In my line of work, the New Year means a clean start, time to finish celebrating the mutual partner successes of last year, move on to renewing ties with established partners and welcoming new companies to the NetSuite cloud as we begin to execute on our 2013 plans. This year has started strong, with several additions to our channel program, so with the first month of the new year in the books I want to take a moment to acknowledge some of our new partners. We've welcomed some big names in the on-premise VAR space to the NetSuite Solution Provider Program over the past couple of months, as well as a new venture started by some established friends of NetSuite.

Although each of our new partners has its own distinct strengths in regional presence, vertical market specialty and professional services, each comes to NetSuite with the understanding that the cloud is becoming the best place for everyone to do business. Decades of experience in the on-premise marketplace has given them standing as trusted advisors to their clients, and they recognize that providing a competitive, comprehensive cloud solution is the right way forward for a growing number of firms.

WAC Consulting Group came to NetSuite for the best possible reason—prospects wouldn't stop asking WAC about our solution, even at events held by on-premise competitors. Startups and the new generation of executives insisted on the scalability and flexibility cloud solutions deliver and have no time for costly customization and resulting version lock. WAC has an experienced practice in the wholesale/distribution, manufacturing and professional service markets that are among the cornerstones of NetSuite's 12,000 client companies and subsidiaries worldwide, making our solution an easy fit.

ISM has been one of the leading names in Sage eCommerce solutions for years—the company is practically the go-to provider for Sage clients with complex eCommerce needs. NetSuite's single-database design and integrated ERP, CRM, and eCommerce capabilities have the advantages ISM wanted in order to deliver higher-value eCommerce solutions, with more emphasis on design and capabilities rather than database management and manual software integration.

Like WAC, Sikich knew that NetSuite was the right solution for future growth when our name was coming up so often it couldn't be ignored—in four out of every five prospect conversations. NetSuite's end-to-end business capabilities are the perfect fit with Sikich's interdisciplinary offerings, which combine accounting, banking, technology and advisory solutions under one roof.

Finally, we welcome some old friends under a new name—SD Mayer & Associates is picking up where founder Stephen D. (Steve) Mayer left off from his old firm, Burr Pilger Mayer. This time, he's building an accounting, consulting and wealth management company around NetSuite from day one, both for the firm's own business architecture and as the core business tool for clients. Steve thinks this approach will unlock completely new verticals for NetSuite, and we're pulling for SD Mayer and all of our new partners to succeed in 2013.

-Craig West, VP, Channel Sales