We are the first to deliver a complete on demand and SOA solution, said Hans Peter Klaey, head of SAP’s worldwide SMB business. NetSuite is a partial offering. Its lacks supply chain and manufacturing functionality.
So what does NetSuite say about that? SAP may be deeper in some areas like manufacturing. We would be surprised if they were not. But we have breadth. From what we have seen their CRM is lightweight and they have no e-commerce capability, said Craig Sullivan, director of product management at the SaaS business suite house. He also pointed out that core manufacturing has never been a target market. He said that historically, NetSuite has targeted services companies, which means it does not address manufacturers but does serve companies in the manufacturing distribution field, for example.
Verticalization could become a telling arena between this pair of contenders, especially as they have singled out some of the same verticals. NetSuite started down the verticalization route early last year with the launch of a version for software companies and followed up with new additional industry specific versions earlier this year, for wholesale and distribution, and service-based companies. More vertical versions are on their way.
So far SAP has shown three vertical versions, which it calls reference systems, for manufacturing, professional services, and wholesale distribution. Klaey maintains that its industry-specific support is superior to that of NetSuite, being deeper, particularly in manufacturing. He also said NetSuite tends to cover micro verticals. We have more already, he said.
With a high level of direct overlap, SAP and NetSuite will be going head to head both in the horizontal market and in most of their chosen verticals.
