Partners received a great deal of attention this week as Oracle laid out its plans to integrate the recently acquired NetSuite. "We will have a lot more partners to work with this around the globe," says Jim McGeever, who will be running NetSuite, reporting to Oracle CEO Marc Hurd. "We will have people on the ground to help with roll outs." It's no surprise that NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson will not be in day-to-day operations. Hurd said in a webcast that Nelson will be a company evangelist, but provided few details. There was also an emphasis on upgrading channel skills. Many calls coming into support are partner implementations, executives said. There will probably be certifications for specific staff within partner organizations on specific skills. The presenters, including NetSuite founder Evan Goldberg, placed heavy emphasis on the interaction between the software from the two companies. Steve Miranda, Oracle's SVP of applications development, said NetSuite customers will have access to all data collection and machine learning. He said via Platform and a Service and Infrastructure as a Service, NetSuite customers receive access to all Java-built and Oracle-built applications and Oracle will be able to easily extend its EPM functionality into NetSuite. The company will also be able to share designs across NetSuite and traditional Oracle applications.

The game of executive musical chairs at Sage is continuing with the departure of Marc Scheipe as president of Sage North America. Scheipe took over in October 2015 as interim president and got the permanent (?) job in February. Nancy Harris, who is stepping in as interim president for the continent. In an internal announcement, Harris said Scheipe has decided to pursue other opportunities. A lot of that going around Sage these days. Harris ran the software company's operations in Canada until becoming VP of Sage's North American partner and accountant business in August. I had been wondering how badly Sage needed a North American president after appointing Blair Crump, based in New York, as worldwide president.

France-based reseller Prodware reported a 4.4-percent decline in revenue for the third quarter ended September 30. Revenue reached about $34.4 million in the most recently ended. The VAR markets Dynamics AX/NAV/365 and CRM. Given the declines, Prodware is in the middle of a change. In its earnings report, the company said it "is continuing its transformation plan initiated during this period, with a focus on shifting its offering towards digital, recurrence and the market's most profitable segments." Prodware sells Dynamics in EMEA and Sage software in French-speaking countries." One factor in declining revenue was the switch to revenue from SaaS subscriptions, which produce less income initially than do license sales, but bring in revenue over three to five years. Revenue for nine months was about $124.2 million with about $14.8 million coming from SaaS, up about 43.3 percent from the corresponding period a year earlier. Also taking a toll was business in France. On a comparable basis, sales in the French-speaking region dropped to approximately $63.1 million, a decline of 7.6 percent from a year earlier. The company will report earnings later.