Thanksgiving reminded me again that it's the little things I am most thankful for; the family, good food, the two cops who didn't arrest my daughter for underage drinking when they had a chance. Of course, it was only last year she asked me, “Dad, have you ever been arrested?” I replied, “No, but I’d put that in the category of minor miracle.” ...

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While one of Intuit's claims to fame is its accounting product, QuickBooks, the company is enunciating a new way to get more customers into the back office. And that's by the front office. The company sold more units of QB for the year ended July 31, but that came through heavy discounting.

Microsoft put the color Azure into the Dynamics world and is using the new platform to support its rollout of more offerings under its software plus services program. The company says 150 resellers already market payment services via Dynamics NAV, a number that has more than doubled in the last year, according to Crispin Read, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

This deal has little impact on the ERP midmarket, except that it continues to show that Intuit is willing to buy rather than build to get its connected services model moving.  The immediate impact is more important for Intuit’s financial services business where Mint will be aimed at online banking customers.

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