Gravity Software is holding an October 19 webinar as part of its search for resellers to handle its accounting software. The webinar will be held 1 pm ET to showcase the company’s channel program and its benefits.

Gravity’s software is built on the Microsoft Power Platform. The company says the advantage of this approach users do not need to manage two databases—financials and CRM are part of one platform. Gravity offers what it calls “attractive margins and discounts” and recurring revenue through the SaaS  model.

 The Information Technology Alliance has named David Hirchskorn, accounting firm Eide Bailly’s CIO, as chair of its board of directors. It also selected Dom Pernai, director of reseller EthosSystems, as its vice chair.

The ITA is an association of CPA firms, consulting firms and technology vendors. The organization also added Darcy Boerio, president of DAB Partners, and John Fleischer, CIO of CBIZ to its list of directors. Other board  members Kim Austin are national partner development manager at Intuit, and Todd Perlman, president of BT Partners.

Intuit’s newly acquired Mailchimp has made its name in the small business market. But the products from the company, acquired for about $12 billion, are suited to larger businesses, according to Alex Chriss, EVP of Intuit’s small business operations.

“This will also scale into the midmarket. It handles self-employed all the way up into the mid-market where you may have 100 or more employees,” Chriss said during this week’s Citi 2021 Virtual Global Technology conference. He noted that Intuit has also been moving up-market with its QuickBooks Online Advanced. Chriss made no further comment son the mid-market but said with Mailchimp, “We are making a huge step into the front office.” He said Mailchimp, which has email and marketing software capabilities, is designed to get small businesses onto the web. Chriss sees significant opportunity with Mailchimp’s millions of customer records and the transaction records from 7 million Intuit customers. Other advantages to Mailchimp are its Free-mium model, which enables customers to “dip their toe in”, along with the fact that half its revenue is from outside the United States and it is completely self-service. Intuit has a much smaller international presence because it is more difficult to market compliance software, an issue that Mailchimp does not face.

Payments company Repay has named two executives to its B2B payments team. These are of Darin Horrocks as EVP, B2B business and Phillip Tau as VP of B2B strategy and business development.

Horrocks joined Repay in July 2020 with its acquisition of cPayPlus of which he was president and co-founder in July 2017. Prior to that, he was with Comdata from April 2009 through December 2016. In his last two positions there, he was director of channels and alliances from October 2013 through May 2015 and VP of channels and alliances from May 2015 until he moved to cPayPlus. Tau was previously head of business development and strategy for Divvy from December 2018 through March 2020. Divvy was purchased by Bill.com later in 2020. Prior to that, he was director of  B2B payment solutions and partnerships at Visa from September 2017 through December 2018.

There’s a new frankness in how DNA findings are communicated to subscribers—things like are you susceptible to certain diseases, likely to go bald, or sleep deeply.

Mine included a conclusion that “You’re dumber than you look.” …Just found Biscotti in the local 7-11, the same kind that is served as a snack on some domestic air flights. It’s not funny, but people deserve to know one of the few good things about modern flying is having an impact on society. … When someone says a person has served as a global head of some company’s operations, I always wonder if that’s like the Big Giant Head of the TV sitcom “Third Rock from the Sun”. … Singer Nicki Minaj caused an international uproar in relating a second-hand story that taking the COVID-19 vaccine had caused unusual organ growth in a male in Trinidad. Trinidad spent much of the day tracking down the story before reporting much time had been wasted before declaring the claim unfounded. I don’t know. That could be new way of promoting tourism on the island nation. After all, the official tourism slogan of Trinidad and Tobago is “Go Beyond Ordinary”. … Finally saw a realistic disclaimer for a TV movie. It says “Inspired by real events. They don’t have the slightest resemblance to this film, but they were inspired by them. … I am trying to develop a new feature for use when I trigger those “How can I help you” messages on a website. It immediately responds, “Leave Me Alone”.

It’s almost Labor Day and can Christmas displays be far behind. Join the competition to see who can get the most disgusted by the earliest the displays go up.

…. Speaking of holidays, the Halloween candy displays went up a couple of weeks ago. I propose making it a federal crime to flavor any additional items with pumpkin spice. … Resigned New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Florida Representative Matt Gaetz are the leading contenders for this year’s Eliot Spitzer prize. Spitzer is the former New York governor who resigned in 2008 for his habit of employing professional woman—well, professional at $1,000 per hour. Gaetz is considered a shoo-in the award in the juvenile division. Cuomo was a hands-on governor, which many people can testify to, most of them women. Cuomo was initially considered a candidate for the Bill Cosby Repeat Offender Award but was ruled out because of his abysmal completed pass percentage. ... It seems to me that Star Fleet command should request refunds on starship shields. They just don’t hold up. It always seems when the artillery starts up on Star Trek episodes that after the first strike we hear, “Shields are down to 70 percent. 50 percent, 30 percent”. ”Damn it, Scotty, can you adjust this thing?” “Sorry captain, performance went downhill after the warranty ran out." About five strikes and they are done for. … … One of the local supermarkets is big enough that instead of having simply numbered aisles, they also have them designated as west and east. I was asking for the location of something, and the service desk said, “That’s at the end of 9W. Make sure you don’t go to 10W”. “Why not?” I asked. “That’s where planes land in the late afternoon.”  ... The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is in our town, Parsippany, N.J. this weekend. I guess that's like one time I was in our building in Manhattan and saw the Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol. It's nice to know these aren't just legends.

