Q&A: Symantec CEO On Split, New Security-Focused Channel Vision And Apple Vs. FBI

The split was a huge milestone for Symantec, but not the end of the turnaround. What comes next?

Going back to the beginning, it was important to do a long-term strategy for the company, which for security means Unified Security. … It was important to figure out what the structure of the company would be, going from a strategy to saying we will focus on security. That started with the separation from Veritas. … We decided to go to business units, so now we have a consumer business unit and an enterprise business unit. … Specifically on the consumer business unit, it was, "How do we change the business model and move all of our customers to a subscription service from the cloud?" We took nine different offerings, and now customers have a choice of one service -- it's much more economical. … The profitability is up dramatically, from about 43 points of operating margin to 56 in the last quarter. It's a huge increase in the strength we see underlying the consumer business.