MorganFranklin Consulting has acquired the Dynamics Practice from Kraft Enterprise Systems. Terms were not disclosed.

About a half-dozen consultants in the group, led by Shannon Mullin, are part of the transaction. KES is owned by Kraft CPA of Nashville, Tenn., which will continue to resell NetSuite.  MorganFranklin is a division of Vaco, which acquired the consulting business last year.  Geoffrey Harkness, managing director and technology solution lead, said in a prepared statement, “Our ERP practice at MorganFranklin has grown tremendously in recent years.” Vaco has revenue reported at $750 million. MorganFranklin has also grown rapidly and had a reported a $68.7 million in 2016 and is reported at roughly $100 million now.

If resellers can get through the COVID-19 crisis, the anticipate strong demand for cloud products. But for right now, the services clients are are asking for vary widely.

William Vespe, president of BCS/ProSoft, said with on-premise clients with Sage 100 his firm’s ARM product  “we  are doing a lot of upgrade work and forward thinking work (reporting, optimization, and new module activity).  Some manufacturing clients ”are still operating at capacity” with work related to the pandemic, such as plastic manufacturing and medical supplies. Many are asking for AP Automation, Bar Coding, and upgrades. Cloud-based work is tailing off. Joe Noll, president of RKL eSolutions, reported some customers are putting projects on hold, others are asking for them to continue. “We have clients that are in the essential category and business is going all out and needing our assistance,” Noll said. RKL is also seeing the need to automate payments and manage documents. Other clients see downtime as a chance to revisit enhancements, upgrades or re-platforming options with Sage products.  Jim Meyer, principal of business solutions and information technology at Maner Costerisan, said most Dynamics  clients “are getting by right now connecting via remote desktop or VPN, but I think we’ll see a huge surge to the cloud after this." The firm has scheduled Cloud Transition seminars over the next few weeks. “It will be interesting to see what the attendance at those is,” Meyer said. Bob Kohlmeyer, director of the DWD Technology Group, said,  “Our network services division has been extremely busy assisting customers pivot to working remotely.” While service companies are able to work remotely, some manufacturers, not deemed essential, have had to shut down. “For some of those companies they are using this time to catch up on projects that they were previously too busy to get to,” Kohlmeyer said. The question is how long will demand remain at current levels. Wayne Schulz of Schulz Consulting is working on a pre-pandemic project upgrade. "I have some customers asking for routing information, setup needs or assisting their remote workers with getting access to portions of Sage they hadn’t used before.” Schulz does not believe the current level of demand will be sustained. "I expect that work will trail off fairly quickly as most companies are not going to start a major project while everyone is out of the office and they are concerned where the next paycheck will come from,” Schulz said.

Procore is offering access to its products and customer support key projects at no additional cost. The construction software company said recently it will provide the aid to those building a temporary healthcare facility or one for product of medical supplies.

Qualifying projects were to start between April 1 and April 30 and be completed before May 31. The project must be a temporary healthcare facility, or a new or retrofitted manufacturing facility for the production of medical supplies, in support of COVID-19 relief efforts. Applications will be accepted until April 30 and reviewed on a rolling basis. Customers may submit up to two projects with $20 million in aggregate construction volume. Customers must have been in good standing as of March 1 with the program limited to a customer’s existing product subscriptions.

Microsoft has turned its software platforms to meeting needs of users during the coronavirus crisis. That includes the release of two Power Platform applications so customer can coordinate information and resources, along with a Power Virtual Agents bot to manage crisis response.

The company said it is supporting urgent deployments of these products for first responder organizations, government agencies, schools and universities, and other essential service providers. Working with Swedish Health services, the largest non-profit health care provider in the Seattle, Wash., area to create apps and dashboards for seeing available beds and supplies such as  masks and ventilators. This Emergency Resource Tracking Solution is now available to any healthcare provider. Microsoft also has developed Crisis Communications, a low-code product combines Power Apps, Power Automate, Teams, and SharePoint to coordinate information sharing and team collaboration. Additionally, the Power Virtual Agents team  has released instructions on building a Crisis FAQ bot using Power Virtual Agents. A bot can provide a chat interface that can be embedded on any website so individuals can obtain information. Microsoft is providing Power Apps,  Automate,  Apps portals and Virtual Agents for free for six months, including all premium capabilities, for customers in the healthcare, education, nonprofit, and government sectors.  The company is also making Dynamics 365 Customer Service (including Digital Messaging) free for up to six months for contact centers.

For the woman in the TV advertisement who proclaims “Age is just an illusion” I would like to offer an exchange of knees. … There was a report that 700 members of the New Jersey State Police have tested positive for the coronavirus.

