Symantec sets timetable for programme overhaul

New competency-based system designed to help resellers differentiate themselves will debut in October

Jason Ellis: This will give partners a huge opportunity to differentiate themselves

Symantec has decided not to axe its Platinum, Gold and Silver tiers as it moves to a competency-led partner model.

At this week’s Partner Engage event in China, Symantec revealed it will launch its new partner programme, which will revolve around up to eight competencies, in October.

The badges already finalised are for core security, endpoint management, IT compliance, data loss prevention, data protection and archiving & discovery. There will also be separate categories for SMB specialists and volume players.

But in a departure from the original blueprint, partners will continue to be categorised as Platinum, Gold and Silver based on the number of competencies they hold.

Symantec will also continue running the current programme alongside the new one for a minimum of 12 months, to give partners sufficient time to adjust.

However, the security and storage giant stressed that the majority of financial benefits – including deal registration discounts – would now be aligned by competence.

Jason Ellis, EMEA channel vice-president at Symantec, said: “This will give partners a huge opportunity to differentiate themselves in the market and also make clear to customers which solutions they are specialised in.”

Paul Lyden, director of EMEA Partner Programmes, emphasised that qualification for the competencies would be based on the investments partners have already made.

“We are not asking partners to recertify – it is likely to be an augmentation,” he said.

Divyesh Lakhani, sales director at Symantec distributor Codework, said the new programme would “put some value back into the Symantec channel”.

“The bar will be set a lot higher as you will not be able to commit to everything,” he said. “You will need to put more cash and resources in but in return not everyone will be prepared to make the commitment for each line item.”