A federal court has refused to certify a case against Blackbaud involving multiple plaintiffs as a class action.

The case stems from a 2020 ransomware incident whose fall out has cost the nonprofit software company millions.  The decision was made by the U.S. District Court of the Columbia Division of South Carolina, which has been assigned the responsibility of handling the suits which have been filed in multiple jurisdictions. An SEC report by Blackbaud said on May 14 the court agreed with Blackbaud’s motion that the plaintiffs failed to provide identifying the class is ascertainable—generally meaning they can be easily identified  and/or doing so is administratively feasible  The South Carolina Court also granted Blackbaud’s motion to exclude the plaintiff’s expert on the issue of ascertainability and denied the plaintiff’s motion to exclude Blackbaud’s expert on the same issue.

Trimble has acquired Flashtract, which makes payments products for the construction industry. Terms were not announced.

Renamed, Trimble Pay the product integrates with Trimble Viewpoint Vista ERP and is expected to be available this year 2024 as part of the Trimble Construction One software suite. Flashtract products include invoice, compliance and payment management and an unconditional waiver vault, lower tier subcontractor and supplier tracking and reporting. Construction One’s modules include construction, service, employee and project management and job costing and data and reporting. Flashtract also integrates with Sage 300 CRE, Procore and CMiC.

DSD Business Systems has acquired Emerald TC, bringing together two resellers that carry Sage and Acumatica. Terms were not disclosed

It is the latest deal involving the acquisition of a long-time VAR —Emerald was founded in 2000. It is headed by three partners, including Cherry Williamson, who serves as the director of sales for the Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based firm. The other partners are Michael Yearty, director of technology, and Libby Yearty, director of consulting. VARs purchased this year include Kraft Enterprise Systems Solutions, founded in 1996, and Solutions Systems, founded in 1979, and I-tech Support, founded in 1999, all acquired by Evergreen Services Group; Techware, founded in 1999, bought by RKL eSolutions; Compudata, founded in 1991, bought by CBiz, and Mibar, also founded in 1991, acquired by Citrin Cooperman. In 2023, Evergreen bought Western Computer, founded in 1986, and Strategic Information Group, picked up in 1992. In October, Net at Work purchased NexVue, which was founded in 1996. DSD reported $28 million in revenue and 160 employees in its submission for Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2024 before this deal was announced. 

 After some quarters with modest gains, revenue for Columbus US declined by 11 percent year-over-year for the first quarter ended March 31.

Operations in this country dipped to approximately $2.82 million. When executives presented results by country during a recent earnings webcast, there was silence about the U.S. results. After report on results from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the United Kingdom, chief financial officer Brian Iverson ended his discussion of countries with “I think that’s all I would like to mention.” The best country results came from the United Kingdom, with service revenue up 65 percent, and Denmark, Columbus’ second largest market, an increase of 35 percent.  The largest market, Sweden, was off 1 percent, while results for Norway, third-largest, were down 8 percent. Overall, Columbus reported an increase of 14 percent to about $60 million first the most recently ended quarter. Columbus biggest selling product line, Dynamics, produced roughly $33.2 million in revenue, an increase of 17 percent, while the next largest, M3, increased 15 percent to about $13.4 million.

Reports say traffic controllers, left without pay during the government shutdown have been taking part-time jobs, such as driving for ride-sharing services. That is producing a great deal of confusion.

On a recent flight  the cockpit conversation was coming over the PA system and I could swear I heard air control say, “Your car will be there in 15 minutes”.  One of my friends said an Uber driver texted him that there was a ground hold on his ride. … Veteran actor Patrick Stewart is playing the wizard, Merlin, in the movie, "The Kid Who Would Be King". It took the actor some getting used to after the years in Star Trek, the Next Generation. He kept telling King Arthur “Make it so”. In this updated version of the legend, instead of pulling a sword from stone, Arthur gets factions in the medieval government to agree to end a shutdown. Local serfs called it a miracle. … Actually, Stewart’s confusion was even worse a few years ago when we saw him in his one-man show of Dickens’ Christmas Carol when, instead of being visited by the ghosts of the past and present, he was visited by the ghosts of the Klingons and Romulans. … Sometimes fresh eyes can solve a problem. I suggest we let the U.S. government work on Brexit and have the Brits tackle the government shutdown.  Gotta be better than what’s going on, although today the President and Congress agreed to a three-week halt in the halt. Gotta be encouraging to employees “We’ll pay you but you may only have three week before we do this again.” … A regular feature of the Oscar awards is a retrospective featuring members of the film industry who have died in the last year. This year will include another segment of individuals accused of misconduct of various kinds.

