The recent agreement for Sage to use the Salesforce Customer Success Platform must have stirred conversation. Sage has issued an FAQ about the agreement and its implications. The main statement was that "We remain committed to SageCRM". Just to be sure nobody missed the point, that statement was made seven times, once with the word cloud tagged on, in a document one page and a quarter long.

NetSuite plans to continue its rapid staff growth, CEO Zach Nelson said this week. In remarks made at the JMP Securities Technology Conference, Nelson said the company will add about 2,000 jobs in 2015, on top of  the current 3,600; that's about 55 percent. Nelson did not parcel that out by department, but did talk about his philosophy of hiring in development. "One strategy we support in development is not hiring in California," he commented.

Sales-and-use tax vendor Avalara has acquired Hotspot Tax, which markets tax products for the vacation rental industry. Avalara will operate the unit's products under the name Avalara MyLodge. This marks the continued movement of Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based Avalara into specialized tax markets. Terms were not disclosed.