in a single offering.”
NetSuite is designed to enable companies to manage all business operations in a single, integrated system, including CRM, sales and marketing, customer support, accounting and payroll, warehousing, Web store and Web presence, and employee productivity. All applications are stored in one Oracle database.
The Web-based application suite also provides a single view into a company through the Executive Dashboard. The customizable, roles-based portal views are tailored to meet the needs of various users in a company.
Preconfigured centers include Support Center, Sales
Center and Accounting Center.
According to NetLedger, NetSuite also provides real-time, server-to-server XML data exchange capabilities to
allow integration with other business applications. Customers can also configure single sign-on authentication, which is designed to allow users to move seamlessly between NetSuite and other applications.
NetSuite also provides synchronization with
Outlook, ACT!, Goldmine and Palm OS devices to ensure that offline
calendars, tasks and contact lists are up to date.
NetSuite costs $4,800 per year for three users; additional users can be added for $50 per user per month. The company also announced an Enterprise Edition that offers an unlimited number of users for $3750 per month ($45,000 per year).
NetLedger is listed by ASPnews as a Top 20 Service Provider.
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