SaaS providers tap third-party apps

SaaS (software as a service) rivals NetSuite and Salesforce.com are tapping third parties to provide vertical applications and services that will result in what Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff called “the business Web.”

Benioff likened the business Web to consumer services from Google and Yahoo that have, over time, become essential to users.

Salesforce.com last week detailed AppExchange, a new platform for deploying third-party applications to extend its CRM functionality and integrate vertical applications with Salesforce.com’s systems.

NetSuite’s NetFlex Applications Program lets partners use the company’s platform of Web services, integration, and customization capabilities to build applications that, in turn, NetSuite hosts.

“The first wave is for third-party apps to extend the NetSuite service into areas we haven’t moved into yet,” said Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, including point-of-sale systems, e-commerce extensions, telephony, automotive and even horizontal applications.

Web analytics provider Omniture is offering its application through AppExchange as a means to reach more customers, said Mark Stock, Omniture’s senior manager of sales.

“We have about 1,000 customers … Salesforce.com has about 19,000 customers,” Stock said. “So it’s a good way for us to do two things — assist our customers in greater understanding [of what they can do through hosted services], and access customers of Salesforce.com and bring them on.”