Day91 Brief — Issue 012

A · read

Paychex reported Q1 fiscal 2027 revenue of $1,630.5 million, up 6% from $1,540.0 million. Management Solutions, the payroll and HR software line, grew to $1,213.1 million from $1,163.3 million. The 10-Q attributes that growth to "higher revenue per client resulting from price realization and product penetration." PEO & Insurance grew 12% to $367.6 million.

SG&A was $581.2 million against $584.3 million a year earlier, even as the 10-Q cites "higher technology and selling investments." That is 35.6% of revenue, down from 37.9% (calculated). Operating margin was 38.0% against 35.2%.

The full-year guide for Management Solutions stays at 5–6% growth. Q1 came in at 4.3% (calculated), so the rest of the year has to run faster. PEO & Insurance guidance rose to 7–8% from 6–7%.

SO WHAT: If you sell to small businesses against Paychex, their customers are absorbing price rises now. Ask prospects what their last Paychex renewal looked like. A 4% core growth rate built on price, not on new clients, leaves less room to discount against you.

Sources: Q1 FY27 release, 23 Sep · 10-Q, filed 24 Sep

A · read

BlackBerry reported Q2 fiscal 2027 revenue of $163.3 million, up 26% from $129.6 million. QNX grew 27% to $80.3 million. Secure Communications grew 2% to $60.9 million, with ARR "stable at $221 million" and dollar-based net retention of 91%. Licensing added $22.1 million. The release does not say whether that recurs.

The company raised its fiscal 2027 outlook to $616–636 million in revenue. Its Q3 revenue guide is $143–154 million. The midpoint, $148.5 million, is 9.1% below Q2 (calculated). Sales and marketing was $25.3 million, or 15.5% of revenue (calculated).

SO WHAT: A 91% net retention rate means the Secure Communications base loses about 9% of its revenue each year before any new sales. When BlackBerry competes on secure messaging, the growth story belongs to QNX, not to the product you are up against. Ask about ARR and retention, not total revenue.

Source: Q2 FY27 release, 24 Sep

A · read

Last issue we could not locate Adobe's Q3 10-Q. It was filed on 22 September. Remaining performance obligations were about $22.16 billion at 28 August, which confirms the figure we reported from the earnings release. Adobe says approximately 67% will be recognized over the next twelve months. That share excludes non-cancellable enterprise agreements, which make up about 3% of the total.

Adobe does not disclose current RPO in dollars. Only the 67% ratio is in the filing. Total deferred revenue was $7.204 billion, against $7.030 billion at the fiscal year-end, up 2.5% (calculated). Total Adobe ARR exited the quarter at $27.50 billion.

SO WHAT: Our read from Issue 007 stands. ARR is rising while contracted backlog has slipped since year-end. The Q4 threshold to watch in December is still about $2.16 billion of RPO additions for 8% growth.

Sources: 10-Q, filed 22 Sep · Q3 release (EX-99.1), 10 Sep

A · read · correction

In Issue 007 we wrote that Atlassian's increase on 13 October is 7% below 5,000 seats and 10% at 5,000 and above. That rule comes from a partner's summary. Atlassian's own pages do not state it. Its published tables are not uniform by band:

Atlassian confirms the date: "New prices will go into effect October 13, 2026 PT." Quotes generated before then are honored until they expire. Separately, metered pricing for Rovo credits, automation steps and AI agent resolutions starts on 3 December, with no per-unit prices published yet.

SO WHAT: The advice holds. If you renew Atlassian, get a quote before 13 October. But check your own tier in Atlassian's table rather than applying a flat 7% or 10%. And budget for December: seat price is only part of the bill.

Sources: Atlassian future pricing · Pricing tables · Usage-based pricing, 1 Sep

A · read

Power Apps Premium goes from $20 to $22 per user per month on 1 January 2027, up 10%. The 2,000-seat tier goes from $12 to $14, up 16.7% (calculated). The new price "applies to new purchases, renewals, and co-terminations with a term beginning on or after January 1, 2027."

From 1 October, Microsoft also adds a 5% "cost of capital uplift" to annual CSP software subscriptions billed monthly. That covers SQL Server, Windows Server and similar. Upfront billing is unaffected.

SO WHAT: The biggest customers take the biggest percentage increase. If you compete with Power Apps for low-code budget, large accounts have a new reason to look before their 2027 renewal. If you buy through CSP, switching to upfront billing avoids the 5%.

Sources: Power Apps Premium price update, 9 Sep · Partner Center announcements, August

B · unpulled

On 3 September, Salesforce replaced Enterprise, Unlimited and Agentforce 1 with Core, Advanced and Max. As reported, the prices per user per month are:

Each bundles Flex Credits for AI agents: 500,000, 1 million and 2.75 million per org per year. Slack, Tableau Next and the Premier Success Plan are also included. Salesforce's own pages returned errors to us, so these figures come from trade coverage, not from the vendor.

SO WHAT: Bundling AI credits and support into a new edition name makes the increase harder to compare line by line. If you sell alongside Salesforce, expect customers' renewal budgets to tighten in 2027. We will move this to A once we pull Salesforce's own page.

Sources: CIO.com, 4 Sep · SalesforceDevops.net, 14 Sep

A · read (Zscaler) · B · unpulled (Nutanix)

On 24 September, Zscaler filed an 8-K: Chief Revenue Officer Mike Rich steps down on 1 October and stays as a strategic advisor to year-end. Ross Tackett, currently Head of Worldwide Sales, becomes CRO.

The same day, Nutanix filed an 8-K: President and Chief Commercial Officer Tarkan Maner leaves on 2 October. CEO Rajiv Ramaswami takes over sales, marketing and customer experience. We have not opened the Nutanix filing.

SO WHAT: A sales-leader change in Q4 usually means territory and comp-plan changes in Q1. Expect Zscaler and Nutanix account teams to be reshuffled around renewals. That is a window to reach their customers.

Sources: Zscaler 8-K · Nutanix 8-K

C · no document

A SaaS price tracker lists Kommo CRM raising Base from $15 to $25 and Advanced from $25 to $35 per user per month from 1 September. We could not find the change on Kommo's own pages.

SO WHAT: Price trackers are useful leads and poor sources. Do not quote a competitor's price in a deal unless you can show the page it came from.