Channel Chief
 “Security is key to partner success”
Ajay Verma, Director, Channels and Alliances, Symantec India shares the company’s new channel initiatives with Sharmee Roy
What are the various initiatives you have planned for partners to do well in the tough economy?
We are working on a number of initiatives to create a push for our partner community. The primary one is to help them specialize in certain areas of security and data availability solutions.
Today, customers are increasingly looking for specialists to address their varied needs. So keeping that in mind, we are working to create specializations within our partner network. We are helping them develop specific skills and competencies.
Another initiative is focused on helping them counter the liquidity challenges confronting them due to the economic slowdown. We have launched a program called Survive and Thrive to offer training on how partners can address critical business challenges.
Can you tell us more about Survive and Thrive?
A management workshop, the program comprises five webcasts and 12 self-paced learning modules. Launched last month, the training course is of six month duration.
It provides practical guidance on how to maximize cash flows, source and invest capital efficiently, identify new business opportunities, and drive business growth. Partners have the flexibility to view webcasts on demand or join the scheduled live sessions. In addition, they can participate in discussions with peers or ask questions to domain experts present on the online forum.
What are the new specializations you have introduced?
Today, organizations are most vulnerable at the end-point. Partners need certain level of competency, more than just installing end-point software, to address blended and insider threats emerging from misuse of sensitive data, malware and spyware attacks. Keeping this in mind, we have introduced a crucial end-point specialization.
The second one is the SMB specialization. We are still evolving the broader framework of this program in India. While we have the entire range of products to address the SMB market, we realize the need to provide a one-point solution to make the maximum of the opportunity.
Are there any specific plans for managed security services?
There is definitely a large market for managed security services. The areas we see great opportunity are in domains like anti-spam, incident management, and back-up reporting.
Also, with our recent acquisition of MessageLabs, we have acquired a strong Cloud-based security-as-a-service portfolio.
Our managed security offerings will have a strong element of Cloud services.
We are in the process of putting an India specific strategy for the same and you may hear more about it in the coming months.
What are the various trends that partners need to watch out for?
In a recently conducted SMB survey, it was found that a large number of SMB customers have grown more aware about the security threats and their implications on business. However this awareness is not translating into adoption of security solutions.
Then there are those SMBs who have deployed end-point solutions and are now looking at system recovery tools. Based on this finding, we have launched the Symantec Protection suite that not only offers end-point security, but also comes with an array of systems recovery tools.
Among large enterprises, compliance remains the biggest challenge. We have a strong suite designed specifically for the compliance needs of the enterprise that includes archiving, incident management co-relation and executive dashboards.
What can your partners expect over the next few months?
As you know, our Aspire program has been running successfully for the last couple of years. We recently announced a double back-end rebate under Aspire.
The Symantec University we launched last year has provided good learning to partners, which has helped them shorten their sales cycle and build solutions for customers more effectively.
Apart from the new specializations we are in the process of launching, we will continue to focus on expanding our presence in the tier-2 and tier-3 cities. |