NetSuite first ASP to bring advanced Customisation to web-native business applications
New Account Cloning Capability Enables Solution Providers to "Customise Once, Sell Often"
SAN MATEO, CA—December 8, 2003—NetSuite, Inc., makers of Oracle® Small Business Suite, today announced new Customisation technology that makes its on-line applications as customizable as traditional, "self-managed" applications. This new technology enables companies to fundamentally alter NetSuite's Web-native, on-demand products with the addition of database tables, as well as the addition of custom code enabling rapid Customisation to meet company and industry needs. NetSuite also addresses a major shortcoming of traditional application Customisation by automatically carrying forward Customisations with each new release. NetSuite also unveiled Account Cloning, a new capability that allows Solution Providers to configure and customise NetSuite to meet the needs of a particular industry segment, and then replicate that account as they sell it to multiple companies within that target market. The Oracle Small Business Suite name is used under license from Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL).
NetSuite Customisation is a major breakthrough because it solves two problems facing the business application market. First, Web-native business applications have seen increasing adoption, but have been viewed as "one size fits all." Secondly, traditional application software has the major drawback that once customised, it is very difficult to upgrade to newer versions of the business application when they become available. "NetSuite shatters the myths about the Customisation of on-line products; our thousands of NetSuite customers are running different, customised versions of the product," said Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite. "Not only does NetSuite have the capabilities previously available only in incredibly expensive and complex software products, but more importantly, we also carry forward our customers' modifications each time we upgrade them to a new version of NetSuite."
NetSuite brings to the ASP market Customisation capabilities previously found only in much more expensive "enterprise" applications. It complements the highly configurable elements of NetSuite such as user-defined dashboards and the ability to add an unlimited number of custom fields with advanced Customisation capabilities including:
NetSuite Custom Records – allows companies to extend the database structure of NetSuite to support complex data relationships unique to each business. With this feature, businesses can define their own custom record sets that can then be related to standard records within NetSuite in a one-to-one or one-to-many manner. For example, using NetSuite Custom Records, you could create defect or issue management records with custom fields that track severity, status, defect details, and resolution details. These defect records could then be linked to standard support cases in a one-to-many data model. As another example, you might gather customer survey data via a custom record exposed as an online form, and then link the responses to the survey to each customer record in a one-to-one data model.
NetSuite Custom Code – allows businesses to programmatically define validation and business rules that operate client-side on data forms. To make custom code simpler and more cost effective to implement, NetSuite uses industry standard JavaScript® rather than a constraining proprietary tool set, a restriction often found in traditional software products. NetSuite Custom Code can be used to perform simple field validations, such as enforcing that phone numbers are entered in a particular format or much more complex business rules, such as enforcing sales methodologies. Particular steps within the methodology could be implemented via custom sub-tabs and custom fields on the opportunity which the sales representative uses to indicate their progress. Custom code would then enforce that an opportunity status can not be moved forward to an 80% probability of close with a status of "In Negotiation," for example, without completing the "Presented Value Proposition" step.
Because NetSuite manages all software releases and upgrades for all of its customers, the company architected the features of NetSuite so that upgrades would carry forward any and all Customisations in each and every account.
Projector Doctor, a San Diego, Calif.-based projector repair company has leveraged NetSuite Customisation technology to tailor NetSuite to meet its business needs. "Our most significant area of Customisation is in the data we collect during the repair process," said Dean Mitchell, partner of the firm. "We have added several custom tabs with data that is captured at various points during the repair cycle. NetSuite's ease of Customisation made it fit in seamlessly with the overall flow of customers and repair jobs within the application. We've also made extensive use of custom lists in order to add the proper edits to the repair data we capture. These drop-down lists keep the data uniform and allow ease of entry. In addition to customer and repair job Customisations, we've created several custom record types and added fields to items, sales transactions, and customer service cases. All of this has carried forward without a hitch with each upgrade."
New NetSuite Account Cloning allows solution providers to leverage NetSuite Customisation capabilities and their specific domain expertise to build more profitable businesses. NetSuite's solution providers are now able to leverage this advanced technology to create industry-specific templates. These template accounts can then be cloned providing a NetSuite industry solution replicable to many customers within the industry. These industry customers can further tailor this solution to their specific company, department and individual needs. As a result NetSuite solution providers have extended their businesses to many vertical markets other ASPs have never reached including bio-tech, construction, real estate, financial services and agriculture.
Explore Consulting has done extensive Customisation for their clients. Steve Jones, CEO and Partner of Explore Consulting touted, "NetSuite's Customisation technology has given us the Custom Records and Custom Code capabilities necessary to build a robust financial services vertical solution. With NetSuite Account Cloning, we're able to customise once and sell often. It's a win-win proposition because we benefit from ease of use of the tools and replication. The customer benefits from being able to access an affordable solution, in a fraction of the normal implementation time, which meets their industry requirements and still provides tailoring for their company's unique processes and personalization."
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