Blackbaud has rejected a $71-per-share buyout offer from the Clearlake Capital Group. Blackbaud noted the receipt of the offer, which was 23 percent higher than the share close on Friday, March 25.

Blackbaud board chairman Andrew Leitch said Clearlake appears to want to start a bidding war for the company. "Clearlake's unambiguous statement that the firm itself does not need to be an acquirer is an overt attempt to put the Company in play opportunistically, Leitch wrote in a press release. In its statement,  the nonprofit software company also declared, “the Board unanimously determined that the proposal is highly opportunistic and significantly undervalues Blackbaud.” Blackbaud’s largest stockholder, Clearlake owns 18 percent of the company’s shares. With 53,215,892 shares outstanding on December 31, the deal values the company at roughly $3.76 billion and would put the cost to Clearlake for the shares it doesn’t own around $3.1 billion. News reports said the stock was trading at its highest value since early 2022. Blackbaud’s board said the bid ignored the company’s “tangible momentum” in its business.

 Project and portfolio management software company Keyed in has been merged into Sciforma, which is in the same market.

Sciforma CEO, Doug Braun, will continue as CEO of the merged entity. The announcement pictured KeyedIn as having a strong presence in the United Kingom and Nordic countries, while Sciforma was strong in France, the Benelux and Germany. According to the announcement “The companies will share product innovation and advanced functionalities, including the development of more advanced Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) functionalities and AI capabilities to tackle ever more competitive markets.”

SugarCRM has named Faye Business Systems Group  as its President’s Club Reseller Partner of the Year for the Americas for 2022. It is a return visit to the winner’s circle for the firm.

The Woodland Hills, Calif.-based reseller was Partner of the Year for 2021 and Americas Partner of the Year for  2020. It was also  Zendesk GTM North American Partner of the Year for 202 and won the following Zendesk awards for 2021: North America Sell Partner of the Year, Vertical Solution Partner of the Year, and Global Sunshine Conversations Partner of the Year. OpenSymbol  was the top SugarCRM reseller internationally. All other awards were made o only on a global bases. Provident CRM won for Best New Business Performanc and enable.services for Best Customer Growth Performance. The Fastest Growing Reseller Partner was ISC IT & Software Consultants.  Technology Coast Partners  was chosen as Partner Marketing Leader and Upsert  as Fastest Growing Reseller Partner. The ISV Partner of the Year was MobileForce and the Outfitters Partner of the Year was Fanatical Labs . 

 Accounting firm BDO was named Partner of the Year by ERP and CRM vendor Unanet. That firm was among the winners of the 2022-2023 Unanet Partner Awards, announcedthis week.

Unanet also added three new awards to the honors handed out this year: Rising Star, Referral Partner, and Services Partner. CAVU Advisors, a GovCon firm located in Columbia, Md., was named reseller of the year. The award for Sales Excellence Partner of the Year KGRF Group, another GovCon business based in Bethesda MD. The SMB Partner of the Year was  Rice Sterling and Associates, a Unanet implementer which provides outsourced accounting services. Based in Nashville, Tenn., Arrative Consulting, another GovCon Implementer, took away the Rising Star Award. Also in the government space, Referral Partner of the Year, Pinnacle Management Systems is based in Warrenton, Va. Outsourced Accounting Services nabbed the title as Services Partner of the Year. Bridgit, which makes workforce planning software, was chosen as Technology Partner of the Year.

You know it’s been a bad day if you see a sign saying, “If you see anything suspicious report it” and your photograph is posted next to it.

… There’s a new movie in the magic franchise, “Harry Potter and the Orkin Man” in which the Ministry of Magic has to call an exterminator to deal with a nasty outbreak of house elves. After dealing with the nasty little vermin, he caught villain, Peter Pettigrew, in a rat trap. … With the focus on new diseases, scientists have reported the first episode of a disease combining monkey pox, chicken pox, swine flu, avian flu and equine encephalitis. It causes infected individuals to rant at animals of all kinds and is being labeled the “Dr. Doolittle Disease.” … I was relieved to find that the phrases “Manufacturing Execution Systems” is not the dire life-threatening experience I had feared. … Made it to Manhattan for the first time in three years in the middle of humid sweltering day. Of course, there was the smell of something slightly disgusting from the gutter along 42nd Street. On the same street, at Madame Tussaud’s wax figures near the door was melting in the heat. But a second look showed that was a tourist group from the Midwest. The wax figures were fine. The I ran into a guy promoting Hop On, Hop Off. “Buses?" I asked. “No, hookers, he replied.

I spent most of the last week unable to speak with laryngitis.

