Managed services News
ConnectWise CEO Says ‘We Definitely Failed’ In Communication To Partners And Workers, But Vows ‘Doubling Down’ To Right The Ship
O’Ryan Johnson
After four percent of employees were laid off, ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee said the company “definitely failed” its partners and employees when it comes to communicating the company’s goals and priorities.
‘Do We Have To Get Our Mojo Back?’
Days after layoffs sent four percent of its workforce packing, ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee said the company “definitely failed” its partners and employees when it comes to communicating the company’s goals and priorities.
“Internally, someone asked what are we doing to make support better?” Magee told CRN. “I asked them if they knew how many resources we had when we started the year? How many resources we are at currently, and they had no idea, right? So we’re not even just not good at communicating externally, we have the same internal challenge. That’s where we definitely failed in this aspect.”
Magee said over the last 30 to 60 days the company has, put more of its India colleagues to work in Tier 1 support, bumping up the total number of support personnel from 150 to 225, in that timeframe. The move to lay off colleagues – across all departments, the company said -- was the unfortunate consequence of COVID-19’s impact on the company’s plan for 2020, and not the mandate of its private equity owners Thoma Bravo.
“We had a plan and an approach after the acquisition of Continuum and whatnot, of taking what I would call, the humane approach and, as people leave, to reinvest and ship things around to the people who need it,” he said. “What COVID impacted us on was the approach. That approach slowed down and that’s what we had to pivot on.”
In fact, he said, rather than taking revenue, Thoma Bravo actually gave ConnectWise between $25 million and $40 million in additional cash to enhance its products and delivery.
“Do we have to get our mojo back?’ I don’t look at it that way, as we’ve always got to stay on top of our game,” he said. “We’re always going to be pushing ourselves to be the company that everyone in the industry looks up to. Do I feel like we’re there? No.”
