NetSuite launches BPO-focused partner program

NetSuite channel chief Craig West

NetSuite channel chief Craig West

SAN JOSE, CALIF. – Cloud-based ERP vendor used the last day of its SuiteWorld conference here to introduce a partner program for business process outsourcers (BPO), adding another route to market to its growing channel presence.

The company has long worked with implementation-oriented solution partners, and has expanded its efforts to work with other ISVs at a programmatic level, and with the new program, it’s looking to gain traction with companies that outsource financing operations. The program has been in beta mode with a group of partners for some time, said NetSuite channel chief Craig West, and at launch time, program members include Accretive Solutions, Arthur Lawrence, Bennett Thrasher, Capgemini, KDV, McGladrey, and TempCFO.

Opening up to those who run their clients’ finances as an outsources business function gives NetSuite and its implementation partners access to a new group of customers, both those who choose to outsource finance for ease-of-use, and those who choose to outsource it as a way to support early-stage growth. In all cases, customers will be able to have a NetSuite implementation stood up by a channel partner and managed by a BPO partner, with the option to easily take finance back in-house should there be demand for that at any point.

“However big you are, if you want to outsource part of your financials, you need to make sure everyone who needs access can get secure access, and that you can bring it back later. Cloud inherently delivers the right access model, and the right flexibility,” West said.

The channel chief said he sees plenty of opportunity for implementation partners and BPO partners to work together – for example, an implementation partner can step in and develop a full company-run deployment of NetSuite when a formerly BPO-managed customer decides it’s time to bring finances back in-house, or an implementation partner who finds a prospect not yet ready to take on the full weight of finance in-house can work with a BPO to get that customer up and running.

“There are a lot of opportunities for cross-pollination,” West said.

NetSuite COO Jim McGeever said the PBO program is away to “simplify the outsourcing model and aggressively lower their operating costs” for customers in the portion of the midmarket NetSuite likes to refer to as “the Global 2000,” in many ways, its core market.

In addition to connections to implementation partners, the BPO program will also look to foster links with members of NetSuite’s SuiteCloud Developer Network its ISV program focused on those who either add on to NetSuite’s core ERP capabilities or integrate their own offerings with NetSuite.