NetSuite has introduced a new partner initiative aimed at onboarding newcomers to the software-as-a-service ERP vendor’s channel in 90 days while delivering additional resources and benefits to existing partners as well.
Called SuiteLife, the new offering provides a shared foundation for the company’s existing solution provider, alliance partner, and other partner programs, according to Craig West, vice president of alliances and channels for NetSuite, which is a unit of Oracle Corp.
“The goal is to bring all our experience and best practice to our partner community,” said West in emailed remarks to ChannelPro.
In the past, he noted, joining the NetSuite channel was a largely self-directed and improvised process that required aspiring members to master comprehensive knowledge of the company’s solutions.
“We found this approach left too much to chance, and wanted to bring a more structured, proactive approach to the process and the timelines,” West writes. Like the company’s pre-configured SuiteSuccess product offering, SuiteLife is built around prescriptive, best practices-based instruction on the essential skills and knowledge solution providers need to get a NetSuite practice up and running.
“Rather than recommending partners spend weeks-and-weeks on all-encompassing training on every possible product and nuance of NetSuite, we’re accelerating their competency to near-term competency necessities, and then delivering the curriculum and learning paths that easily enable them to add competencies in more complex functional areas as-needed and on-demand,” West explains. “After 90 days they are ready to deliver NetSuite.”
SuiteLife gives both new and existing partners access to enriched training resources for specific business functions, product areas, and industries, as well as assistance from NetSuite’s in-house professional services organization.
“The ability to get NetSuite Professional Services to help with complex situations as part of the partner program is going to solve the problem quickly, avoiding delays and trial and error issues—which will keep partner teams productive and the customer happy,” West says.
SuiteLife includes Emerging, Corporate, and Enterprise tiers. Partners can self-select which one they join based on the size of their NetSuite practice, the competencies they wish to hold, and the customers they expect to serve. Fees scale alongside benefits for each level.
SuiteLife is open now to partners in North America, with global availability to follow in the months ahead. Existing partners can opt into SuiteLife immediately after paying any remaining pro-rated charges on their current program membership, or wait until their next program renewal date and join then.
Along with SaaS-based CRM vendor Salesforce, NetSuite is one of several “born-in-the-cloud” application vendors offering channel pros willing to make the necessary investments in people and expertise a route to higher margins and deeper customer relationships than traditional VARs and providers of commoditized managed services typically enjoy.
Founded in 1998, NetSuite has over 550 partners serving more than 16,000 customers around the world. Corporate parent Oracle reported 30 percent growth for the company in its most recent fiscal quarter.
