The growth of software as a service means companies have an increasing need to integrate data and business processes, says IBM.

According to IBM the focal point of this deal is its recent acquisition of Cast Iron Systems, which enables customers to connect on-premise applications and business processes to SaaS applications. These include NetSuite and NetSuite OneWorld.

The Cast Iron solution is said to provide a complete platform to integrate cloud and on-premise applications.

With both companies’ solutions, customers are said to be able to use NetSuite's cloud apps to manage multinational, multi-subsidiary business operations in real-time and then roll up division-level transaction and summary data to their corporate-level SAP or Oracle enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to gain a view of business operations. 

“With the growth of Software as a Service, companies have an increasing need to integrate data and business processes across on-premise and cloud systems, both within and beyond the enterprise,” said Dr. Angel Luis Diaz, Vice President BPM and Connectivity, IBM.  “IBM and NetSuite share a vision to provide customers with simplified solutions that optimize the cloud and give both the line of business and IT workers fast access to the information and processes they need to meet business goals.”