Bob Scott’s list of top accounting resellers released
Boyer & Associates has once again made the list of Top 100 VARs, as published in the spring 2018 edition of Bob Scott’s Insights. This is the ninth consecutive year Boyer has made the list.
“It has been a pleasure to win this award each of the past nine years,” said owner Jack Boyer. “I’ve known Bob Scott since my days with Solomon Software years ago, and winning Bob’s national recognition awards is something people have coveted for a decade.”
The list is based on annual revenue and recognizes the top Value-Added Resellers (VARs) of accounting software typically referred to as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) products. Insights editor Bob Scott has covered the accounting industry for 27 years and started publishing the list in 2010.
This edition is aptly titled “Growth and Transition.” As Scott notes, some companies have sold to large CPA firms or merged with other resellers to join efforts and gain a stronger presence in the market. Others have focused their energies on finding a niche vertical that makes them stand out in the world of VARs.
‘Winning Bob’s national recognition awards is something people have coveted for a decade.’ – Boyer & Associates owner Jack Boyer
Most have also shifted their attention toward growing their cloud-based offerings. Along with this focus on the cloud comes a major change in how resellers operate their business, a direct response to the subscription-based pricing model of many cloud products.
In the past, VARs sold an ERP product, received the revenue upfront and then began implementation for the client. With Software as a Service, or SaaS, becoming the norm, resellers are more often selling the products for a small monthly fee and counting on the continued subscription billing to make up the difference over time.
Boyer said this new pricing model reflected in Microsoft’s mid-market cloud offering makes it much easier for prospective clients to take the plunge and buy the software. He said when clients had to write a check for $10,000 to $80,000, they understandably saw that as a considerable risk.
Scott notes that the shift in pricing demands VARs continually seek to add to their customer base in order to grow.
“The major lesson VARs must learn is that reaching new customers, not just servicing an installed base, is the goal,” Scott writes. “As sales build, subscription payments over an increasing number of customers can become significant.”
Staying in the Top 100
Boyer & Associates was one of the first to begin offering Microsoft’s first cloud-based ERP offering. After a few name changes, the product is now called Dynamics 365 Business Central and is quickly gaining momentum as an alternative to both QuickBooks and on-premise ERP systems.
This year, Boyer is also working hard to create a niche within the nonprofit realm. To that end, the company recently announced a vertical geared specifically for associations.
“Association Financials” is powered by Dynamics 365 Business Central in keeping with Boyer’s commitment to the Microsoft line of Dynamics products. The offering will be available for deployment soon.