A lot of attention was focused on the meal President Trump provided for the national champion Clemson football team.  With the government shutdown affecting the cooking staff, Trump provided a banquet feast of fast food.

The president chose from the essential food groups:, onion rings, French fries,  shakes, jalapeno poppers. … A pilot has been ordered for “Lincoln”. That is  a series based on “The Bone Collector”, which starred Denzel Washington and all I can say is, hey, everybody needs a hobby. I used to collect insects. …. My resolution each year is to not make any new year’s resolution I have a 100-percent record of success. … Our neighbor is not too bright. He was worried the government shutdown means that the water to Niagara Falls will be turned off.  I told him probably not until they put the cover over the Grand Canyon. … The latest in the outer space entertainment franchise is under development—Star Trek, The Golden Years. In the opening episode, the characters are reliving their roles at a nursing home. Dr. McCoy intones to Kirk “Damn it, Jim. I’m not a … uh I’m a uuh. Where am I?” And given his addled state, everywhere he goes is somewhere Kirk thinks he has never been before. … Physical therapy can be very uncomfortable I have learned. As the therapist leaned into my knee again, I remarked, “Isn’t this banned by the Geneva Convention?”

You know you have a dull existence when your life flashes before your eyes and you fall asleep. ... I am always amused by the TV broadcast, "Dick Clark New Year’s Rockin Eve" as the namesake died in 2012.

It reminds me of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who died in England in 1839.  His will dictated his skeleton and mummified head be assembled, clad in a black suit ad seated in a chair in a wooden cabinet He has been in a corridor at University College London since 1850. I am wondering how soon Clark will be hauled out and seated in Times Square. ... TV viewers were perplexed and some amused by a young couple caught, show we say, starting the New Year with a bang. "I don't know Dick. It's got a beat,but can you hump to it?' … General Mills is planning a new entry in its famous Chex cereal line aimed at celebrating our Democratic governmental values. The new product is called Chex and Balances. … This year’s Rose Parade could have better reflected current issues in the United States. But a float to show the proposed U.S-Mexico border wall was rejected by sponsors, but was a serious contender for the "International Cooperation" award. A National Marijuana Growers' Association float was also rejected because of fears it would be picked clean before the parade started. Speaking of floats, there were 40 in the Pasadena event this year with 23 awards handed out. I suppose everyone received a Participant Award.

People with abusive bosses are more likely to treat direct reports ethically and with respect, according to a recent study. I have a couple of people I’d like to thank for contributing to the improvement in my career.

…  People can say a lot of things under anesthesia. Apparently on the way into knee surgery, I confessed to the kidnapping of the Lindburgh Baby and being Bigfoot. …  The year 2020 will be the 25th anniversary of the debut of the TV series “Xena”, known for its revealing costumes of well-endowed female characters In the anniversary special, the Amazons enlist Xena and Gabrielle in the search for a way to fix their sagging bosoms. … The long-running home improvement show “This Old House” has been expanding its brand with programs such as “Ask This Old House” and “This Old House Trade School”. Coming soon is “This Old House—Urban Slumlord”. ... Trailers are hitting for the new “Downton Abbey” movie. Among critical scenes in the new film is a tear-jerking moment in which the wait staff corrects incorrectly arranged meal seatings.

Unanet has added AI-powered innovations to its ERP applications, included a new Accounts Payable Automation system.

