Chief marketing officer Fred Studer has reportedly left FinancialForce. His LinkedIn profile this week still shows him in the position he has held since March 2017. However, Studer’s picture has disappeared from the software company’s management webpage. A query has been sent to him for comment.

A quick tally shows the software company has also been a sieve for sales executives in the last year. Todd Sudery was chief revenue officer from March through November 2018 with Michael Jerich taking the job after Surdery—meaning there have been three in a year. Other sales jobs turned over. Chris Lee was SVP of North American Sales from September 2016 through September 2018 when he moved to become head of worldwide sales in October last year. Lee joined Joe Fuca, president of worldwide field operations from February 2016 through May 2018, when he became Reputation’s CEO. Craig Levy, VP of strategic accounts for the America’s, from January 2017, joined the crew at Reputation in October and became VP of sales for strategic vertical markets in January. Charles Johnston, who was with FinancialForce for three years six month, left in June to become VP of sales for North America from Ownbackup. Johnston was VP of sales for the Eastern Region/Canada from February through June 2019.

Trade war and economic issues in Asia held down SAP’s results for the second quarter ended June 30. But in his usual cheerleading fashion, CEO Bill McDermott this week dismissed the impact as a blip.

“The pipeline is Asia is the highest it has been,” McDermott said during the earning’s webcast for the quarter. “Whatever didn’t happen, will happen.” That means he viewed the problem as primarily deals slipping into the future. Revenue for the most recently ended period hit about $7.47 billion, an 11-percent increase over a year ago. Cloud and software revenue of $6.19 billion was up 1 percent over last year’s corresponding period.  Operating profit dropped to $931.2 million, down 27 percent and aftertax profit of roughly $665.4 million, off 19 percent, both on an IFRS basis. However, on a non-IFRS basis operating profit rose 11 percent to approximately $2.05 billion and after-tax profit reached roughly $1.48 billion, up 12 percent. The difference on the IFRS side was equity-based compensation, which was impacted by acquisition, and by the fact that more German workers than anticipated accepted voluntary retirement.  On an IFRS bases, cloud and software revenue increased to about $6.19 billion, an increase of 11 percent. McDermott noted the company plans to continue adding to its sales force with that countered by reduction in G&A, which he said is possible because of the impact of S/4 Hana. He predicted there will be an increase in revenue per employee.

Revenue for IFS, an ERP vendor based in Sweden, jumped 24 percent for the first half ended June 30. The company said this week its top line was $322 million. IFS is owned by EQT Partners, which recently acquired Acumatica.

Revenue for the second quarter was $168 million, but the percent change for a year ago was not given. IFS also did not disclosed the amount of license revenue, which it said grew by 48 percent for the half. Adjusted EBITDA was 85-percent higher than in last year’s corresponding period. Executives also said Field Service Management revenue was up 119 percent, but again did not provide a total. CEO Darren Roos says IFS raised guidance for 2019 to $711 million in revenue, which would represent a 23-percent increase from 2018. 

Brainsell Technologies has established a customer experience branch of its consulting practice. The Topsfield, Mass.-based reseller named Garrett Hogan, one of its account executives, as VP of the unit.

Brainsell said the new practice was designed to help clients “develop cost-effective ways of providing omnichannel customer experiences.” Hogan plans to provide clients with educational, informational, and technical resources to develop customer experience strategies and best practices; advise them on how to change work culture to be customer experience centric; and use business process analysis to identify weak areas in customer experiences. Other steps include devising client-specific plans for workflows and policies with multiple touchpoints in marketing, sales, service delivery; and support processes making product recommendations for omnichannel and customer service or support tools.

The United States and Iran face off in the new entertainment thriller in “The Game of Drones”. Each country shoots down the other country’s eye-in-the-sky while trying to avoid a general war. Stay tuned for this must-see hit.  …

Facebook and Google apparently are tracking the kinds of adult movies users watch. Unlike other issues involving privacy, there seem to be few people who are complaining about this practice. Surveys show the typical answer about the issue is “Who me? Nah, I don’t watch that stuff.” … New “Halloween” movies are planned for release in 2020 and 2021 with original star Jamie Lee Curtis appearing in the new ventures. The evil character, Michael Myers, returns after spending 15-years in a sanitarium. But he is foiled in a chase scene when his aging knees give out. … It’s easy to see why President Trump was confused by the crowd chanting “send her back” about a Democrat Congresswoman. He was thinking they were talking about one of his prior wives and remembering his parting words. … Anyone who tries to buy me a “GrandPad”, a computer device designed for supposedly helpless seniors. is likely to be attacked by a group of crazed AARP members. A good friend was once talking to a teen who he believed might be related to me. “He told a tale of drunkenness and incest,” my friend said. “Drunkenness and incest? Yeah, that sounds like my family,” I replied. … The NCIS franchise originators seem to running out of ideas. The latest is “NCIS Rabbit Hash”, which tells the story of military personnel trying to determine who has been threatening the canine mayors of the Ohio River town.

