NetSuite turns up heat on Salesforce

NetSuite is offering more customisable options and templates for particular industries

NetSuite has renewed its challenge to Salesforce.com for the software-as-a-service crown with upgrades that make its systems more customisable and add tools for business process modelling.

Whereas Salesforce’s plan is to create a Microsoft-like platform for third-parties to plug in extra capabilities, NetSuite sees virtue in offering a one-stop set of business applications and focusing on templates for particular industries.

Today’s announcements centre around version 11.0 of the core NetSuite service that uses the highly fashionable Ajax set of Java and XML tools to offer a modular user interface and various graphical reporting gauges, scheduling capabilities and document management tools.

Another new capability is SuiteScript, a way to customise business processes through a new Java-based scripting language.

Also, following last month’s release of a special edition for software companies, NetSuite has added versions for services companies and those in the services and wholesale/distribution sectors.

NetSuite chief executive Zach Nelson said that the additional capabilities and continuing quest for industry-specific options recognises the complexity of the mid-market audience.