Online software rival targets SAP

Analysts believe accountancy software provider SAP could lose users when a competitor – NetSuite – launches an ‘add-on’ enabling clients to use internet-based software instead.

David Bradshaw, an IT analyst for technology researcher IDC, said SAP could lose customers because clients could be lured away to use NetSuite’s online – or software-as-a-service (SaaS) – product.

Bradshaw expects NetSuite to target the subsidiaries of SAP’s larger clients. He said: ‘There is a possibility that companies with lots of subsidiaries, such as SAP clients, will use other technology that is a lot less heavy-weight, such as NetSuite.’

A spokeswoman for SAP said: ‘NetSuite’s only hand to play is to say that it’s SaaS or bust.’