The release of the movie, “Child’s Play” with its murderous doll, Chuckie, has been followed by a tragic series of events. Chuckie and Barbie become lovers and embark on a nationwide killing spree.

The rampage is marked by the couple blasting their theme, “I’m your puppet” out of car windows. The body of Barbie’s long-time companion, Ken, was found with the words “What a wimp” scrawled across his forehead..  … Crypto currency is nothing new. I have always been baffled by money, which seems to magically disappear from my wallet. That’s about as crypto as it gets. … The last news item I saw reported police were looking at videos of a family brawl which broke out recently at Disneyworld. Report are Huey, Looey and Dewey ganged up on Pluto and Goofy came to his fellow canine’s aid and it spilled over with the Seven Dwarves pummeling Chip N’ Dale.  … Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who has been indicted because of his alleged penchant for young teens, says he was only following the example of Take Your Daughter to Work Day and helping the young ladies acquire a set of marketable skills. Facing similar charges, rapper R Kelly had his collection of photos of young women seized by police. He says he was doing a historical study of Lewis Dodson, who wrote the Alice in Wonderland stories of Lewis Carroll. Dodson was well known for his photos of young girls sans clothing. The two men are vying for a role in the remake of “Alien Vs. Predator”. Obviously, neither man claims to be an alien.

There’s a new definition of mixed feelings. It's like learning you’ve earned a two-week stay at a tourist hotel in the Dominican Republic.

… In technology news, two software companies disappeared in the Gartner Magic Quadrant and reappeared on a stage in Vegas. Meanwhile, another research company’s attempt to establish market recognition for a Magic Triangle has failed. … The movie “Yesterday” is about a world in each everybody but one musician has forgot about the Beatles. That’s nothing.  Many fans of the Grateful Dead forgot who the band was years ago.  …  I guess I have been watching the World Cup in Spanish for too long. “What’s that language the announcers are using?” I asked my wife. “It’s English,” she replied. Having the Cup played in France brings a difference in stadium food. The vendors are not throwing peanuts but foie gras and handing out glasses of burgundy. It’s a bit sloppier. It’s clear why some members of the America’s women’s team would reject a visit to the White House. They just don’t like fast food. … We’re not saying anything about the age of the presidential candidates, but AARP was a cosponsor of the last debate. Meanwhile, if  former VP Joe Biden loses,  he’s expected to author a book called “With Friends Like These” about his experiences in the Senate. Milk companies are trying to help the public identify the dems by putting candidates’ faces on milk cartons.

I was sitting at a restaurant at the Embarcadero Marine Park in San Diego when I noticed this signed, “Enjoy burgers, bait and beer.” I told the waiter, “I’ll have cheeseburger, no tomato, a Bud and a side order of chum.”

  … The Toy Story franchise is facing serious difficulty with Woody’s hat being labelled a choking hazard and the toy slated for recall. … The National Rifle Association has been in turmoil. In April, former NRA president Oliver North was kicked out, after being accused of trying to oust EVP Wayne LaPierre. The group is now suing North, who probably didn’t own enough guns to suit the hardcore members. I am surprised somebody didn’t suggest a duel. … President Trump called off an airstrike against Iran this week with planes in the air waiting for the attack. He probably decided a strong series of tweets was punishment enough.  …. We’re at that time of year when pro football fans starved for action are desperate enough to watch the Women’s World Cup. They are being fooled by the fact soccer is called football in the rest of the world. “Well, if they just would tackle a little harder it would be easier to appreciate,” one said.

For resellers, the issue now is meeting user needs and making money, not worrying about whether software is in the cloud. Certainly, there are many thousands of on-premise mid-market accounting systems in use and a decent number are being sold. But the action is in the cloud and it is a matter of features, which is what users really care about. The issue is which product is better at handling nonprofits, which is good for businesses with inventory, which best suits professional services and which delve into highly specialized markets. In the fact, the thought did not even occur this year to count how many of the Top 100 2019 VARs carry cloud products. It was just assumed they all do. That is why this year’s theme is “The Cloud Rules”  If you are not in the cloud game, you are not really in the game.

Report: 2018 VAR Stars Building on the Cloud

Overall, the questions of what technology will be used given the accelerating pace of cloud adopting are being answered. The cloud has won it's just a matter of how quickly the rest of the market moves. Download here for your free copy.

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2018 BSI Top 100 VARS

Bob Scott's Insights would like to congratulate all the 2018 BSI Top 100 VARS winners.

This year's selection of Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs comes at a time of dramatic change to the business. Larger firms are becoming larger and all are grappling with the movement of the business from reliance on desktop software to the cloud. Read about the state of the market and the names of the selected resellers.

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The speculation over when the market will move to the cloud is over. Resistance has faded and however many holdouts there are, financial cloud software is mainstream. Read more to learn who is being recognized as a 2017 VAR Star.

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