Executives’ keynotes at software conference, following flashing lights and loud sounds, and are often primarily cheerleading.

But at October’s Sage Transform keynote CEO Steve Hare’s very low-key presentation was heavy on facts—lots of information about specific products and plans. My comment to one Sage Intacct exec was that “Hare brings something Sage hasn’t always had,” “What’s that?” he asked. “An air of competency.” It’s probably not the complement most companies would appreciate, but anyone who has been through years of Sage restructuring, renaming, rebrandings, different channel leaders and different choices of strategic products will understand what I mean. It’s the first time in decades I had the feeling of Sage being well-positioned with a clear plan. It has some opportunities with some weaknesses—most of them not serious—on the part of competitors. But in a competitive market, it does not take much of an opening to have a chance for growth

Compensation for Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi rose 9 percent for the year ended July 30. Goodarzi’s pay hit $27.2 million in the last fiscal year, up from $24.9 million in fiscal 2021.

The biggest part of his compensation, stock awards, increase to $17.5 million in fiscal 2022, up 9.4 percent from slightly less than $16 million the prior million. A bigger percentage increase came in option awards with $6.4 million in that category last year, a 34.5-percent increase from $11.2 million the prior year. The largest overall increase in compensation went to Larua Rennell, VP of people and place, who saw her pay rise 37.8 percent to slightly more than $14 million from $10.2 million. Alex Chriss, who heads the SMB and self-employed business, was award $14 million last year, rising 10.7 percent from $13.7 million. Chief technology officer Marianna Tessei had a 9.6-percent increase fo $13.9 million from. $12.7 million.  Smallest-percentage increase went to CFO Michelle Clatterbuck, whose $11.5 million in compensation for fiscal 2022 was 3.1-percent higher than $11.2 million the prior year.

Zoho has exceeded $1 billion in annual revenue, the Chennai, India.-based software company said this month. But it looks like much of that gain came in its home country where India's annual revenue increased by 77 percent in 2021.

It certainly does not feel like a $1-billion company in the United States. Zoho did not state when its year ended. A statement by Sridhar Vembu, CEO and Co-founder said growth “has slowed down quite a bit in 2022 over 2021.” In the last two months, Zoho issued a piecemeal picture of performance spread out among three press releases. In October, it said Zoho One was being used by 50,000 customer organizations, having grown by 150 percent over two years. The company said 37.5 percent of new customers of that platform were coming from the mid-market and enterprise levels. This month, Zoho reported the Zoho Finance Platform registered 50 percent year-oe\ver-year growth and had more than half a million customers. Among plans for the next five years are its intention to open 100 network points of presence to provide faster network performance and doubled investment technologies such as block chain and AI.

 Denmark-based Columbus announced Jeff Lilly as sales director for the United States late last year. His tenure at the struggling unit proved short-term.

He arrived in November and was gone in July, a nine-month stint. Lilly, who spent almost 12 years as an executive at RCR Technology before arriving at the American arm of the Denmark-based reseller last nine months with Columbus. In August, he moved into the position of VP of partners for Benefits Data Trust.  A Dynamics reseller, Columbus spent much of the last three years watching American sales drop and then a year ago sold its Dynamics SMB Business to Enavate, leaving it to concentrate on the higher end of the American Dynamics market. It had single-digit increases in revenue in this country in the last three quarters, but reported the growth for the third quarter ended in September was largely from currency gains and it did not constitute solid organic growth.

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.

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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Top 100 VARS Survivor? Given the pandemic over the last two year and the swift move to remote work and the cloud, it may have felt that way. But the top firms have done more than just survive--they have prospered.

We'll look at the trends impacting the market in a period that has been one of the most unusual events in the lives of most people--well, most of the earth's population. There's war in the Ukraine a virus outbreak exploding in China. So is the next year more likely to resemble thelast two years, or maybe there will be some return to the way life looked befoe March 2020

As we try to gain a handle on the market direction, the call for entries for Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs is open for the 2022 selection. So to receive a form for submission so you can be a part of this year's story, email to request a form and return it to  bob.scott@pmg360.com 

The title of this special report "Reselling the Era of COVID" sounds even more relevant with the recent outbreak of the Omicron variant. But one thing is for sure, the move to the cloud was accelerated by the pandemic in a way no one could have anticipated.

It has not beneftied everyone in the midmarket who sells ERP software. But a large number of resellers and software publishers have benefited, even as they work around issued such as remote work. So within that framework, we are pleased to announce the 100 resellers who have been chosen as VAR Stars for 2021 and share some of their experiences of the last year.