NetSuite has done what I think it shouldn’t and continues to play Salesforce.com’s game play for play.

It has announced what it calls NS - BOS - more on it here - and essentially throws its hat again into the SaaS platform ring.

I don’t get it. First off, I like NetSuite’s model - all the major business areas (CRM, ERP, e-commerce) in one. It makes sense for smaller or even midsize businesses. (Though the sale must be tough - dealing with many line of business managers etc.)

But anayway, isn’t the ERP/CRM/commerce combo a PLATFORM IN AND OF ITSELF?

I think by renaming, or breaking out what is a pretty functional suite, with simple SaaS delivery and integration/third party app connectivity, NetSuite is doing itself a disservice.  Why complicate things further?

And ultimately, as long as all of these SaaS “platforms” are built on closed source code and proprietary APIs - how extensible are they, really?