I just discovered there is a Bitcoin ATM within two miles of our house. Somebody asked me if I plan to use it. I said it wasn’t unlikely because if I tried to buy a cup of coffee with one I would have to ask for $56,885 in change.

… I had a lonely childhood. The worst was when my imaginary playmate wouldn’t have anything to do with me. … I have always been perplexed by the phrase that a “Love one passed.” It sounds like they died and were eaten by an animal. … We didn’t have cicadas 17 years ago and we are waiting excitedly knowing we ill not have them this year …. “We’re having smothered chicken, tonight,” my neighbor commented “That seems a little extreme” “What do you mean?” he asked. “When I was growing up on the farm, my mom just cut the heads off. Lot simpler”. …Looking forward to the “Friends” reunion which is essentially a documentary about the TV series. I am hoping for the question to finally be answered about how a group of marginally employed people long-running series could afford multi-million apartments in New York City. Hopefully, they also sold ad spots for makers of foosball tables and the unaired episode in which the character, Joey Tribbiani, contracts an STD.… The plot of the movie “Cruella” reminds me that in the original “101 Dalmatians”, a rejected outcome was Cruella is foiled when she captures the dogs but is arrested for not having a kennel license following a raid by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Operations in the United States have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, the Dynamics reseller, Alithya, said this week. Paul Raymond, CEO of the Montreal, Que.-based business, noted they are recovering and revenue in this country had increased sequentially over the third quarter ended September 30

Raymond made the comment during the webcast for earnings for the fourth quarter ended March 31. With business in the United States and Europe still down because of COVID-19, the company nevertheless cut its losses and increased revenue by 3.1 percent over 2020. Alithya lost $17.3 million for 2021, compared to a loss of slightly more than $40,000 the prior year.  However, 2020 results were impacted by an impairment charge of $28 million. Revenue rose to $287.6 million for the most recently ended year, up from $279 million in 2020. Business improved in the fourth quarter with the company reporting revenue of $78 million, an increase of 6.5 percent from $73.2 million for last year’s corresponding period.  For the most recently period, U.S. revenue dropped to. $29.7 million, down 5.8 percent from $31.5 million a year ago. However, that stemmed primarily from currency changes between the Canadian and U.S. dollars. CFO Claude Thibault noted the company has had $1.9 million of the funds received through the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program forgiven and believes forgiveness of the other $6 million is likely. Acquisitions had limited impact in the fourth quarter with $1.2 million coming from the former Askida. Alithya, however, expects a substantial impact from the purchased operations in the future. Raymond said R3D, which was acquired in Apri,l added 600 new professionals to the employee base bringing total to more than 3000 billable professionals.

It’s been busy couple of months for Procore Technologies which said this week it is moving into Southeast Asia. That follows its initial public offering last month and this week's release of an updated Procore Preconstruction package.

Procore, which opened an Asia Pacific office in Sydney Australia in 2017, said Singapore will be its ASEAN hub. The region will have two leaders: Chris Yio, head of ASEAN, and Clare Wharrier, senior director, global channel. Tom Karemacher, VP of APAC, said in a prepared statement the company has “seen a significant pull effect into ASEAN off the back of the growth in our ANZ business”. The enhanced software package was announced at this week’s  Procore Innovation Summit. Procore has integrated technology from estimating and takeoff company, Esticom, which it acquired in October 2020. The updated preconstruction application enables users to automatically creates budgets and prime contracts directly from an estimate. Procore says users can connect drawing markups to estimating via the Drawings tool and “build more accurate takeoffs faster with Auto-Count, an artificial intelligence feature that assists in symbol recognition.” They can also use Procore’s new benchmark data, available within Procore Analytics, to compare the past performance of initial estimates to the final budget at project delivery.

Syspro USA quoted the company’s interim CEO in a press release this week. That was interesting because there had been no announcement that CEO Geoff Garrett had left the manufacturing software company.

