NetLedger small business suite keeps growing
In a December move, NetLedger moved beyond payroll and accounting applications, adding a storefront equipped with a shopping cart. The additional applications are intended to give a start-up business the key applications it needs online without investing in an in-house data center and a large IT staff.
"Our key challenge is to show the headroom that allows a small business to grow with us," said Evan Goldberg, president and CEO and a former Oracle employee.
NetLedger is built on Oracle 8i, and NetLedger is financed by several venture capitalists, with Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison foremost among them. The company nailed down an additional $30 million in financing at the start of April, with early investors Ellison and StarVest Partners providing much of it.
Employees at a business using NetLedger's services can fill out an expense report and have it steered through a work flow that obtains needed approvals and submits it for payment. An automated process relieves the normal duplicate data entry to pay an expense report, Goldberg said.
In addition, the online storefront has been received expanded capabilities so a customer "can ask for information and get information" without necessarily making a purchase. At the same time, someone involved in making a purchase may be offered a promotion through the storefront application, he said.
A customer who registers at a NetLedger user's storefront automatically becomes a prospect in the customer relationship management system for follow-up. By placing an order, the NetLedger storefront application creates a sales order and a packing slip. It also generates a customer record in the CRM system so that the seller's sales and service teams have a transaction history with which to work in future contacts with the customer.
The NetLedger applications are available for a minimum $99 per month, which permits five accounting employees of one company plus five CRM users to access the applications. In addition, 25 employees may access the employee expense reporting system. For higher monthly rentals, more employees may make use of the online applications.
In the future, NetLedger plans to offer a customer facing application that will allow the customer to report a problem, generate a trouble ticket and track the support offered, Goldberg added.