A new conference has been put on the Microsoft calendar. The company has announced the Business Applications Summit to be held July 22 to July 24 in Seattle, Wash. The summit will be held at the Washington state Convention Center.

SAP has opened access to its software portfolio so its partners can develop fixed-scope package applications for small and midsize enterprises. The packages created will be based on SAP software and expanded via a partner's services and intellectual property, the company said this week.

The Alithya Group, which has offered to merge with Edgewater Technology, plans to follow a buy-and-build approach to growth. In the recent webcast about the merger Alithya CEO Paul Raymond noted his Quebec-based company had made five acquisitions since 2011 and has grown those operations.

Tangicloud Technologies, which markets nonprofit software, has hired Ron Bean as chief revenue officer. Bean was hired effective immediately to manage all revenue operations. For the last 11 months, he has been a self-employed business consultant.