NetSuite: The quiet momentum

In the last week, you have read plenty about salesforce and its Dreamforce event and SAP and its influencer event.

NetSuite had a small gathering for a few of us in town for those big events. And while that event got little ink, frankly it deserves plenty for momentum at the company. NetSuite has managed to convert 500 Sage customers over the last few months.

It is a truism as more vendors offer product in a tech sector, more customers get comfortable and deal flow accelerates. In 2011, we should see plenty of finance and accounting SaaS momentum as SAP, Workday, FinancialForce.com and others finally release/accelerate their own products. Over the last few years CRM and HR functionality has seen most SaaS activity – the finance segment if it follows past cycles should be much larger. And NetSuite should have plenty of references and longevity in accounts to parlay.

Additionally, there is still the Sage motherlode to mine. Amazingly, Sage has 6.2 million customers according to its website. So, the 500 that moved to NetSuite could turn into many, many more.

No big bands or politicians at the event, but as we look back on the trajectory of cloud computing a few years from now, the NetSuite event may well turn out to be a key milestone.