The company said it “Improves customers' invoice handling, data review, and accounting workflows, resulting in greater financial control, fewer errors, and a tighter procure-to-pay process.” Accounts Receivable Automation, available in Unanet's GovCon and AE ERP software, is designed to streamline end-to-end workflows. Spend Management features new ERP integrations and will offer direct access to Mesh Payments enterprise-wide spend management, integrated corporate card, and insights platform.

Certinia has underscored its use of AI in Spring 2024 release, describing the product’s “Infusing pragmatic AI capabilities”. 

The company, which said the release several major developments incorporating AI, noted the ability to simulating closing opportunities on a related estimate and conducting what-if analysis, as giving users the ability to adjust inputs. In addition, Certini said Spring ’24 introduces enhancements to accurately scope projects and easily analyze estimates. It provides a predefined set of questions specific to each services product in Services CPQ, which also offers an estimate overview, The releases also offers work planner enhancements, which include the ability to pivot between hours and percentages, along with filters for matching resources based on skills and distance. Certinia said the there is an updated resource request “features allow for better management and visualization of scheduled hours for suggested resources.”  Resources’ schedules can be viewed in Gantt charts and overviews of key performance indicators and with the use of automated billing event splits project managers can bill up to a billing cap and split the remaining amount. Project costs can also be split and attached to milestones allocated to specific budgets,

Infor has introduced Infor GenAI and ESG Reporting. Both products went into early adoption via invitation this month.

Infor GenAI utilizes large language models to generate, contextualize, analyze, and summarize content. In one example, Infor said the tool could be used for automatic assignment of attributes for products in distribution, creating exception summary for complex projects in industrial manufacturing. The company said its applications adhere to stringent security and data privacy best practices. ESG Reporting helps monitor and analyze resource consumption and waste across your organization and supply chain. Infor says the application relies on data collection from operations such as transactional systems and supply chain with Infor Industry Analytics delivering audit-ready metrics using templates based on ESG reporting frameworks, Global Reporting Initiative  and European Sustainability Reporting Standard.

 Deltek has introduced Dela, which it calls an AI-powered, intelligent business companion.

Deltek says Dela is a suite of existing AI-based technologies, which is designed to encompass future capabilities.  Elements of Dela capabilities are already being used in the company’s GovWin IQ and Vantagepoint products and will soon be fully available in Deltek ERP applications, starting with Vantagepoint. The assistant is described as organizing “vast amounts of data and distills it into concise, actionable insights with GenAI-powered Smart Summaries.” Among the first was GovWin IQ Smart Summaries, which was introduced late last year and quickly produces executive federal Agency Profiles, federal Contract Awards and state, local, and education (SLED) Government Profiles. Deltek says when introduced into its ERP software, Dela, which utilizes a natural language interface, will automate labor forecasting. One of those ERP applications, Costpoint, features GenAI capabilities, including the Hey Deltek, feature for the latest release to enable users to ask questions of the assistant.

It’s that time of year again—submissions are now being accepted for Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs.

The selection for 2024 once again ranks 100 mid-market resellers by revenue and provides information about the product lines carried by each. The special report that accompanies the ranking will discuss the impact, or lack of, artificial intelligence on mid-market reselling.—it’s hard to think of anything else that is drawing so much discussion. To receive a form, please email [email protected] . If you have any questions about any part of the process, they are welcome.

Another 100 resellers have been honored by their selection to Bob Scott’s VAR Stars. As always VAR Stars members are not ranked. This selection is designed to honor VAR of all sizes from the smallest to the largest. This year’s class faces the unexpectedly rapid development of generative AI and its impact on almost everything in the technology world. This year’s report discuss trends in the mid-market and reseller reaction to the demands of the latest wave of change.

Stay tuned for the May publication of Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs, which are ranked by revenue.

The 2023 VAR Stars is brought to you by our sponsors:

Report: 2018 VAR Stars Building on the Cloud

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2018 BSI Top 100 VARS

Bob Scott's Insights would like to congratulate all the 2018 BSI Top 100 VARS winners.

This year's selection of Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs comes at a time of dramatic change to the business. Larger firms are becoming larger and all are grappling with the movement of the business from reliance on desktop software to the cloud. Read about the state of the market and the names of the selected resellers.

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