Dell-SilverBack Partner Conference: More Assurances, Less Answers

Stephen Wright, president of Wright Business Technologies, a Houston-based MSP and SilverBack partner, could not attend the conference, but he was eager to hear any tidbit of news coming from Dell. "I've heard absolutely nothing about the future for this product and how it affects dealers and whether they will continue to be VAR-only or sell it directly. That's one of my frustrations. Since Dell has taken over, there's been so little communication," he said.

SilverBack used to be a very open company with its partners, he said. "Since the buyout. I'm not saying they're not accessible. We can still call the same people and they say, 'Yeah, everything's normal.' But Dell just doesn't seem like that kind of company to acquire somebody and then not make any changes."

Wright said he may look at investing in another managed services platform vendor if Dell is not more forthcoming on SilverBack's future. "We're certainly looking to hear what happens. I'm not saying we will switch. As of right now, the platform still works and it's getting the job done. If they come to me and say next year's renewal is due now and they haven't told me what's going to happen, I may consider switching. I just feel like I don't have a clue. I can't base my business on somebody who's not talking."

For another MSP, the wait has already been too long. Xperteks Computer Consultancy dropped SilverBack's platform in favor of N-Able Technologies about three months ago because of the lack of communication, said Marcial Velez, president of the New York-based company.

"I went to the [CMP] XChange event in Orlando [last year]. I spoke to [former SilverBack CEO] Dan Phillips. He didn't even seem to know what going on. Partners heard about [the sale to Dell] the same time as everybody else. It just didn't seem like a partnership was there," Velez said. "I couldn't prepare for anything new. [The news] goes out on the Internet, now I have to react to it. That's weird coming from a company that had such a proactive model with partners."

The MSP who asked not to be named stressed to Dell executives at the show that communication was imperative to a strong relationship. "We said let's not wait another year before we talk again. Let's back in the next quarter," he said. "We were very open with them. They listened. Hopefully they'll come through and resolve the couple of issues."

Dan Phillips, global director of channel services for Dell and Silverback's former CEO, acknowledged that it's been hard not to share more information with partners.

He said his keynote to partners at the conference apologized for the lack of communication. "This has been a very difficult five-and-a-half months for the former SilverBack team. We haven't been able to communicate and share and respond in the way that we used to. But it was for a very, very good reason," he said. "If you're a $60 billion company and have 80,000 employees and managed services and the channel are long-term strategic plays for you, by announcing everything before its time or before it's fully understood puts you at risk of losing billions of dollars. It's a very unfortunate situation, but a very necessary situation to be in."

Being able to talk to 175 people to a partner conference this week was "a cleansing" for SilverBack, Phillips said. "We got to talk for 2-and-a-half days, and share a tremendous amount of data. And I think our partners that came were wanting more. Our strongest feedback was to have another partner conference, soon. But I think they left believing that we are very serious about building a world-class managed services platform and being the de facto standard for managed services, and bringing channel along with us."

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