Oracle NetSuite ended fiscal 2021 with a 26-percent rise in revenue, the company said this week. That left NetSuite revenue up 22 percent for the year ended May 30.

Oracle’s Fusion ERP business also boomed, rising 46 percent for the fourth quarter; 42 percent for the year. The company does not break out revenue for individual product lines, but gave a rare overall assessment. “Our strategic back-office cloud applications now have an annualized revenue of $4.4 billion and grew 32 percent in constant currency for the quarter, CEO Safra Katz said during the week’s earnings webcast. She added, “Our back-office cloud application revenue is not only bigger than our nearest competitor but also growing more than twice as fast.” Chairman Larry Ellison said the split for new customers versus upgrades for Fusion ERP is probably “about 60-40 or in the 60s”. Bottom-line growth was also strong, reaching $13.75 billion, an increase of 36 percent over $10.14 billion in last year’s corresponding period. Revenue for the most recently ended year was $40.48 billion, an increase of 4.2 percent over slightly mor than $39.1 billion for fiscal 2020; up 2 percent in constant currency. Given the strong growth, Oracle plans to increase spending on cloud products to increase market share, Katz commented. “We expect to roughly double our cloud capex spend in FY 2022 to nearly $4 billion,” she said. Katz described cloud business this way: “Our back-office cloud application revenue is not only bigger than our nearest competitor but also growing more than twice as fast.”

Reseller Velosio has made several significant changes to its executive lineup. That follows May’s retirement of co-founder Jim Bowman, who was chairman and chief revenue officer.

The changes include the promotion of Dominic Cristelli, VP of sales since February 2018, to chief sales officer. Robbie Morrison was promoted to chief technology officer. Morrison joined one of Velosio’s predecessor companies, the SBS Group, in October 2013. In addition, it hired Dan Petschke as CFO with the prior occupant of that spot, Ray Cardonne, becoming COO. Cardonne was CFO of the SBS Group from 2016. Petschke was previously CFO of Dwellworks, which provides relocation support services, from 2015, until taking the new job. Velosio was No. 5 on Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2021 with $106.4. It was formed in late 2017 through the merger of the SBS Group and Socius. Since then it has picked up two top 100 VARs: Synergy Business Solutions in the summer of 2019 and its biggest deal, the acquisition of Broadpoint, which had reported  $19.2 million in revenue before Velosio purchased it in December 2020. Velosio carries most of Microsoft's Dynamics ERP products, NetSuite, Sage 100 and Syspro.

Intuit this week said the number of new customers in the United States for QuickBooks Online for the nine months ended April 30 was 25-percent higher than in the prior year. The company made the statement in a two-paragraph filing with the SEC. Intuit said the figures exclude sales of QuickBooks Self-Employed.

This filing amended a May 11 statement that new business for QBO in this country had risen above pre-pandemic levels. Intuit does not break out number of subscribers or geographic results in its financial reports. However, QBO revenue for the nine months ended April 30 was $1.23 billion, up 25 percent from $989 million in last year’s corresponding period. I assume the recent report represented a further analysis of the third-quarter financials. Whatever the case, Intuit can’t be leaving much air in the room for online accounting software competitors. By comparison, Xero reported that for the year ended March 31, its North American subscriber base rose 18 percent year-over-year and remember when Intuit did report unit numbers a couple of years ago, Xero’s smaller rate of increase is on a much smaller base.

Channel executive Dewey Forrester has left Sage to join payments company Bill.com. Forrester said in a LinkedIn post this week that he was become VP of Bill.com’s channel team.

Bill.com has been working to build its mid-market channel program during much of the last year. It has also growing significantly this the competition this month of its purchase of Divvy for about $2.5 billion in stock and cash.  Forrester joined Sage in August 2019 as VP of strategic alliances and was later interim EVP of partners and alliances. He became president of North American Business Development in March.

Scientists have uncovered evidence animals can breath through their rear ends in an emergency. We are waiting for a new phrase “butt breather” to take its place along with the time-honored “mouth breather”. I

t certainly sounds like a much worse insult." ... It has been predicted that cannabis sales will reach $280 million on Memorial Day Weekend. Apparently, this represents the population that does not need to remember and may not be capable of doing so. … Recently, bundles of cocaine began washing up on the Texas coast. The first indication was from local fisherman who reported their catches included sea creatures with runny noses and exhibiting signs of paranoia … The company that does business as Claxton Poultry Farms has been indicted for allegedly participating in a nationwide scheme to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chicken products.  Norman W. Fries Inc. Claxton’s parent, pleaded that the higher prices were the result of increase wages obtained oy unionized chickens. ... Following the announcement of his planned divorce, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been accused of a variety of bad behavior towards women. It also turns out he was a frequent compatriot with the late Jeffrey Epstein. Looking forward to the founding of the new Gates Epstein Foundation for the Welfare of Girls. Well, the tech giant needs some hobbies outside of trying to save the world. … Some fans were repeatedly chiding Kim Kardashian for appearing in a black string bikini in a photo in which she is next to her grandmother. I don’t know. For Kim, a string bikini seems a bit overdressed.

