Symantec: Top resellers twice as well off under new programme

New partner programme will mean bigger rewards for committed top-level Platinum and Gold partners, vendor claims

Symantec claims top partners will be up to twice as well off under its new partner programme.

The competency-based scheme, which went live on 7 October, sees the security and storage vendor offering a slew of new accelerator, growth and customer retention rebates to partners prepared to make big investments in technical and sales headcount and joint business planning.

Talking to CRN, Mark Nutt, vice president of partner management EMEA at Symantec, said the vendor is still in the process of allocating partners to each tier but indicated there would be fewer top-level Platinum partners under the new regime.

"Does that mean we've demoted partners?" Nutt (pictured) asked.

"Well actually, as a Gold partner today you will earn more with Symantec than you earned in the previous programme as a Platinum partner. For Gold partners, like for like, there's upwards of an 80 per cent uplift in financial benefits."

Like many other vendors this year – EMC among them – Symantec is raising the bar for top partners under the new programme, which soft-launched in May after a 12-month design phase. As well as delivering a revenue number, Platinum partners must invest heavily in technical and sales capabilities across a number of competencies to attain the top-level badge.

Top Platinum partners will potentially see their total compensation package more than double, Nutt added.

This comes in the form of a new "growth accelerator" rebate of up to eight per cent and a two per cent rebate for achieving retention rates and renewals. A rebate of up to five per cent through the new "Symantec partner development fund", which sees Symantec invest against proposals from partners to drive growth, is also up for grabs.

Nutt brushed off concerns that Symantec's impending split into two independent businesses will make partners think twice about backing the new programme.

"We know we've got at least 12 months ahead of us when this programme will be key to us building stronger partnerships and driving growth in the market," he said. "And when you think about the fact it's competency-based, the programme is foundational for the success of both our information security and information management business."

Andy Wright, commercial director at SCC, said he was "pretty relaxed" about the impact the split would have on the new programme.

"Because it's a competency model, as the business splits the competencies will remain," he said.

Wright agreed that SCC will be "considerably better off" under the new model "if we deliver the things that Symantec needs" around services, competencies and customers sectors, as well as renewals.

"This has already kicked off a deeper level of planning between the two businesses," Wright said.

"With the extra rebate and investment on the table from Symantec, we can put more pre- and post-sales effort into the deployments."

Nutt said all partners will know where they sit within two weeks.

"With the majority of partners we have gone through a six-month transition period and they know exactly where they will be," he said. "But there are some that could fall either side of the threshold and for those partners we are still working through it."