SaaS CRM making millions |
 |
By Barney Beal, News Director
06 Dec 2007 | SearchCRM.com |
|
|
The market for CRM delivered as a service got a shot in the arm this week as NetSuite Inc. detailed its initial public offering (IPO) plans and Salesforce.com announced that it will reach one million subscribers this month.
Both moves come the same week that SAP released its CRM 2007 product, featuring a revamped user interface crafted to help close the gap between SAP and the smaller, Software as a Service (SaaS) providers when it comes to usability. SAP CRM 2007 can be deployed on-premise or on-demand.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), San Mateo, Calif.-based NetSuite said it plans to raise up to $99 million selling 6.2 million shares for $13 to $16 each. The IPO will be conducted in an auction format similar to the one used by Google during its IPO, which gives investors, rather than underwriters, a strong voice in pricing. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison owns a majority stake of NetSuite, with 61% of outstanding shares, which he recently placed into "a lockbox," effectively stripping his voting rights and removing conflict of interest concerns. Oracle was cited as a potential competitor in NetSuite's initial filing.
NetSuite plans to use the proceeds of its IPO to pay off investors and build a second data center. The expected date for the filing is December 21.
Meanwhile, San Francisco-based Salesforce.com expects to reach one million paying subscribers later this month. Salesforce.com was the first SaaS CRM vendor to go public, in June of 2004, followed shortly afterward by RightNow Technologies.
"Our strategy of delivering both the Force.com Platform-as-a-Service and Salesforce core Software-as-a-Service applications has driven a remarkable shift in the industry over the last eight years," Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, said in a statement. "It took seven years to reach the first 500,000 paying subscribers and only another 16 months for the second 500,000. That's incredible global momentum and adoption for businesses of all sizes. For a million subscribers around the world, it's truly 'The End of Software.'"
As of October 31, Salesforce.com had 38,100 customers. As part of the milestone, the Salesforce.com Foundation is donating $1 million across 10 charities.
|
|
|
|
