The fact that Avalara introduced its CertCapture Mobile Scan App this week was probably not the company's most interesting news this week. The greater interest for most lies with its first-ever user conference, Crush 2016, held this week on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. the sales-and-use-tax company, which likes to party in a big way, led many of the 250 conference attendees who showed up behind a Dixieland band down Bourbon Street to the different restaurants where food was offered on consecutive nights of the show.

Microsoft decided to release a cloud version of Dynamics AX7 first, with a desktop version to arrive later. But this decision is causing problems for resellers who find it presents problems for clients who may not be ready to jump to the Internet. The issue was spelled out when Edgewater Technology, which owns the Fullscope reselling operation, addressed the subject during an earnings webcast. CEO Shirley Singleton said the "cloud offering will cause a little bit of noise in the quarter."

Sage has expanded its alliance with Fairsail, whose Human Capital Management Cloud system is built on the Salesforce1 platform. Under the new deal, Fairsail becomes the cloud HCM platform of choice for Sage X3. Sage X3 and Fairsail products will work together to provide companies with processes to manage financials, supply chain, payroll, workforce and talent management, all in the cloud.