NetSuite invests heavily in New Zealand market

NetSuite, the software company specialising in managing business operations and customer relations, is focusing on expanding its channel base in New Zealand.

Mark Troselj, NetSuite managing director and VP of sales Asia Pacific and Japan, says, "NetSuite is an organisation that has a huge amount of growth ahead of it, and in order to capitalise on that we need to be thoughtful about how we take it to market.

He says this means investing in the New Zealand channel and market.

Troselj says, "NetSuite made a concerted effort to invest in channel business two years ago, and New Zealand is growing fast and producing great results." 

Currently, NetSuite has five partners in New Zealand, which is a significant increase from a few years prior.

Troselj says in New Zealand NetSuite has two primarily aims: to bring more partners on board and still maintain focus on current partners.

"Current New Zealand partners are very successful - in fact, one of the top performers of the APJ region comes from New Zealand - and we want to maintain this," Troselj says.

Fronde is one of the fastest growing partners, and Fusion5, Liberate I.T. and BPR are also stand-out partners, according to Troselj.

"NetSuite's partner organisations have been in place for many years, and all existing businesses in New Zealand are strong, with an established customer base.

"NetSuite will support existing partners with campaigns, enablement and ensuring they have skills in professional services," he says.

However, the company is also actively looking for new partners who can work well with NetSuite to deliver value propositions to market, Troselj says.

In order to find partners, he says NetSuite is continuing to work with publications such as TechDay to highlight the message that NetSuite is growing rapidly and the channel is important to that growth.

He says the company is also targeting specific companies they think will be great additions, and optimising its product set for the market.

Troselj says, "We are investing in our product solution set and ensuring it'is very mature for the New Zealand market."

He says their ERP solution is a business application that is affordable for SMEs as it is paid for on a per user basis.

"As the business grows all they need to do is add users - the systems stays the same. This ensures SMEs are paying the price that matches their business size," he says.

Troselj says, "New Zealand has a tremendous amount of SMEs, and with solutions that NetSuite provides they can harness the power of multiple currencies and languages, engaging with customers over the internet, integrating inventory and the distributor or manufacturer, and more, all on one platform."

"The most important thing is to make sure the product is fit for purpose. The second most important thing is affordability, can the business afford to support it and run it, and will they get a return on investment?" he says.

Having a strong product brings in greater returns for partners, he says.

"The organisations are the sales engine. We recognise this and do what we can to ensure their success. We over-invest in professional services, training and support.

Troselj says NetSuite offers partners significant revenue share and says after the initial engagement there are ways for them to generate revenue and drive value. For instance they can wrap services around products and expand their market offerings.

On the increasing demand in New Zealand, Troselj says, "Decision makers in New Zealand are very well informed and are driving the adoption of cloud computing." 

New Zealand is the type of market that adopts new technology and Kiwi businesses are very enterprising, adopting cloud computing and cloud services much faster than any other region, he says.

"New Zealand businesses are [also] very impatient. They want to see growth, performance, return on investment, faster returns on investment global returns, and cloud computing makes this possible," he says.

NetSuite's solutions reduce complexity and help businesses receive support from the global community and maintain multiple distributor partners, multiple suppliers and more, he says.

Troselj says NetSuite hopes to soon be 'a real presence in New Zealand', 'a household name'.