NetSuite Financial Results: SaaS Reality Check
I still believe — strongly — in software as a service (SaaS). But it’s critically important to keep SaaS market realities in perspective. Is SaaS really that hot? Or is the market lukewarm? The answer varies from company to company. But here are some important clues from NetSuite, one of the most successful publicly held SaaS software providers.
NetSuite announced Q2 results on July 30. At first glance, the numbers seem pretty reasonable: Revenues were $40.3 miullion, a 10% increase over Q2 2008. Plus, CEO Zach Nelson says NetSuite’s average sale price increased during Q2. In this economy, I bet plenty of managed service providers would welcome (A) 10 percent revenue growth and (B) rising sale prices.
Plus, NetSuite is working with a growing list of channel partners, and satisfied customers include SMB Nation — an organization that serves a range of channel partners.
Now the Bad News
Still, NetSuite’s Q2 financial performance wasn’t good enough to please Wall Street. Based on the quarterly results, NetSuite’s stock is down about 14.40% during mid-morning trading on July 31. And Wedbush Morgan is the latest research firm to downgrade NetSuite’s shares.
So let’s all keep the SaaS market in perspective. Yes, there are real growth opportunities with SaaS. But there are also challenges that SaaS providers (and their channel partners) will need to address. SaaS can impact everything about your business — you margins, your brand, your customer relationships.
Generally speaking, SaaS stocks have climbed dramatically during most of 2009, according to our own SaaS 20 Stock Index. But so has the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
So don’t believe the hype about SaaS. The rising SaaS tide won’t lift all boats. But do sort out a SaaS strategy. I suspect a large number of your customers want to leverage a range of SaaS services — with our without your help.
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Thanks for the shout-out Joe. NetSuite is one of my start-up tabs in my Web browser. I logon first thing in the AM and logoff at the end of day. It’s also there as a tool to help run my business. I’ll admit NetSuite is a big solution for some small businesses but it works for the seven of us at SMB Nation.
All the best…harrybbbb
Harry Brelsford
CEO, SMB Nation
Harry: We’re considering some software/SaaS options ourselves and may follow your lead with NetSuite. Too soon to say but your thoughts certainly caught our attention.
i used netsuite for a couple years but unfortunately it didn’t work out well for my apparel business. despite having absolutely amazing features, implementation and usability, it was simply too general to properly run our business as things got more and more complex.
Hello JC16, check out out Apparel Saas solution at frogfishsolutions.com, I think you will find it an amazing SaaS solution for your apparel company.