NetSuite CEO Announces New Partners, Growth and Features

NetSuite chief executive Zach Nelson wasted no time during his opening keynote address at the SuiteWorld partner and user conference today in announcing four large distribution partners —three of which are accounting firms—and added functionality to the cloud-based ERP and eCommerce platform. Shortly after Nelson welcomed the over 3,000 attendees, he announced that Grant Thornton, Deloitte and Frank Rimerman Consulting— the technology arm of accounting firm Frank Rimerman & Co. —had all signed on as distribution partners, along with top Sage North America partner Blytheco. All but Frank Rimerman, which joined the channel late last year, were added recently.

Nelson also announced that NetSuite will now be specifically tailored for e-commerce businesses in a technology known as SuiteCommerce.

“The realization around the world is that every company can be a cloud company, and they are figuring out how to deliver their product or service using the cloud,” said Nelson. “We are transforming from having you use NetSuite to run your business operations to how your business operates with others. Commerce as a Service is transforming the NetSuite operating system into a commerce platform.”

Nelson also noted that of the approximately 12,000 customers on NetSuite, nearly 2,800 are Web sites running on NetSuite. “No ERP system is generating that,” he said.

Numbers dominated Nelson’s keynote as he claimed $69.3 million in revenue last quarter. He said the company is on track to achieve $300 million in revenue for fiscal 2012.

New products to watch for from NetSuite will be mobile, specifically SuitePhone 2.0 and OpenAir for iPhone.

“Social, mobile and cloud is how all applications will work, and if they don’t have that, they will be in trouble,” said Nelson.