Say hello to growing competition in the professional services automation (PSA) software market. The latest case in point: When the Consulting Summit conference kicks off in May 2010, NetSuite’s OpenAir business will aggressively promote PSA software to a growing audience of business and technology consultants. Here are the implications for VARs and solutions providers.

As you may know, companies like Autotask, ConnectWise and Tigerpaw Software successfully promote PSA solutions to  managed services providers (MSPs) and VARs. Still, NetSuite — the publicly held ERP SaaS specialist, has been making its own PSA moves to help VARs and consultants track their staff utilization rates and IT projects.

First, NetSuite acquired OpenAir in June 2008 for $26 million in cash. OpenAir’s PSA platform is available through SaaS (software as a service), and targets IT consultants, legal and accounting firms and government contractors. Next, NetSuite in July 2009 acquired QuickArrow, another SaaS-centric PSA provider. NetSuite began integrating QuickArrow with OpenAir, creating a PSA solution with roughly 80,000 SaaS subscribers — including Symantec, Salesforce.com, Thompson Reuters, Genesys, Informatica, Proxicom, Siemens, Software AG, and PRTM.

NetSuite will offer IT and business consultants an update on the OpenAir strategy during the Consulting Summit, scheduled for May 5 in Chicago. The small but strategic event typically attracts a more than 125 consultants from small, midsize and large organizations.

Meanwhile, the major PSA software providers continue to differentiate their business strategies. ConnectWise has launched ConnectWise Capital to help incubate channel-centric technology companies. Initial investments include CharTec (a hardware as a service specialist) and LabTech Software (remote monitoring and management software). Meanwhile, Autotask has acquired VARStreet to give VARs and MSPs a single dashboard for services automation (Autotask) and product sourcing (VARStreet).

Next up, The VAR Guy will be watching OpenAir closely during the Consulting Summit.

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