Alan Laing, who held key roles with Sage, has become managing director for the United Kingdom and Ireland for IFS. The job is a new position which reflects the importance IFS places in the region, Laing said in a prepared statement.  

The big push at this week’s Advantage conference is for Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning. Introduced in limited release in September, the cloud-based product was given a big push in the eternal quest to convince businesses to use something better than an Excel spreadsheet for these functions.

Dynamics revenue will reach $2.5 billion for the year ending June 30, Microsoft said this week. CEO Satya Nadella gave the forecast in this week’s webcast for earnings for the quarter ended September 30. Nadella said half of that will be from Dynamics 365.

The web is full of warnings about watching for the Spotted Lantern Fly, a serious pest, which infests trees, including Christmas tree species. But there's a silver lining: if nothing else, you will find if you string enough together, like popcorn, they make a lovely addition to holiday decorations.