When a flashing light went on while I was driving, I uncharacteristically speeded off. When the police car caught up, the cop said, “Why did you run?” “Honestly, officer. I just thinking of my health." …The lack of travel, coupled with the Saudis flooding the market with crude oil, has caused gasoline prices to collapse.  Gas down to $1.81 a gallon at the nearest station. It was $1.75 a gallon about a half mile down the road, but they replaced the price sign with “Make me an offer.” … Composer Richard Wagner wrote the opera, “The Flying Dutchman” ( Der Fliegende Holländer), about a ship doomed to sail the seas forever. The update being prepared, “Der Fliegende Holland America”, covers the story of a cruise ship doomed to lie off Florida forever with cabin full of virus infected passenger. It gives a new meaning to “Cruise to Nowhere.” … Although the Olympics have been postponed until 2021, there was a proposal to continue with the 400-meter relay. The races seem guaranteed to set records as members of the teams run in terror as their team mates and competitors get within six feet. … A friend of mine in Indiana said she had treated fresh fruit she picked up at a market with bleach “Ah, there’s nothing like that fresh taste of bleach,” I replied. … Another news report is that China's Shenzhen has banned the eating of cats and dogs after the disease broke out. Phooey; that means we probably won't be able to get any mu shu cat if we visit.

The impact of having people at home for extended periods is wearing on everybody. I went to walk the dog and he looked up with an expression of “Not again.”

On the other side, our cat resents our being here and taking up his favorite spots on the couch. Wait a minute, that’s not new..… If the coronavirus keeps going through October, we won’t need Halloween masks. All children will have to do is walk up to a door and offer to shake hands. “Ahhhhhh” …  One of the warnings for staying healthy is for people not to touch their faces, noses or mouths. It revamps the old disdain for “touching yourself” somewhat. …  With families together interminably, there has been a untick in Google searches for the phrase “Justifiable homicide”. … Fantasy sports has gotten new life. People are staring at TV screens and fantasizing there are games being played. The real solution is to hire play-by-play announcers and color commentators to narrate the fake games instead of having to settle for replays of decades-old games.  … If isolation remains in place for much longer, the fall crop of “How I Spent My Summer” school essays is going to be extremely repetitive? “I spent the summer cooped up at home”, “I spent the summer cooped up at home,” “I…” You got it. Meanwhile, kids are worried about Easter. “Will eggs be safe to eat?” and “Do you think my daddy will take a shot at the Easter Bunny to keep him off our property?”.  Reports are the mythical rabbit is seeking asylum with Punxsutawney Phil.

Because of the coronavirus and vacation travel, Random Thoughts is on break. Stayed tuned as we bring you the latest thoughts from South Africa in the near future. I just flew in from the United States and boy are my arms tired. Thank you, I'm here all week (actually two).

I had my DNA tested by 23andme which suggests health trends based on the analysis of your genes. Because of the spread of the coronavirus, I checked and got a message from the service: “You’re a dead man.”

...  The virus has been particularly dangerous to the elderly. That means the Democratic presidential campaign is in jeopardy. On the other hand, President Trump’s arteries have to look like pipes in a house with water that has lot of lime. And with Trump’s question health officials about the possible use of the flu vaccine to combat the corona virus, it looks like they will have to abandon plans for his post White House TV series “Donald Trump, MD”.  …. Given the demands on hand sanitizer, health authorities are considering the use of moonshine as an antiseptic. Putting the stuff on your hands has got to be easier to take than drinking it. It could revitalize the economies of several mountain states. … Former New York Mayor captured the presidential primary in American Samoa. Before he withdrew the next day, his captain was toying with the slogan, “Today, Samoa, tomorrow, Guam.”  … For newlyweds stuck on quarantined cruise ships there is one bright spot—they get to see how well their marriage works out when they are stuck with each other day-after-day-after-day.

The mid-market has been strong. Companies like Microsoft, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, IFS and Unit4 have all reported cloud subscription growth of greater than 25 percent in the last six months.

With the coronavirus sweeping through the world, working remotely has gotten a boost. Will mid-market sales stay strong with this impetus or take a dive with the general economy? There are many factors in the new, new norm. 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 2020 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 by April 10

There is a boom in the mid-market financial software reselling business. One industry observer said the move from desktop to cloud computing has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This year’s Bob Scott’s VAR Stars firms are participating in that opportunity Along with honoring the firms chosen, this year’s special VAR Star report looks at a market that is providing tons of opportunity to the business people with the talent and will to take advantage of it.

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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