By Will Sturgeon, 5 April 2005 00:00
NEWS CRM middleweights NetSuite and salesforce.com are squaring up to one another over claims from NetSuite that it's got its San Francisco-based rival beaten.
NetSuite has made bullish claims about having the edge over salesforce.com with its latest release, NetSuite CRM+, and says it is not only stealing customers from under the nose of its rival but is also encouraging customers to switch - branding them "salesforce deserters".
Such bold rhetoric may well have caught salesforce.com unawares as it has long focused its attentions more on overthrowing Siebel. But it says it actually welcomes the input of NetSuite, which at least supports its on-demand model of CRM.
The perhaps predictable suggestion from within salesforce.com is that this is the 'sincerest form of flattery' rather than cause for concern.
Tim Knight, director of product marketing at salesforce.com, told silicon.com: "We welcome more businesses to the on-demand party. We have reached the tipping point for this model of software delivery, it is rapidly becoming the de-facto standard for the use of business applications."
However, Knight dismissed NetSuite's claims that its position is under threat.
"Salesforce.com continues to lead this market and provide the innovation that our customers demand," he said. "We lead not only as an application vendor, but also as an on-demand platform provider."
NetSuite has certainly mobilised a good number of customers to cite why they chose its latest CRM offering over salesforce.com's.
Tony Conti, VP of sales for point of sale specialist icarz, said: "Unlike salesforce.com, NetSuite allows us to use one system for leads, prospects and customers."
Jeff Thompson, COO of fixed wireless broadband provider TowerStream, said: "We switched to NetSuite because salesforce.com doesn't have the extra features NetSuite does, such as order management and integration with the website for lead generation."
Nick Vaney, VP, finance and corporate development of clinical solutions ASP Nightingale Informatix, said: "We decided to switch from salesforce.com to NetSuite for better visibility across our entire company, particularly in the advanced CRM features that touch each part of our growing organisation."
Eli Katz, president of interior design retailer The Inside Store, said: "We were outgrowing our current solutions and looked at salesforce.com but found that it didn't offer what we needed to integrate all our systems, including our website."
Despite its rival parading such a roll-call of on-message customers, salesforce.com's Knight believes his company still meets all its customers' needs.
He also appears untroubled about the one deserter in the pack, boasting of a healthy customer list of companies happy to stick with salesforce.com for now.
"We allow our customers to tailor their on-demand applications to suit their unique business requirements," said Knight. "That is why we have 13,900 unique customer installations, and 227,000 subscribers to our service."
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Another indication of the animosity between salesforce.com and NetSuite is clearly noted on this web site http://www.SalesforceCantDoThis.com
2. Elwyn Jenkins
I agree that NetSuite has a fuller set of features and therefore is attractive to a company wanting everything, but we still have the situation in many instances where the company is much larger and only needs a Salesforce.com solutions right now. This may sound heresy from a NetSuite person, but is valid and should be recognized. In other words, there is a place for both, although as NetSuite can provide a CRM package alone, and then add to this later, it does seem a pity that people do not choose NetSuite and just forget Salesforce.com.
3. Kevin Brown
As a new user to Salesforce.com, I find the system highly usable and effective in providing our organization with unforeseen power in the sales and customer service function. Our sales people were trained in 4 hours and running more efficiently than ever before (We migrated from Goldmine). Because Salesforce.com integrates with other best-of-breed systems such as QuickArrow PSA, we benefit from two vendors doing what they do best in their respective functions- CRM and PSA. I couldn't be happier.
4. Donna Mcnicholas
Having just bought NetSuite I think it is much better than Salesforce.com as
1. It has a strong UK presence
2. The staff are contactable during business hours
3. The staff actually asked me for the order
4. The support has been second to none
5. The aftercare actually exists - finally a company that realises that the annual licence renewals are a business choice so it is better to remain in touch with your clients throughout the year rather than calling them when its renewal time!
5. Micheal Stammer
I think we are missing one very important piece of the pie here. Success and ROI from CRM. Search Google for "CRM fail" and you'll see why 80% of CRM's fail. We've just migrated our company from Salesforce.com to the CRMGuaranteed.com. Excellent model, software functionality and delivery method. It's a must see for ANYONE considering CRM.
6. Tayyaba Khalil
I think with NetSuite CRM+, NetSuite has gained an edge on Salesforce.com.