Scientist Stephen Hawking has issued a warning that humanity may be wiped out by nuclear war, genetically engineered viruses or global warming. He has earlier warned of the dangers of killer robots and human aggression. Vegas bookmakers have already posted odds for the new entries. Personally, I think we may not survive Vegas. ... Storm Jonas will be forgotten as easily as this year's boy band. ... Federal, state and local officials are scrambling to explain the decision by Flint, Mich., to take its drinking water from the Flint River, which has produced elevated lead levels.

With CEO Bill McDermott in his finest "resistance is futile" form, SAP reported strong results for the year ended December 31. In this week's earnings webcast, McDermott painted a picture of the software giant as a company that is in no bad markets and is crushing the competition. "We are one of the few companies that is growing both in the cloud and in license revenue," McDermott said. The German organization, he continued, has the most cloud customers of any software company and its performance is driving "gains about both core and narrowly focused cloud competitors" with the percentage of predictable revenue growing every year.

The Information Technology Alliance has named Lissa Johnsen to the newly created position of VP. Johnsen will take over the majority of the responsibilities of the organization's executive director, Jo Ann Benzer, who is retiring in August after 19 years in her job. Johnsen, who was most recently ITA's treasurer, is Employer Solutions Practice Director at Net@Work.

Brittenford Systems has been named Advisor of the Year for the Concur Advisor program for 2015. The Washington, D.C.-area reseller won the honor in the first year of the award program. CEO Shereen Mahoney notes Brittenford has been a Concur Platinum Advisor since 2013.The company received the award for leading the program in number of units sold through the advisor channel. The program encompasses accountants and ERP Solution Providers.