Small and medium-sized businesses across the UK now have access to a range of corporate-grade business applications from a single supplier, says BT, with the announcement of BT Business’ partnership with two software as a service (SaaS) suppliers, NetSuite and SugarCRM. The announcement follows hot on the heels of NetSuite's OneWorld launch in San Francisco last week, as reported in last week's Editor's Blog.
With the trend of the rapid adoption of on-demand and SaaS software in the SME market worldwide, BT is taking steps to embrace the SME market in the UK by essentially reselling both companies' business applications.
BT's track record in this type of venture is not strong, but the demand for Internet-delivered business applications is growing, despite cultural resistance in some quarters to hosted, rather than on-premise, solutions. CIOs in particular see SaaS as a threat rather than an advantage, although the cost attractions in an economic downturn are leading many to reassess their attitudes and concentrate on business innovation rather than systems maintenance.
BT says that working with NetSuite and SugarCRM will allow the service provider to offer its small and medium-sized business customers software for their specific needs, coupled with service and support from a single source. The companies plan the integration of both NetSuite SugarCRM with existing data systems.
Recent research by BT Business revealed that client relationships are the most critical factor to the success of UK SMEs (43 percent), and both suppliers target the SME sector with a range of applications that aim for more transparent business process management.
BT is also currently looking at a range of best-of-breed business applications from leading vendors and is set to make further partnership announcements in the near future. Bill Murphy, managing director at BT Business said: “We have looked across the market and developed these partnerships with best-of-breed companies delivering innovative applications to meet the needs we know our customers have. This programme builds on the work we’ve done to date and will allow us to deliver a tailored approach for customers, so they can get what they need to manage their customer relationships, examine processes, deliver efficiencies and ultimately drive their business – all from a single supplier they trust.”
Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite said: “This commitment to the software as a service revolution will mean more and more SMEs in Europe have the chance to embrace NetSuite, enabling us to deliver capabilities to SMEs that some of the world’s largest companies have failed to achieve – even after spending millions of dollars.”
John Roberts, CEO of SugarCRM said: “This alliance strengthens our global reach and further exhibits SugarCRM’s momentum as a global provider of business applications.”
In an exclusive interview in San Francisco last week, NetSuite's Nelson issued a warning to the major services and outsourcing providers that as SaaS companies drive down the cost of enterprise business systems, customers would no longer be prepared to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for services and consultancy, and that there would be an opportunity for what he called a "mid-market Accenture" that might emerge in the near future.
Clearly BT has a strong brand presence in the UK, and a decent reputation among smaller enterprises; however it will need to raise its game in the reseller business if it is to succeed as a mid-market services giant in the on-demand world.
