Versapay, which makes AR software, has named Carey O’Connor Kolaja as CEO. She replaces Craig O’Neill, who had held the job since September 2013. The company said O’Neil will move into a strategic advisory role.

O’Connor Kolaja spent three years five months at Au10tix, where she was CEO from October 2020 through September 2022. Before that, she was president and COO. She was also in executive roles at Citi for three years six months and before that with PayPal, where she worked for 12 years. Versapay said it has experienced an 82 percent year-over-year rise in software bookings and now has 1 million companies on its payments network. Versapay has built connectors for Dynamics 365, Sage, NetSuite and QuickBooks.

Nerway-based ERP vendor Visma reported revenue of approximately $2.28 billion for the year ended December 31, an increase of 19 percent over 2021. The numbers were reported this month in the company’s annual report after it had released preliminary results in January.

Visma said income from continuing operations was about $175 million for the most recently ended year, up 178 percent from 2021. That statistic reflects the sale of the company’s  IT consulting and Cloud Infrastructure Service  businesses last year. Visma reported three major segments with revenue from medium and large companies of about $811 million last year, the largest of the three. That total was a 16-percent increase over 2021. Small-business revenue of approximately $722 million was up 25.1 percent from the prior year. Finally, public revenue increased 17.9 percent to roughly $614 million. Visma noted it spent about $1.2 billion for the companies it acquired in 2022. The European software company noted in its annual report that it spent that amount on the 42 companies it purchased in eight countries last year. These included its first acquisitions in France and Germany. While Visma lets its units run autonomously, it spent approximately $460 million in 2022 on product development, almost 21 percent of revenue in the development of standardized cloud products. Visma noted estimates that only 34 percent of businesses in the European Union utilize cloud computing.

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 Procore Technologies has launched operations in France, coming on the heels of its entry into the German market in November. The construction software company has named Laurence Caron-Vidon as senior director for France and Southern Europe.

It also is appearing April 5 and 6 as a premier partner at a major trade show, BIM (Building Information Modeling) World, in Paris, France with Caron giving a keynote on April 5, describing Procore’s approach. Procore also established an EMEA hub in Dublin, Ireland, in September and an Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney, Australia, in May. Caron-Vidon, who has been with Procore since October 2021, worked at Contentserv from May 2016 through October 2021 and was managing director and SVP of sales for Western

Xero plans to cut 700 to 800 jobs as the company seeks to improve operating profitability. That reflects about 15 percent of the workforce, according to a CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy in a webcast this month.

Cuts are being made across all function and all regions.The small business accounting software company is unwinding two acquisitions. It said this month it will sell its WorkflowMax brand, which it purchased in 2012, to BlueRock. It is also existing the cloud-based lending platform, Waddle, that it acquired in 2020. The moves  will result in a write down of $20 million to $27 million for the year ending March 31. The cuts are expected to be completed by July. Xero will report financial results for fiscal 2023 in May. CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy said in a prepared statement, “we aspire to build a higher performing global SaaS company and to enable Xeroʼs next phase of growth and drive better customer outcomes, we need to streamline and simplify our organization.” Xero will continue to grow, she said. However, she commented, “We see the opportunity to become a more disciplined growth company,” Cassidy said."

You know it’s been a bad day if you see a sign saying, “If you see anything suspicious report it” and your photograph is posted next to it.

… There’s a new movie in the magic franchise, “Harry Potter and the Orkin Man” in which the Ministry of Magic has to call an exterminator to deal with a nasty outbreak of house elves. After dealing with the nasty little vermin, he caught villain, Peter Pettigrew, in a rat trap. … With the focus on new diseases, scientists have reported the first episode of a disease combining monkey pox, chicken pox, swine flu, avian flu and equine encephalitis. It causes infected individuals to rant at animals of all kinds and is being labeled the “Dr. Doolittle Disease.” … I was relieved to find that the phrases “Manufacturing Execution Systems” is not the dire life-threatening experience I had feared. … Made it to Manhattan for the first time in three years in the middle of humid sweltering day. Of course, there was the smell of something slightly disgusting from the gutter along 42nd Street. On the same street, at Madame Tussaud’s wax figures near the door was melting in the heat. But a second look showed that was a tourist group from the Midwest. The wax figures were fine. The I ran into a guy promoting Hop On, Hop Off. “Buses?" I asked. “No, hookers, he replied.

I spent most of the last week unable to speak with laryngitis.