And his LinkedIn profile has him still in the job he held since May 2019. However, this week’s announcement of the hiring of a chief customer officer had a statement from Scott Hebert, chief sales officer and Interim CEO. Hebert’s LinkedIn profile shows he added the interim job title in May. Garrett joined Syspro USA after the South African parent company purchased its long-time USA distributor and former Syspro USA CEO Joey Benadretti left the job he had held for 32 years. Hebert became chief sales officer in March 2020. The new hire, Brian Goodman, takes over as chief customer officer and “will be responsible for the consistent delivery of an exceptional SYSPRO customer experience at every touchpoint along the customer journey,” the company said in its prepared statement. Previously, Goodman was COO for R.A Industries, an Orange County, Calif.-based metal products manufacturer from 2017 through 2021. He was SVP of strategy and business development for software consulting firm Technossus from 2015 through 2017.

Scientists have uncovered evidence animals can breath through their rear ends in an emergency. We are waiting for a new phrase “butt breather” to take its place along with the time-honored “mouth breather”. I

t certainly sounds like a much worse insult." ... It has been predicted that cannabis sales will reach $280 million on Memorial Day Weekend. Apparently, this represents the population that does not need to remember and may not be capable of doing so. … Recently, bundles of cocaine began washing up on the Texas coast. The first indication was from local fisherman who reported their catches included sea creatures with runny noses and exhibiting signs of paranoia … The company that does business as Claxton Poultry Farms has been indicted for allegedly participating in a nationwide scheme to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chicken products.  Norman W. Fries Inc. Claxton’s parent, pleaded that the higher prices were the result of increase wages obtained oy unionized chickens. ... Following the announcement of his planned divorce, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been accused of a variety of bad behavior towards women. It also turns out he was a frequent compatriot with the late Jeffrey Epstein. Looking forward to the founding of the new Gates Epstein Foundation for the Welfare of Girls. Well, the tech giant needs some hobbies outside of trying to save the world. … Some fans were repeatedly chiding Kim Kardashian for appearing in a black string bikini in a photo in which she is next to her grandmother. I don’t know. For Kim, a string bikini seems a bit overdressed.

 Some used my computer to look at a web page “Five buttermilk questions you were afraid to ask”. Just how threatening is buttermilk that someone would be afraid to ask a question. “Can I ask if you can drink it straight from the carton, oh, please no. no, no”. ...

I saw a local hotel that advertised, “We treat you like family.” I turned to a friend: “Yeah, they leave socks and underwear on the floor and argue with you during meals.”  … A recent frequently broadcast TV advertisement has me wondering--What does it take to get a roomful of people to listen to a presentation on house gutters?” … “Keeping Up with the Kardashian” has been canceled as the K sisters decided it was time to quit. I figure that’s because they sat down and tried to watch all the episodes from all 20 seasons in the last 14 years. Kourtney had to be put on suicide watch after getting through season 12. … Visitors to a recent track meet were surprised to see flies swarming around stop watches used for the races. As the winner broke the finish line tape, the insects would all land on the button used to stop the watch and give the winning results.  “I can’t believe it,” one said. “But are they always accurate in stopping the watch. I mean, doesn’t this end up with some results that can’t be trusted?” A race sponsor replied, “Yes but, you know, that’s just how flies time.” … Looks like thoroughbred horse trainer Bob Baffert may be leading the race for the doping hall of fame, after admitting he gave Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, a banned substance. He could join previous members in the hall, including racing champion Lance Armstrong and former baseball player Barry Bonds in winning a Golden Needle Award. Racing authorities are considering a new betting foursome—win, place, show and doped.

People may have heard the story about someone visiting hell to find that all the denizens had long utensils attached to their limbs that prevented them from eating. They constantly fought because of their inability to eat.