 Some used my computer to look at a web page “Five buttermilk questions you were afraid to ask”. Just how threatening is buttermilk that someone would be afraid to ask a question. “Can I ask if you can drink it straight from the carton, oh, please no. no, no”. ...

I saw a local hotel that advertised, “We treat you like family.” I turned to a friend: “Yeah, they leave socks and underwear on the floor and argue with you during meals.”  … A recent frequently broadcast TV advertisement has me wondering--What does it take to get a roomful of people to listen to a presentation on house gutters?” … “Keeping Up with the Kardashian” has been canceled as the K sisters decided it was time to quit. I figure that’s because they sat down and tried to watch all the episodes from all 20 seasons in the last 14 years. Kourtney had to be put on suicide watch after getting through season 12. … Visitors to a recent track meet were surprised to see flies swarming around stop watches used for the races. As the winner broke the finish line tape, the insects would all land on the button used to stop the watch and give the winning results.  “I can’t believe it,” one said. “But are they always accurate in stopping the watch. I mean, doesn’t this end up with some results that can’t be trusted?” A race sponsor replied, “Yes but, you know, that’s just how flies time.” … Looks like thoroughbred horse trainer Bob Baffert may be leading the race for the doping hall of fame, after admitting he gave Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, a banned substance. He could join previous members in the hall, including racing champion Lance Armstrong and former baseball player Barry Bonds in winning a Golden Needle Award. Racing authorities are considering a new betting foursome—win, place, show and doped.

People may have heard the story about someone visiting hell to find that all the denizens had long utensils attached to their limbs that prevented them from eating. They constantly fought because of their inability to eat.

 (and in heaven people similarly hindered feed each other). In my hell, I would have to eat with chopsticks and would starve. … I think I finally understand the phrase constant currencies used in financial reporting It means, no matter the value of the dollar, I always spend the same amount. … For realism in flying, the drone on Mars has a message it broadcasts that says, “We recognize that you have a choice when picking an airline. So thank you for flying with us.” … While flying a helicopter of Mars is an amazing feet, scientists are pledging an even more amazing feat—a U.S. domestic flight with adequate knee and elbow room in coach, a goal some believe is impossible to achieve. … Medical authorities have started describing what they call the “Giuliani Syndrome”, in which formerly respectable people start raving and making wild claims. It’s characterized by paranoia and a desire to speak Ukrainian.”  Meanwhile, the former New York mayor and former Trump lawyer pleaded his complete innocence of any wrongdoing following a recent FBI raid on his home.  “Why I could no more violate the law than my little dog Check… scratch that. Wrong speech,” told TV reporters. 

In the Greek myth, Sispyhus rolls a ball up hill only to have it fall back to the bottom eternally. In the modern version, he is forever trying to select correct Captcha images.

“What do you mean I didn’t check all the palm trees? There were no palm trees.” …  There’s a new category of machine learning for computers—remedial. It turns out their intelligence was too artificial. … A new letter from executed Queen Ann Boleyn, wife of King Henry VIII, has been discovered by researchers. “I asked Hank for a new hat for my birthday. He seemed hesitant. I bet he has a big surprise for me. He said something about finding something bright and shiny for my neck.” … What do you call the empty apartment building owned by a partnership of physicians? Doctors without boarders. … With all the pandemic news, it’s nice to get back to meaningless fare. Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez are breaking up. The former Major League Baseball player immediately demanded to be paid the rest of his $128 million contract with Lopez. In retrospect, Rodriguez said if he had used performance enhancing drugs, the relations would have lasted longer.  … And in the future, the new TV Series, “Growing Old with the Kardashions” the first episode, “The Kardashians Join AARP”, tanks when Kim released the kind of  movie that made her famous; people went, Yuck.” …   I told one of my friends this week, “I have been sort of J.G. Wentworth. I don’t have an annuity but I need cash now. I plugged 877-cash now—into an ATM and it didn’t do anything. … And in the first serious opera that crosses over between Wagner and TV commercials, the updated “Das Rheingold”, the Rheinmaidens accuse Alberich of taking too much of the revenue streams of their clients.

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.