The Epicor Software story for the year ended September 30 for its ERP business was the story across the software industry. Subscription-based revenue rose by double digits as sales of cloud-based products increased. And during this week's earnings webcast, CEO Joseph Cowan referred to what he called the company's "cloud-first business model" for software. Meanwhile, the company continued chopping its losses, which stem from the interest on the debt incurred when the company was purchased and the old Epicor and Activant were merged under the Epicor name.

Blackbaud revealed plans for its NXT line of software months ago. But the company has recently turned up the volume for the iteration of its fundraising and financial software packages fall into that category. Its home page recently began to display a dominant graphic proclaiming "The NXT Generation is Coming", accompanied by the tagline "Intuitive Cloud Accounting", along with links to some short, semi-animated videos and screen shots.

Last week's report that Fred Studer, GM of Microsoft Dynamics since May 2011, has moved to NetSuite to become chief marketing officer has been confirmed. Studer updated his LinkedIn page to reflect the new job. And NetSuite issued a press release in which NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson termed him a marketer with "creative and innovative flair. Tweets last week showed dismay from many. One prominent reseller emailed this comment: "This is horrible news.

Xero has abolished the position of chief revenue officer. The company attributed the decision to the hiring of a chief marketing officer who has responsibility for online sales and marketing, and the growth in regional capabilities. As a result, Stuart McLean, who held the position, is joining Trade Me, a New Zealand-based online market place, as a senior executive. McLean joined Xero, which makes low-cost cloud accounting applications, in March 2013, after serving as head of Google's enterprise operations in Australia and New Zealand.