NetSuite offers uptime or free credit

NetSuite is offering to refund customers' fees if it cannot provide 99.5 per cent access to its hosted customer relationship management (CRM) suite.

The application service provider (ASP) is offering the availability guarantee for its web-based applications NetCRM and Oracle Small Business Suite, and its enterprise resource planning product NetERP.

Under the terms of the guarantee, NetSuite customers will receive credit on a month-to-month basis if the company does not deliver its application services with 99.5 per cent uptime between Monday to Friday of each week.

A company statement claims that the guarantee extends to "all but a few late night or early morning weekend hours that are reserved (but not always used) for maintenance".

Zach Nelson, NetSuite chief executive, said: "Noone else has done this. Even larger outsourcing companies don't offer guaranteed service level agreements on a permanent basis."

Nelson added that he hoped the move would be a major differentiator between NetSuite and other ASP-based CRM vendors.

"A guarantee like this speaks to the strength of our particular offering. It would damage our credibility if we couldn't guarantee that," he said.

Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst Quocirca, said the guarantee could overcome UK customer fears of getting reduced services from US data centres.

"This [guarantee] indicates NetSuite is highly confident of its ability to deliver this level of uptime. We will be looking closely to see what other ASP vendors do in response," he added.