New York Sage reseller Net@Work has hired Anne Brennan as director of sales for business applications. She was previously VP of business development for RKL eSolutions, joining that organization after it purchased her company Waterview Information in October 2010. Brennan will team with Seth Ellertson, director of client care and installed base sales, and also with Tom Miller, who leads Net@Work's Partner Development Practice.

SAP says it wants to use its channel program in South America as a model for what it could be doing in North America. That would fit my view over the last two years that the channel in the United States got bogged down in the mud after a promising start. "We are trying to leverage some best practices," says John Graham, head of ecosystems and channels for SAP Americas.

Hyped is a fair word for the worldwide event Microsoft held yesterday, a major gathering of dogs and ponies. Broadcast from Barcelona, Spain, the webcast had high production values as Convergence 2013 EMEA kicked off this week. When Dynamics GM Fred Studer said it was as close as he would get to the Oscars, I wondered if he saw a lot of breast implants and facelifts.

Abila has moved quickly to set up an awards program and hold its first conference. Formed after Accel-KKR purchase Sage Nonprofit Solutions in February, Abila is holding the event, Forward Together 2013, this week at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa in Lost Pines, Texas. It also released the names of four resellers in its first-ever President's Circle. Those members are McGovern Consulting Group, NonProfit Technologies, JMT Consulting Group and NP Solutions.