Exact is trying to figure out a better way to market its Exact Online application in the United States and may decide to involve its Macola VARs. The product is available on the Intuit App store. But since the introduction of the cloud product earlier this year, 26 companies have purchased it and Exact has labeled the progress as being slightly behind plan. "It seems difficult to find QuickBooks customers who are ready to go for an industry solution," Erik van der Meijden said during this months' earnings webcast for the first quarter ended March 31.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions hit 100,000 subscribers during the third quarter ended April 30, a 17.9-percent rise from 85,000 a year earlier. It would be nice to intelligently discuss why this product keeps growing. But it's not material to results and does not get analyzed during earnings webcasts. Intuit has issued no press releases about the product, enhancements or its channel program for ages. It has awards for its QBES resellers, but unless the partner issues its own release, that information doesn't see the light of day.

Sage's introduction of X3 Version 7 last week was a formality. The website for the product – the only Sage midmarket package with its own website – was already packed with V. 7 info. More attention was paid to what Sage's Europe CEO Alvaro Ramirez meant when he said, "Our brand is a disaster." I'm of the opinion he didn't mean it quite the way it sounds but why hand competitors a recruiting tool? The remarks suggest that the rebranding campaign of putting the word "Sage" in front of all products has not worked as well as hoped. Version 7 will be first rolled out in on-premise form next month.

Columbus, a Dynamics reseller based in Copenhagen, has named Keld Jersild Olsen SVP of services. He replaces Steen Hybschmann, who became managing director of Columbus Denmark in February. Olsen was previously SVP at Nets and also worked at Hewlett-Packard where he held jobs as outsourcing manager, services director and country manager and has also was CEO NetDesign.