Symantec talks up 'unwavering' channel commitment

Security vendor denies departure of "channel champion" sales boss will derail channel plans

Symantec has insisted the departure of its global sales boss, dubbed a "channel champion", will not derail its channel plans as it pledges its "unwavering" support to resellers.

Speaking on a second-quarter conference call transcribed by Seeking Alpha, Symantec talked up its channel plans and said the recent unveiling of its new partner programme has been met with an "overwhelmingly positive" response.

Symantec is spinning off its information management arm Veritas on 1 January but the duo split operationally on 3 October.

Veritas unveiled its new partner programme this week and apologised for some technical issues thrown up by the split last month.

Symantec chief executive Mike Brown said the new programme will be much better for security-focused partners.

"I mean, to be honest, our channel was previously more geared towards our Veritas business," he admitted.

On the call, Brown was quizzed by Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss, who said he was concerned about the departure of the company's recent head of global sales - Adrian Jones - who he described as a "channel champion".

Brown insisted when questioned that Jones' leaving will not put the brakes on Symantec's channel momentum.

"The good news is, we have a pretty deep bench of folks with experience with the channel," he said. "Symantec always have been a channel company. We've been a channel company for 30 years.

"So I think those partners who work with us for a long time know that our commitment is unwavering there. And it's great that we've now introduced Secure One, our new channel programme, which now for the first time can be focused on security partners."

Brown said the new partner programme has gone down very well.

"A key part of improving this go-to-market strategy involves renewed focus on the channel," he said.

"At our October partner event, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive as we laid out our strategy with the launch of Secure One, an enhanced channel partner programme tailored specifically for security-focused channel partners. The new programme consists of training, deal registration, technology support and incentives to drive the results for successful long-term relationships."

For the three months to 2 October, GAAP net profit at Symantec slumped 36 per cent annually to $156m on GAAP sales that over the same period rose seven per cent to $1.5bn.