SaaS provider NetSuite on Wednesday launched its OneWorld business application suite in Australia and New Zealand, touting its multi-faceted business intelligence functionality delivered in a single application for running businesses.

OneWorld enables business management with a multi-company business application suite including ERP, CRM and e-commerce functionality that is delivered through the cloud.

NetSuite president and CEO Zach Nelson presented the OneWorld suite in Sydney as a solution targeting the small and mid-size business market.

He said it enables mid-market businesses with multiple subsidiaries, business units and legal entities to manage their local operations across multiple locations.

"NetSuite is a single database around which everyone transacts; not one database for CRM data, one for accounting data and another for support data—you're running your business on a single data model, and all of it in real time...every user in the company uses NetSuite and everyone is transacting on the same customer record," Nelson said.

The common data model allows for a 360 degree view of customer interaction between all business units, from lead generation in sales department through to invoicing.

"It really is the idea of a single system to run a business, and then you expose that data appropriately to the people who need it. The oxymoron is we call it an integrated system but it's not. We're not tying anything together, it is literally a single data model around which everyone can transact," Nelson said.

Depending on the department and job function, a role-based login allows the data that is exposed to change appropriately, and can be customized and modified accordingly.

Nelson said around 20 Australian companies have already adopted OneWorld, including Carbon Planet, EcoNova, Netcat and Healthinc, and he expects the SaaS market to grow considerably faster locally than in the US as many Australian companies look to market their products throughout Asia and beyond.

NetSuite arrived in Australia in 2007, and has since grown from a staff of four to 50, with around 500 customers that represent almost 10 percent of the company's customer base.

Nelson predicted the current economic crunch would see the popularity of SaaS grow, as more companies look to lower the cost and maintenance of their software.

"When times get tough cash becomes king, and SaaS is a much cheaper upfront alternative than traditional software."

OneWorld is priced at $2,670 per month for functionality, and $99 per user per month.