As SAP's annual Sapphire customer event begins, SaaS competitor NetSuite says it has landed three new customers who spurned SAP's products, with the CEO of one of those customers calling a previous experience with SAP "a nightmare." NetSuite also touted a new research study that it says shows a high degree of risk and complexity in most SAP upgrades.One of the new customers named by NetSuite is Distribution Video & Audio, a 20-year-old wholesaler of entertainment closeouts that sold more than 10,000,000 units last year. Company CEO Brad Kugler was quoted in a NetSuite press release saying, "Our company ran SAP as a fast-growing business and it was a nightmare."

At Schaeffer Manufacturing Co., a $100 million maker of synthetic motor oils, CFO Will Gregerson said his company considered SAP but ultimately chose NetSuite for the following reasons, according to the NetSuite press release: "We're saving $100,000 per year, we get our products to customers in half the time, and we haven't had to add to our staff."

To further stir the pot with SAP, NetSuite cited findings from a research report conducted by Macro 4, which NetSuite described as a "U.K.-based global software company." The bullet-points cited by NetSuite touched on various challenges customers face during SAP upgrade projects, including legacy data, length and complexity of the projects, and risk of system failures.

The NetSuite message was timed not only to coincide with SAP's Sapphire event but also with the relentless cost-cutting pressure executives across all industries are facing. CIOs in particular are looking to find innovative ways to lower the cost of infrastructure to liberate precious IT dollars for savings or to apply toward customer-facing applications and opportunities, and NetSuite is looking to position itself as a less-expensive, more-nimble, and less-complex alternative to SAP.