 (and in heaven people similarly hindered feed each other). In my hell, I would have to eat with chopsticks and would starve. … I think I finally understand the phrase constant currencies used in financial reporting It means, no matter the value of the dollar, I always spend the same amount. … For realism in flying, the drone on Mars has a message it broadcasts that says, “We recognize that you have a choice when picking an airline. So thank you for flying with us.” … While flying a helicopter of Mars is an amazing feet, scientists are pledging an even more amazing feat—a U.S. domestic flight with adequate knee and elbow room in coach, a goal some believe is impossible to achieve. … Medical authorities have started describing what they call the “Giuliani Syndrome”, in which formerly respectable people start raving and making wild claims. It’s characterized by paranoia and a desire to speak Ukrainian.”  Meanwhile, the former New York mayor and former Trump lawyer pleaded his complete innocence of any wrongdoing following a recent FBI raid on his home.  “Why I could no more violate the law than my little dog Check… scratch that. Wrong speech,” told TV reporters. 

In the Greek myth, Sispyhus rolls a ball up hill only to have it fall back to the bottom eternally. In the modern version, he is forever trying to select correct Captcha images.

“What do you mean I didn’t check all the palm trees? There were no palm trees.” …  There’s a new category of machine learning for computers—remedial. It turns out their intelligence was too artificial. … A new letter from executed Queen Ann Boleyn, wife of King Henry VIII, has been discovered by researchers. “I asked Hank for a new hat for my birthday. He seemed hesitant. I bet he has a big surprise for me. He said something about finding something bright and shiny for my neck.” … What do you call the empty apartment building owned by a partnership of physicians? Doctors without boarders. … With all the pandemic news, it’s nice to get back to meaningless fare. Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez are breaking up. The former Major League Baseball player immediately demanded to be paid the rest of his $128 million contract with Lopez. In retrospect, Rodriguez said if he had used performance enhancing drugs, the relations would have lasted longer.  … And in the future, the new TV Series, “Growing Old with the Kardashions” the first episode, “The Kardashians Join AARP”, tanks when Kim released the kind of  movie that made her famous; people went, Yuck.” …   I told one of my friends this week, “I have been sort of J.G. Wentworth. I don’t have an annuity but I need cash now. I plugged 877-cash now—into an ATM and it didn’t do anything. … And in the first serious opera that crosses over between Wagner and TV commercials, the updated “Das Rheingold”, the Rheinmaidens accuse Alberich of taking too much of the revenue streams of their clients.

Just what kind of year has it been for the mid-market reselling community? It depends.

For some, it was very tough, but for others, it was the best year in their history as demand for cloud products drove business. If you were in segments such as hospitality and restaurants, it was very hard, if you were in ecommerce, things have never been better. Overall, it was a year of great change with the accelerated shift to the cloud from on-premise applications and the forced move to remote work which is producnglasting changes.

So click the button below to find out who made Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2021 and many of their thoughts about the last year and the future

It has been a year like no other for ERP mid-market software VARs. But one thing has stayed the same–it is time to ready your submission for Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2021--and this week is your last chance to do sol.

The IRS just gave you extra time to submit your individual tax returns, so use the opportunity to be considered. Each year, we rank the biggest financial software VARs in the mid-market and  use the occasion to learn more about how the market has worked in the last year and talk about directions it is likely to take in the near future. To be a player, please ask for a submission form  and return your information as soon as possibleto bob.scott@pmg360.com

 The year 2020 has been Dickensian—the worst of times and best of times. For most of the population, the coronavirus has made this year probably the most awful in memory. But for many mid-market software resellers, the move of companies to the cloud as their workforces went to remote operations, meant 2020 has been a good to great year. The results are not uniform. For VARs in markets such as entertainment and hospitality, it was not great. However, if clients were able to conduct business remote, resellers could service them remotely and despite the difficulties, 2020 was fine. Bob Scott’s VAR Stars for 2020 faced the pandemic and many not only survived, they prospered.

Submissions for the 2020 Bob Scott’s VAR Stars are still open. But you have to act fast. .

The door closes next Wednesday. The selection is based on quality—not revenue. Past honorees have ranged from one-person operations to the largest ERP dealers. Factors that are considered in the selection are growth, development of significant products and services and contributions to the industry. If you are interested in having  your firm considered, please email bob.scott@pmg360.com as soon as possible.