A surprising number of my acquaintances and friends remarked upon the improvement..  … The crypto market crash has spurred new looks at blockchain technology, which in this context is now being referred to as blockhead technology. Blockhead technology is based on the premise that crypto currency is immune from historical market forces and can serve as a store of value when other markets crash.  … I told a friend that when it comes to deals I always before a win/win outcome. I also like it when I win, win, win. …. The resignation of the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the architect of Brexit who is making is own Bexit, has spurred interest in what his next move might be. There is some talk that he will embark on a new business sponsoring parties during times of distress, such as pandemics. Also, the combative leader is also planning a string of hair salons “Mr. Boris” in honor of his coiffure. It has been report4ed in some places, Liar's Poker has been renamed Boris' poker.

One of the hot trends of the last few years is the Gender Reveal party.  Someone asked my opinion.

“Gender reveal? That’s hardly new. We have had guys running around in raincoats doing that for years. Just not my style.” … Inflation is taking a toll on products of all kinds. The manufacturer of “20 Mule Team Borax” has been forced to reduce the product to 17 mules.  … I have decided that the purpose of blister packs is to make you prove you really want to take the pills you have. …. When they pulled out of the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Russian soldiers are said to have left behind 100 liters of high-quality vodka. Apparently, they thought it might to prove a practical substitute for fissionable material in powering the plant. … Somebody asked me how much I paid to fill up my gasoline tank the last time. “I think it was three cents a gallon higher when I finished than when I started,” I said. … A local van had large lettering advertising the “Racoon Guy”.  I thought maybe he was a feature in a carnival sideshow. But now, he was just an animal control expert.  Actually, he did have rather short noise and beady eyes. …  The latest in the saurian franchise is Jurassic World Dominion. If there’s a sequel, we’ll probably find the dinosaurs are getting a bit long in the tooth. There are some reports the next victims of tyrannosaur will actually be pureed meat disguised by Halloween costume and makeup specialists so he won’t have to gum his food. That will probably be similar to the next in final editions of Top Gun so that 10 years from now, the currently 59-year-old superstar Tom Cruise, will be carrying a Hurry-cane and have to have a handicapped access ramps for the fighter jet. Of course, he will be probably be assisted by lower-level members of the Church of Scientology.

 What the public didn’t know in the well-publicized verdict in the trial of Johnny Depp versus Amber Heard, there was an initial ballot in which the seven jury members registered their real feelings.

Two were for Depp; two for Heard and three didn’t care anymore. … In the last week, England’s Queen Elizabeth II celebrated 70 years on the throne, her Platinum Jubilee. What can you give the woman who has, well the crown jewels; a few palaces? I thought coupons for trading in Prince Andrew for a new model might be welcome. Or we could buy her a nice set of platinum dinnerware. … A woman recently was the recipient of an ear made by 3D printer. I asked someone if that involved dot matrix or laser? The break-through will revolutionized the childhood game of “I have your nose” to “I made you a new nose.” … Dr. Mahmet Oz was just declared the winner of the highly contested Republican senatorial primary in Pennsylvanian. If Oz is elected, he will likely become a key spokesman for the GOPs plan for healthcare reform. He will a stalwart champion of eye of newt, bleach and exorcism as major tools in the fight against contagious diseases. He will also propose that discounts for healthcare with be available as coupons in packaged meals at Mcdonald’s and other fast food outlets.

The pandemic is gone, or at least just simmering, and ERP resellers are moving from a period of explosive cloud growth to one of economic uncertainty with many technology companies laying off staff.

But there are many companies that have yet to adopt cloud-based financial software and the best firms adapt and thrive as situations change. Thiis year’s Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs will look at the much-changed conditions in the market served by ERP dealers. Those trends will be discussed as part of the special report in which this year’s Top 100 are named.

To be considered please complete a form and submit it to bob.scott@pmg360.com by April 12.

Submissions are now being accepted for Bob Scott’s VAR Stars for 2022. VAR Stars is designed to acknowledge 100 quality firms in the mid-market reselling business for financial software regardless of size.

Firms chosen in past years have included single-person firms all the way up to the largest VARs.  We are looking for firms that have shown growth, produced innovative products or contributed in other ways, such as showing leadership and vision, to the mid-market. To receive a form, please contact me at bob.scott@pmg360.com and return your information ASAP. Along with the selection of Stars, we will be writing about market trends and talking to leading firms.

The last two years have been like nothing else the mid-market has experienced--indeed like nothing most peope alive have experienced. But for the ERP channel, the pandemic produced opporuntity as remote work accelerated the move of businesses to the cloud.

But new opporunties and new problems usually go hand and hand and the demand for web-based financial products has been accompanied by a shortage of the consultants needed to install and implement them. This Special Report "Beyond the Pandemic" discusses these issues, as it announces the 2022 edition of Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs. It tells you where the leaders rank and examines how several of them have addressed the problems and the opportunities.

 Sponsored by:

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