Why Is The Channel Smiling On Symantec?

In fact, the company's program is so accommodating that VARBusiness named Allyson Seelinger, Symantec's vice president of North American consumer and enterprise channels, its 2002 Channel Executive of the Year. In response to some analyst's reservations about her company (see "Financial Experts Cite the Enterprise As a Hurdle" page 36) playing in the big leagues, Seelinger says, "Symantec has made significant progress over the past few years in the enterprise. Most importantly, we've flipped the revenue split so that enterprise revenue accounts for approximately 60 percent of overall revenue. We've announced more enterprise products in the past 12 months than the company has ever announced and improved the manageability of a complex security environment by offering integrated solutions and a management console."

An informal survey of Symantec's channel partners showed that as the security space grows in size and prominence, its leading company has done a solid job of servicing, assisting and educating its VARs. Some partners say Symantec's product lineup still leaves something to be desired in the SMB arena, but its enterprise partners have few complaints.

The centerpiece of Symantec's partner program is its PartnerNet Web site, which has links to security alerts, press releases, product information, and sales, marketing and promotions. The company enhanced the site early last month by adding a half-dozen new partner types and changing the layout to include information specific to a logged-in partner's home region.

Symantec partners say the site is the linchpin of their daily interaction with the company. Gary Cannon, president of Advanced Internet Security, Colorado Springs, Colo., says his only complaint about PartnerNet is that product and pricing updates sometimes arrive a bit slowly, but otherwise, "I'm on it every day. It serves the majority of our needs, and they're constantly adding new features."

When Symantec moves offline, its partner services are differentiated for its partners on the software and the managed-services sides. There are five different programs for software partners: Software Partner, Premier Software Partner, Enterprise Sales Partner, Enterprise Solutions Partner and Enterprise Security Partner. They range in comprehensiveness and complexity from small to midsize VARs who sell either consumer or enterprise products (software partners), to VARs with proven experience providing security solutions to corporate clients. That latter classification is also the most stringent, and it requires that partners maintain minimum customer satisfaction ratings to continue to do business with Symantec. Solution providers must offer both phone and e-mail support resources, maintain on file a six-month business plan, and conduct various kinds of sales training and staff-development sessions.

On the managed-services side, Symantec offers two levels: Managed Security Solutions Partner and Managed Security Reseller Partner. The former category includes VARs who have their own value-added implementation and consulting capability to support the resale of Symantec Managed Security Services. They also have product implementation and support capabilities, such as on-site installation, customer response and postsales support. Managed Security Reseller Partners include traditional corporate VARs who offer networking and security products and provide licensing expertise and software-asset management to enterprise customers.

Stuck Like Glue

In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, the security space figured to be one of the few tech sectors to enjoy a booming 2002. In fact, partners say, 2002 was more about product development and honing marketing messages for products that will start to sell this year. That's where VARs can begin to appreciate Symantec's cooperation.

"It's a very channel-focused company that's very aggressive in providing leads and going on sales calls with us. There's no need to say, 'Let me check with Symantec and get back to you,'" Cannon says. "No other security vendor is as involved."

Other partners agree. Denise Mahaffey, director of marketing for Technology Integration Group (TIG), a systems integrator in San Diego, says that as a Symantec partner for more than three years, TIG's business has benefited. TIG now has 15 offices nationwide and had revenue of roughly $212 million in 2002.

"We've always had great representation of their sales and marketing resources," she says. "Sometimes companies lose contact with their VARs as they grow, but that's not the case at all with Symantec. If you ask for something, it's done with no lag time."

Tim Morgan, TIG's director of consulting services, says this cooperation extends to training. Longtime channel partners receive free quality training that others pay for. "That is crucial in getting the right skillsets out to our people," he says. "The programs are now implemented and have been going quite well."

Some Work To Be Done

Despite its solid track record with existing security partners, a relationship with Symantec may not be for everyone. Tom Shaw, president of Wide Area Management Services (WAMS), a systems integrator in Santa Clara, Calif., was a VAR for Riptech's managed-security solutions and Recourse's intrusion-detection software before Symantec bought both companies last summer. (At the same time, Symantec purchased SecurityFocus for its vulnerability-information technology.) After the acquisitions, Shaw declined to hook up with Symantec. "I was going to partner with them but decided not to," he says. "Symantec saw market penetration for the Riptech product, but I had it for a year and didn't sell even one."

Shaw says the problem was that the midtier enterprise clients simply didn't want the product. "Companies like Visa and big banks that need heavy lifting can use it, but for the midtier, there's no demand for it at that price point," he says. So where do companies like that go for their security solutions if not to Symantec? Shaw sees a trend of independent consultants who are coupling with freeware programmers to make customized security solutions for small to midsize companies.

"Symantec says it's working on integrating all those products for the enterprise, but evolving into a managed-service provider will be challenging," Shaw says.

Symantec's expansion from an anti-virus software company into a comprehensive security solutions provider is the stuff of business-school case studies. The company clearly has fulfilled its end of the bargain with the bulk of its partners. If it can keep integrating its products well and find a way to reach out to the SMB market, the burgeoning security market will be all but locked up.