BT Ramps Up SaaS Offerings

April 25, 2008

Small and medium-sized businesses across the UK now have access to a range of corporate grade business applications from a single supplier, with the announcement of BT Business’ groundbreaking partnerships with NetSuite and SugarCRM.

BT Business’ step will make it possible for SMEs to follow the trend of rapid adoption of
on-demand software.

Working with NetSuite and SugarCRM means BT Business can offer its customers software for their specific needs, coupled with high quality service and support, all from a single source.

It also allows customers to integrate CRM applications with their communications and existing data systems. This enables them to quickly implement a CRM solution to help them grow, create and exploit opportunities, whilst building stronger relationships with their customers.

NetSuite’s integrated business management software suites offer customers one single system to manage critical business operations from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to CRM and to Ecommerce.

The solutions from NetSuite and SugarCRM each offer a range of specialised benefits to help better manage client relationships. Recent research by BT Business, revealed that client relationships is the area that UK SMEs believe is the most critical factor (43 per cent) to their success. The solutions include sales force automation, sales pipeline monitoring and reporting, improved service and increased customer satisfaction, as well as performance and marketing campaign measurement. BT Business will work with its customers to ensure they choose the options that best suit their specific requirements.

As more SMEs place a greater importance on optimizing customer relationships, NetSuite and SugarCRM's experience in the global SME market make them ideal candidates to address the customer-facing needs of SMEs in the UK. The alliance with BT will help these providers to continue their rapid growth in the UK market.

BT is also currently looking at a range of other business applications from leading vendors and is set to make further partnership announcements in the near future.

Bill Murphy, managing director, BT Business, said: “We have looked across the market and developed these partnerships with best of breed companies delivering innovative applications to meet the needs we know our customers have.

“This program builds on the work we’ve done to date and allows us to deliver a tailored approach for customers, so they get exactly what they need to manage their customer relationships, examine processes, deliver efficiencies and ultimately drive their business – all from a single supplier they trust.

“With this announcement we really are changing the way small and medium-sized businesses can think about and buy their business applications, delivering them the benefits of services previously available only to larger companies.”

Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, said: “I am very excited about NetSuite’s partnership with BT Business. This commitment to the software as a service revolution will mean more and more SMEs in Europe have the chance to embrace NetSuite, enabling us to deliver capabilities to SMEs that some of the world’s largest companies have failed to achieve – even after spending millions
of dollars.”

John Roberts, CEO of SugarCRM, said: “The combination of BT’s incredible reach in the UK market and SugarCRM’s industry-leading CRM solutions makes this a perfect partnership. This alliance strengthens our global reach and further exhibits SugarCRM’s momentum as a global provider of business applications.”

NetSuite is currently available for customers to purchase from BT Business, and SugarCRM will be available for purchase in the near future.