By Sharon Florentine

The Cloud ERP (enterprise resource planning) landscape is expanding, and competition is heating up. Back in July 2012, Web-based business software provider NetSuite’s Q2 revenue and earnings numbers were the first indicators of a growing trend in the Cloud ERP space.

As Ben Kepes reported in the Cloud Ave blog, NetSuite’s subscription and support revenues were $61 million, a 27 percent increase of Q2 2011. And NetSuite’s cash flow from operations was up 80 percent year-over-year to $15.2 million.

Don’t yawn – yes, earnings reports in and of themselves aren’t exactly riveting. But as Kepes said, the trend that these numbers indicate signals a very important shift in the ERP space. 

Enterprise software isn’t “sexy,” but it continues to be a growth sector year-over-year, he said, because it’s directly monetisable – enterprise software companies deliver a service customers are very willing …