SonicWall revamp is welcomed

Top partners hope changes will draw a line under recent support issues associated with Chertsey centre

SonicWall's support overhaul has been hailed by top partners critical of the level of service they have been receiving from its Chertsey support centre.

As revealed by ChannelWeb, the security vendor is outsourcing support for the bulk of its EMEA partners and customers to a third-party provider in Poland.

This means its Chertsey centre - created in 2009 when SonicWall brought all EMEA support in-house - will now deal only with support for Sonic­Wall's top-level Gold partners and a handful of large enterprises.

The change in tack was prompted by high staff turnover at Chertsey and the need to ensure Gold partners receive a premium level of service, SonicWall said.

Neil Roberts, chief operating officer at Gold partner Concorde, said: "It is no secret that SonicWall's support has been shocking in the past year, particularly around its CDP product.

"When we rang Chert­sey or Delhi, they would ask us to unplug something, which is not what you expect as a senior channel partner."

Roberts added: "If this works, it will be like a breath of fresh air as we will have access to dedicated technicians in Chertsey."

Vincent Booth, managing director of Gold partner Solved IT, also welcomed SonicWall's move.

"We have naturally had access to top-level engineers based in Chertsey since day one, but on occasion this has proven difficult due to their other commitments," he said. "Being able to work very closely with these guys gives us a major advantage in both cost and time."

Andy Zollo, vice president of EMEA at SonicWall, said: "When we moved support in-house, the objective was to improve service levels, but we realised the best way to do that is through a hybrid model. It gives you the best of both worlds."