NetSuite, the other hosted CRM company, laid out version 2007.0 this week of its CRM, ERP, and PRM (partner relationship management) SaaS (software as a service) solution.

The company unveiled NetSuite Assistants, a refinement of its current ERP solution that will make setup, data import, and ERP back-office management simpler, according to the company.

Services within the Assistants suite include a setup assistant, a data import assistant, and a graphical transaction form assistant.

Matrix Item Assistant will now allow for inventory tracking of multivariant products.

NetSuite Global CRM and PRM adds the ability to manage orders, forecasts, quotas, and commissions on a per-country basis in local currency.

Also included is a dashboard that can aggregate global information from across an organization into a single, consolidated view.

An upgraded analytics capability, SuiteAnalytics, will add scorecards and the ability to include Excel-like customized formulas within a dashboard.

As extensive as the additional functionality to the NetSuite suite is, perhaps the most noticeable part of the company's SaaS news was what wasn't announced.

Unlike its archrival, Salesforce.com, NetSuite steered clear of discussing an integration platform technology, a programming language capability, or a program to add third-party applications such as Salesforce.com's AppExchange. 

While NetSuite does have its own integration and customization technology, SuiteFlex, Craig Sullivan, vice president of international products, said NetSuite's strategy is to differentiate itself from competitors by giving companies all their business operations in a single application.

"We understand it is important to integrate with other applications, especially when first deploying NetSuite, and we have those capabilities," Sullivan said.

SuiteFlex includes a Web services architecture to integrate third-party applications.

Sullivan added that users can configure and customize NetSuite through the UI and point-and-click technology rather than being code based.

NetSuite 2007 will be rolled out to its current customers from June through August and starts at $499 per month, plus $99 for each user per month.