NetLedger, a Web-based ASP, has been busily expanding its product line this year — adding NetCRM and NetSuite to its Oracle Small Business Suite. Today, the San Mateo, Calif.-based company announced that it is taking its software across the Atlantic by joining forces with Open Orchard, a new British Telecom-backed service provider that will focus on small to mid-tier businesses.
Under terms of the exclusive partnership, Open Orchard will offer NetSuite, which is designed to manage business processes including financials, customer relationship management (CRM), purchasing and e-commerce, and NetCRM, which offers sales force automation, marketing management and customer support. Zach Nelson, president of NetLedger, told ASPnews that NetCRM and NetSuite will be available in January and April, respectively.
To date, NetLedger has been offered only in U.S. “We wanted to focus our resources in the U.S. It was a new method of delivery, a new product …,” Nelson said. The company decided to try the overseas market when “an opportunity arose with BT.”
“NetLedger’s credentials in the U.S., coupled with their award-winning suite of solutions, make them an ideal partner for us to deliver on our proposition to supply mid-tier businesses with big business advantage,” Yvonne Thomas, CEO of Open Orchard said.
NetLedger’s applications will be customized to account for nuances between American and British English, “We changed a lot of z’s to s’s,” Nelson said. NetSuite will also be adapted for the U.K.’s Value Added Taxation, Nelson said.
Under terms of the agreement, Open Orchard and BT will deliver and support the applications. As new versions become available, NetLedger will deliver them to their British partner already customized for the U.K market.
Nelson said that maintaining separate versions will involve some effort but not a great deal. “The application layer is largely unchanged and the UI changes are not that time-consuming to make,” Nelson told ASPnews.
NetLedger also has plans to establish partnerships in other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand, Nelson said.
NetLedger is listed by ASPnews as a Top 20 Service Provider.
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