NetSuite Enables Partners to Customize, Clone ASP Software

To leverage those efforts into increased sales, NetSuite's providers also can "clone" the modified systems for resale to others in the same industry.

With the new version, solution providers, customers and developers can completely alter the NetSuite software, delivered over the Internet as a service, by adding custom database tables and even custom JavaScript code and logic across the suite's CRM, ERP and e-commerce capabilities.

All customizations automatically carry forward in subsequent releases. "That matters because it allows seamless upgrades to continue to work, no matter how heavily someone has customized our software," said Sean Rollings, senior director of product marketing for the San Mateo, Calif., company once known as NetLedger.

ASP competitor Salesforce.com also announced similar customization capabilities on Monday.

NetSuite additionally unveiled what it calls "account cloning," which allows solution providers to tailor the software to different verticals, then replicate that version to others in the same target market.

Rollings said partners would first create an industry template, then use the account cloning to create multiple copies. "Even with that replicated solution, that customer can still customize the software to its unique needs," said Rollings. "And no matter how customized, every replicated copy will be compatible with any upgrades that we release."

Erik Ellsworth, managing partner of NetSuite solution provider IT4Mybusiness.com, already has plans for cloning the software. Now focusing on midsize wholesale distributors, Ellsworth would like to expand his reach into logistics--an area he knows--and into property management, which he does not.

"I've already started a few meetings with people who want to partner with me for distributing and developing software for that market," said Ellsworth, based in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. "I can do the development; they have the knowledge, so we can be joint developers on this. I can do that for logistics without a partner."

Rollings said anyone with a standard NetSuite account has free access to the new version. A one-year, three-user license for NetSuite 9.0 costs $9,000, plus $75 per month for each additional user. NetSuite gives each new partner three customer accounts they work with to develop industry templates.

Providers who replicate customized templates pay NetSuite $300 per replication for each account. That fee ensures that the new system works as expected. "We test it to make sure that nothing breaks," said Rollings. "We manage the quality of the outcome and the process."