The Cleveland Indians have changed their name to the Cleveland Guardians. It sounds like a group of alien overlords Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise encounter on a previously undiscovered planet.

“Captain, the Guardians are preventing us from contacting the ship.” “Set phasers on stun, Mr. Spock.” … Texas’ top elected official, Gov. Greg Abbott, has taken a stand against requiring people to wear masks to combat COVID-19. It recalls the brave men at the Alamo who fought to the death to keep the Mexicans from requiring them to wear masks. Or was that Davy Crockett fighting animal rights activists to preserve the coonskin cap?  Who can forget the thrilling scene in the movie “The Alamo” in which John Wayne declares, “Masks? We don’t need no stinking masks” and vows to fight against fluoridated water and against mandating helmets for motorcyclists. Actually, I admire Abbott. I loved his classic, “Who’s on first” sketch. … A friend is having reverse shoulder replacement. I asked her if that means she will be able to rotate her neck 360 degrees when it’s done. … In the latest sequel to “The DaVinci Code”, the secret group, Illuminati, battle with their bitter rival, the Unilluminati. The former turn off lights; the latter turn them on. It’s part of the continuing battle between light and dark.

The south end of the Las Vegas strip is big on chocolate with Hershey Chocolate World is on one side of the famous avenue. On the other side, although not directly opposite but close, is M&M World.

Few know of the pioneering, but far less successful ExLax World. … Ron Popeil, inventor of the Pocket Fisherman and other gadgets advertized on late night TV died recently.He will be laid to rest in is final groundbreaking (literally) invention, the Instant Coffin. Viewing was generally between the hours of 1 am and 6 am on certain TV stations. Popeil was the originator of the famous pitch phrase, “But wait there’s more ...” But, sadly, not for Ron.… Upcoming this year, is a remake of the sentimental classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life” by M. Night Shymalan. In this version, George Bailey finds out Clarence, the angel, is a demon from another world, who George is forced to kill before returning to a world that is the same, except everyone now sports long, pointed ears. … A couple of weeks  ago, there was news about a jet fuel shortage. That probably explains the following announcement and unintended comment on a recent flight’s PA system. “Lady’s and gentleman, this is your captain, we’re going to have to look for a place with fuel.” Copilot’s hushed voice’ “I told you should have checked before you took off’. But you couldn’t be bothered. You said, ‘Oh, there’s no problem.’

Just what kind of year has it been for the mid-market reselling community? It depends.

For some, it was very tough, but for others, it was the best year in their history as demand for cloud products drove business. If you were in segments such as hospitality and restaurants, it was very hard, if you were in ecommerce, things have never been better. Overall, it was a year of great change with the accelerated shift to the cloud from on-premise applications and the forced move to remote work which is producnglasting changes.

So click the button below to find out who made Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2021 and many of their thoughts about the last year and the future

It has been a year like no other for ERP mid-market software VARs. But one thing has stayed the same–it is time to ready your submission for Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2021--and this week is your last chance to do sol.

The IRS just gave you extra time to submit your individual tax returns, so use the opportunity to be considered. Each year, we rank the biggest financial software VARs in the mid-market and  use the occasion to learn more about how the market has worked in the last year and talk about directions it is likely to take in the near future. To be a player, please ask for a submission form  and return your information as soon as possibleto bob.scott@pmg360.com

 The year 2020 has been Dickensian—the worst of times and best of times. For most of the population, the coronavirus has made this year probably the most awful in memory. But for many mid-market software resellers, the move of companies to the cloud as their workforces went to remote operations, meant 2020 has been a good to great year. The results are not uniform. For VARs in markets such as entertainment and hospitality, it was not great. However, if clients were able to conduct business remote, resellers could service them remotely and despite the difficulties, 2020 was fine. Bob Scott’s VAR Stars for 2020 faced the pandemic and many not only survived, they prospered.

Submissions for the 2020 Bob Scott’s VAR Stars are still open. But you have to act fast. .

The door closes next Wednesday. The selection is based on quality—not revenue. Past honorees have ranged from one-person operations to the largest ERP dealers. Factors that are considered in the selection are growth, development of significant products and services and contributions to the industry. If you are interested in having  your firm considered, please email bob.scott@pmg360.com as soon as possible.