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NetSuite Offers SMBs Hosted CRM At CompUSABy David Sims TMCnet Contributing Editor Dutch journal ComputerPartner is reporting NetSuite Inc.'s plum deal with CompUSA Inc., to provide NetSuite's on-demand business software in all U.S. stores. "The deal is the first of its kind where a U.S. mass-market retailer will resell on-demand software, according to Zach Nelson, chief executive officer of NetSuite," the journal says. "Software-as-a-service is going mainstream," it quotes Nelson as saying.
"Of as Tuesday, 10 CompUSA stores in New York and Connecticut will offer NetSuite software. After a month, NetSuite and CompUSA will evaluate how the partnership has been working and then continue the gradual rollout of NetSuite until the hosted software is available in all CompUSA stores across the U.S., Nelson said," the article reports. "Customers will be able to purchase NetSuite software through CompUSA Business Services' 1,100-strong direct-to-business sales force." Industry observer Barbara Darrow reported that Bill Maddox, executive vice president of business and technical services for Dallas-based CompUSA said the effort will then spread to 220 CompUSA locations that feature business centers. Maddox and NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson, Darrow reported, "said this move should be viewed as a boon, not a threat, to existing NetSuite solution provider partners. This appears to be the first major linkage of a major retailer and a Software-as-a-Service provider." As Darrow explains, "a partner selling NetSuite's service gets 30 percent of the initial sale in margin, a cut that continues for the life of the contract. If CompUSA makes the sale, it will receive that residual money. However, Maddox said CompUSA will rely heavily on solution providers for service and other expertise." The NetSuite product is a hosted suite of applications comprising accounting/ERP, customer relationship management and e-commerce, explains industry observer Mickey Khan: "It will be available to small to midsize businesses through CompUSA Business Services' 1,100 direct-to-business sales force." "This is the first time we've done it and this is the first time we believe any mass market retailer/reseller has offered on-demand software," Jay O'Connor, vice president of worldwide marketing at NetSuite told Khan. ---- David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page.
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