NetSuite on Thursday launched NetCRM-Services Edition, a hosted customer relationship management (CRM) system targeting service business.

The suite of tools includes service-specific features such as service item management, project and job tracking, activity and time tracking, and a Web-based client self-service center, said the San Mateo, Calif.-based developer.

"NetCRM is the first on-demand solution to address the needs of two-thirds of businesses in the U.S. economy: service companies," said Zach Nelson, the chief executive of NetSuite, in a statement.

NetSuite is hoping that its service-centric approach will give it an edge over rival Salesforce.com.

Forcing service businesses to use a sales-oriented approach to CRM, said NetSuite, is simply wrong. "One of the failings of traditional stand-alone on-demand CRM software applications is that they're designed around managing sales opportunities, rather than long-standing client engagements," said Nelson. "For example, attaching on-going jobs to an 'opportunity record' doesn't make a lot of sense."

NetSuite also touted accounts from several service firms that had recently migrated from Salesforce.com to the new CRM toolset.

"With Salesforce.com, we had no effective way of tracking service cases, and we're a services company," said Utz Baldwin, the chief executive of AD Systems, a Houston-based designer and installer of residential and corporate automated systems. "It was very difficult for our employees because it meant a lot of double entry. Since we've been on NetSuite, we've been able to track jobs and opportunities all the way through a cycle."

NetCRM-Services is available now, at a price of $79 per user per month.