DETROIT – Nine months after its acquisition of Veritas, Symantec has announced the first major element of its new channel strategy.
But this is not necessarily a long wait, according to a company representative. “We needed to take the appropriate time to ensure that we had the right program.”
Symantec has already been consulting channel partners from the two companies on a new channel strategy, stated Fred Patterson, a director of channel sales at Symantec.
“Our channel strategy was wrapped around one premise – do no harm. Our consultation is based on feedback with a focus on areas most valuable.”
Instead of eight separate web sites around the world, partners can now access a single Symantec portal, PartnerNet.
With the use of a single password they can access account information, order products and access various resources, including training programs, custom marketing material, product information, quote generation and independent third party information on the vendor, Patterson said.
With the independent third party information on Symantec provided, “partners can see how we stack with our competitors,” said Patterson. “PartnerNet is the first of a series of improvements and enhancements in the partner program.”
Product authorization, discounts and benefits have not been altered since the merger, said Patterson.
What has changed is how partner performance is measured. No longer is it based solely on the volume of sales generated, he continued. “It is also based on the value that they bring to their customers. This is a fundamental shift.”
All current Symantec partners including former Veritas partners have been placed in the new channel program where they can qualify for any of the four membership levels Platinum, Gold, Silver and Registered, Patterson explained.
“This is based on their activity in prior Symantec and Veritas programs.”
The new program includes incentives for partners that make active investments in training, specialization and marketing efforts that enhance Symantec, said Patterson.
“Symantec has made a five fold increase in its partner focused technology infrastructure investment,” he added.
Channel specialist Denise Sangster suggests that the size of the acquisition of Veritas for Symantec meant that the new organization had to proceed carefully in terms of its channel strategy.
“Symantec needs to rationalize a lot of things internally before they can rationalize things externally.”
At the same time, Symantec could not afford to allow its partners to wait too long before announcing a strategy that ensures the maintenance of channel confidence in the vendor, she stated.
The other issue is whether an overlapping of Symantec and Veritas partners selling the same products might have lead to a reduction of overall partners following the merger.
But that is not happened, stated Patterson. “We have kept all our partners [from the two companies.]”
Symantec has about 60,000 partners worldwide, engaged in a host of specialized areas, including security and management, systems and storage management, data management and application performance.
