Symantec leads way with virtual training

From afar: Virtual training will be more convenient for VARs

Real-time virtual training is to be pioneered in the UK channel by Symantec as part of the security and storage vendor’s new Partner University.

Symantec hopes the concept, which has already proved popular among US resellers, will catch on as an alternative to classroom-based training among UK partners. An EMEA-wide pilot will run in quarter four of this year.

Symantec claims it is one of the first vendors to offer multi-day courses in Europe using a virtual classroom model, but admitted bandwidth and cultural issues could scupper its plans.

Terrie Anderson, Symantec’s senior director for EMEA, told CRN: “In the US there is a lot of bandwidth availability and culturally firms promote remote working and doing things online.

“In Europe we have 25 different cultures and bandwidth could be a problem in some emerging territories. We will pursue it if it is something that partners want.”

Simon Aron, managing director of VAR Eurodata, said he had not seen any other vendor offering this delivery model for anything longer than a two-hour webinar.

“Online real-time training is the way forward because some vendors’ training venues are miles away. There would need to be very clear instructions as to the set up of sound, vision and the quality of the bandwidth used,” he said.

Paul Spencer, director at VAR Axial, felt it was probably worth trying. “This is a new concept, but whether it takes off depends on how effective it is in practice. If the connectivity produces a good experience for delegates then it could catch on.”

He claimed the concept may be more suited to smaller European countries where less face-to-face training takes place.

“There is a high volume of resellers in the UK within driving distance of classroom-based training, so I am not sure there are the same reasons to move across to this as there are in the US,” he said.