Payments company Bill.com has hired Loren Padelford as chief commercial officer.

He is responsible for sales and strategic partnerships. He was previously COO with Podium for nine months. Before that, he was with Shopify from October 2014 through July 2021 and served as VP and GM of revenue form Shopfiy Plus.

Innovia Consulting of Onalaska, Wis., has acquired the Dynamics 364 Business Central/NAV Business of Dynamic Manufacturing Solutions. Terms were not disclosed.

DMS, based in Edmonton, Alberta, will continue to own and market the products under the Insight Works trademark. Three DMS employees have joined Innovia, which has made two other acquisitions in the last three years: Competitive Edge Services  in November 2019 and Kanza Business Solutions in September 2020. Innovia this year also named Chad Williams, previously COO, as chief technology officer. Gary Harpenau replaced Williams as COO. Innovia ranked No. 58 on Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2022 with $14 million in revenue and 85 employees.

Acumen Information Systems has acquired Sage reseller Orbus Technologies. Terms were not disclosed for the acquisition of the Kingston, Jamaica-based reseller.

Paul Crompton, VP of business development for Kissimmee, Fla.-based. Acumen said Paul Collister, Orbus’ managing director, has joined Acumen as a senior account manager. Crompton said Orbus had  about 30 clients overall and carried Sage 300 and Sage CRM, along with some of its own products, primarily extensions for CRM users. The rest of Orbus’ staff is also joining Acumen. “We are going through the recruitment process with some of the personnel however recruiting in Jamaica is a challenge,” Crompton said.

 A second investor group is opposing the sale of Avalara to Vista Equity Partners. Merrion Investment Management Co., a long-term owner of Avalara shares, will vote against the $8.4-billion cash deal, the firm said recently.

Merrion joins pre-IPO angel investor, Altair US, in saying it will vote against the sale. The language both groups have used certainly doesn't sound like investors who are looking or a better  price. Both firms like Avalara’s longer-term prospects and both cited their belief the sales tax software company is throwing in the towel too early in a difficult economic period. Merrion, which has been an investor since October 2019, said Avalara has the capital base to weather a downturn and said Avalara has posted “remarkable metrics” in client retention and acquisition costs. It continued, “A well-timed convertible bond offering and rapidly improving operating efficiency bring Avalara into late 2022 with ample liquidity.” In addition, Merrion faulted the sale price. “The price agreed appears completely devoid of any control premium appropriate in this situation,” the company’s statement said. The offering price is $93.50 per share as announced on August 8. In September 22 SEC filing with its proxy challenge to the deal. Altair faulted the way Avalara put up for sale—suggesting the process might have been designed to steer the decision to Vista driven by possibly biased advice from Goldman Sachs. “The sale process appears to have been a spur-of-the-moment decision, driven by the desires of opportunistic acquirers and guidance from a financial advisor, Goldman Sachs, who was highly incentivized to pursue and close a transaction,” according to its late statement. The company also called the sale price “insufficient to compensate Avalara shareholders for forfeiting their claim on the Company’s future earnings and prospects” and that Vista’s offer was well below analyst estimate.

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.

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 by October 19b. Along with the selection of Stars, we will be writing about market trends and talking to leading firms.

index.php/component/rsform/form/31-2022-bob-scott-s-top-100-varsThe 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:

Top 100 VARS Survivor? Given the pandemic over the last two year and the swift move to remote work and the cloud, it may have felt that way. But the top firms have done more than just survive--they have prospered.

We'll look at the trends impacting the market in a period that has been one of the most unusual events in the lives of most people--well, most of the earth's population. There's war in the Ukraine a virus outbreak exploding in China. So is the next year more likely to resemble thelast two years, or maybe there will be some return to the way life looked befoe March 2020

As we try to gain a handle on the market direction, the call for entries for Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs is open for the 2022 selection. So to receive a form for submission so you can be a part of this year's story, email to request a form and return it to  bob.scott@pmg360.com 

The title of this special report "Reselling the Era of COVID" sounds even more relevant with the recent outbreak of the Omicron variant. But one thing is for sure, the move to the cloud was accelerated by the pandemic in a way no one could have anticipated.

It has not beneftied everyone in the midmarket who sells ERP software. But a large number of resellers and software publishers have benefited, even as they work around issued such as remote work. So within that framework, we are pleased to announce the 100 resellers who have been chosen as VAR Stars for 2021 and share some of their experiences of the last year.