Nonprofit vendor Blackbaud started delivering the message in its first-quarter results that payments is one of its big initiatives for the year. That came across with increasing strength during presentations by the company's executives at the recent Jefferies 2014 Global Technology, Media and Telecom conference "Our payments is not integrated with all our platforms, but it will be," said CEO Mike Gianoni.

Epicor Software cut its loss for the second quarter ended March 31 to $3.3 million from $12.8 million in last year's corresponding quarter. The company this week reported second-quarter revenue of $242.8 million for the most recently ended period, up 1.8 percent from $238.6 million a year earlier. The revenue side seems a bit anemic, but the company bumped up operating profits by reducing operating expenses by $5 million, combined with increased sales.

Sage Chief Executive Guy Berruyer intends to retire from his job within the next year. Berruyer, who has been with the company for 17 years, wishes to retire "as Chief Executive and from executive life no later than 31 March 2015." Berruyer took over the job four years ago from long time chief executive Paul Walker. This looks like a real retirement, not a pursuing other interests kind. Berruyer notes that "at 63 years old I still have many things I want to achieve besides my executive career".

Factor out some elements and the performance of Exact's Specialized Solutions, which includes five product lines, pleased the company for the first quarter ended March 31. On the surface, revenue was off by 4.3 percent, but the company noted that stemmed from the weakness in the U.S. dollar and also reflected a drop in revenue from Lohn which had some P&L numbers transferred to Exact's Business Solutions division.