A surprising number of my acquaintances and friends remarked upon the improvement..  … The crypto market crash has spurred new looks at blockchain technology, which in this context is now being referred to as blockhead technology. Blockhead technology is based on the premise that crypto currency is immune from historical market forces and can serve as a store of value when other markets crash.  … I told a friend that when it comes to deals I always before a win/win outcome. I also like it when I win, win, win. …. The resignation of the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the architect of Brexit who is making is own Bexit, has spurred interest in what his next move might be. There is some talk that he will embark on a new business sponsoring parties during times of distress, such as pandemics. Also, the combative leader is also planning a string of hair salons “Mr. Boris” in honor of his coiffure. It has been report4ed in some places, Liar's Poker has been renamed Boris' poker.

One of the hot trends of the last few years is the Gender Reveal party.  Someone asked my opinion.

“Gender reveal? That’s hardly new. We have had guys running around in raincoats doing that for years. Just not my style.” … Inflation is taking a toll on products of all kinds. The manufacturer of “20 Mule Team Borax” has been forced to reduce the product to 17 mules.  … I have decided that the purpose of blister packs is to make you prove you really want to take the pills you have. …. When they pulled out of the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Russian soldiers are said to have left behind 100 liters of high-quality vodka. Apparently, they thought it might to prove a practical substitute for fissionable material in powering the plant. … Somebody asked me how much I paid to fill up my gasoline tank the last time. “I think it was three cents a gallon higher when I finished than when I started,” I said. … A local van had large lettering advertising the “Racoon Guy”.  I thought maybe he was a feature in a carnival sideshow. But now, he was just an animal control expert.  Actually, he did have rather short noise and beady eyes. …  The latest in the saurian franchise is Jurassic World Dominion. If there’s a sequel, we’ll probably find the dinosaurs are getting a bit long in the tooth. There are some reports the next victims of tyrannosaur will actually be pureed meat disguised by Halloween costume and makeup specialists so he won’t have to gum his food. That will probably be similar to the next in final editions of Top Gun so that 10 years from now, the currently 59-year-old superstar Tom Cruise, will be carrying a Hurry-cane and have to have a handicapped access ramps for the fighter jet. Of course, he will be probably be assisted by lower-level members of the Church of Scientology.

 What the public didn’t know in the well-publicized verdict in the trial of Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard, there was an initial ballot in which the seven jury members registered their real feelings.

Two were for Depp; two for Heard and three didn’t care anymore. … In the last week, England’s Queen Elizabeth II celebrated 70 years on the throne, her Platinum Jubilee. What can you give the woman who has, well the crown jewels; a few palaces? I thought coupons for trading in Prince Andrew for a new model might be welcome. Or we could buy her a nice set of platinum dinnerware. … A woman recently was the recipient of an ear made by 3D printer. I asked someone if that involved dot matrix or laser? The break-through will revolutionized the childhood game of “I have your nose” to “I made you a new nose.” … Dr. Mahmet Oz was just declared the winner of the highly contested Republican senatorial primary in Pennsylvanian. If Oz is elected, he will likely become a key spokesman for the GOPs plan for healthcare reform. He will a stalwart champion of eye of newt, bleach and exorcism as major tools in the fight against contagious diseases. He will also propose that discounts for healthcare with be available as coupons in packaged meals at Mcdonald’s and other fast food outlets.

The pandemic is gone, or at least just simmering, and ERP resellers are moving from a period of explosive cloud growth to one of economic uncertainty with many technology companies laying off staff.

But there are many companies that have yet to adopt cloud-based financial software and the best firms adapt and thrive as situations change. Thiis year’s Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs will look at the much-changed conditions in the market served by ERP dealers. Those trends will be discussed as part of the special report in which this year’s Top 100 are named.

To be considered please complete a form and submit it to bob.scott@pmg360.com by April 12.

Submissions are now being accepted for Bob Scott’s VAR Stars for 2022. VAR Stars is designed to acknowledge 100 quality firms in the mid-market reselling business for financial software regardless of size.

Firms chosen in past years have included single-person firms all the way up to the largest VARs.  We are looking for firms that have shown growth, produced innovative products or contributed in other ways, such as showing leadership and vision, to the mid-market. To receive a form, please contact me at bob.scott@pmg360.com and return your information ASAP. Along with the selection of Stars, we will be writing about market trends and talking to leading firms.

The last two years have been like nothing else the mid-market has experienced--indeed like nothing most peope alive have experienced. But for the ERP channel, the pandemic produced opporuntity as remote work accelerated the move of businesses to the cloud.

But new opporunties and new problems usually go hand and hand and the demand for web-based financial products has been accompanied by a shortage of the consultants needed to install and implement them. This Special Report "Beyond the Pandemic" discusses these issues, as it announces the 2022 edition of Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs. It tells you where the leaders rank and examines how several of them have addressed the problems and the opportunities.

 Sponsored by:

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