Oracle NetSuite looks to partners to drive expansion into new markets

Oracle Netsuite is looking for partners to bring unique IP or expertise to the table to help the enterprise business management software provider expand into areas of the market that it typically hasn't played in before.

Tony Field, Oracle Netsuite's general manager of channel and ecosystems for ANZ, said that this translates into the company being focused more on the depth of partner capabilities moving forward, rather than "trying to grab every partner".

"If you look at our solution providers, for example, we recruited a partner to focus on local government here in Australia, which we haven't done before," Field explained.

"We've had a partner who built up a specific local government solution, which they've already deployed, and they want NetSuite as part of that for the financials piece. That's an area that we think is ripe for disruption.

"If you look at our alliance partners, we brought in a partner from the US called Bryant Park Consulting. They're a significant global partner and we brought them in because of their industry expertise, particularly around things like the promotional products space, where they built specific IP."

Field said that while typically, the company has focused on solution providers – "you might call them resellers, [but] they do more than that" - and alliance partners, who are more focused on implementation and co-sell motions, the company has moved to more of a broader ecosystem approach in the last 12 months.

"If we were to just stay in those lanes, we would lose out on a significant opportunity, so it's really about making sure we can touch as many prospects as possible, expand that reach and get the message out," he told techpartner.news.

This is evident in the types of partners now working with Netsuite, encompassing private equity firms, business process outsourcing companies and industry associations.

Field said the company has expanded the number of associations it works with "quite dramatically" over the last year to now encompass the likes of Robotics Australia Group, Australasian Supply Chain and Logistics Association, National Online Retailers Association and Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute Limited, among others.

"A lot of those engagements are primarily centred around education as well, particularly getting ready for things like AI," he noted.

"We don't go there on day one to try and jam NetSuite down their throat. It's actually about what their members want. What are you seeing with your members? What are the hot topics?

"It could be something like ESG, and we would bring in one of our advisory firms who's an expert on ESG, and we would do a webinar to them with NetSuite and the advisory firm. It’s an education process on whatever topic they want to leverage. That's the advantage of the ecosystem - no matter what the topic, we can tap into it and help educate them."

Field noted that more education is required for many customers in his opinion, however, as "most people still don't really know what they want to do with AI".

"The board will say ‘use AI’ [but] most people are still using it for refining their emails; if they're a services company, they might be using it to enhance their statement of works, but then they haven't been able to translate that to an ROI that the board can consume and understand," he said.

"On the partner side, they're obviously at the forefront in terms of having these AI discussions as well. They're thinking ‘I could build an agent for this that could solve this problem’, so we're starting to see that from a partner perspective, and then they're able to demonstrate that to customers."