Fred Patterson, director of enterprise channels at Symantec Canada, said the company's channel partners and distributors are important in helping it achieve its goals.
"At this time we have made no formal change in our channel strategy and as such expect no material change in our go-to-market strategy," he said.
Symantec's Parrish says the move to an open-source distribution is designed to help partners compete.
Customers have the option of purchasing products direct, Parrish says Symantec recently allowed distributors such as Tech Data and Ingram Micro to take training and receive certifications to be eligible to receive additional products from them. An open-source distribution model is what Symantec's distribution partners were asking for, Parrish notes. No longer are the distributors limited to carrying Symantec SMB products, she says, which will open up further market opportunities.
Myers says this option was recently made to Canadian distributors with Symantec's UNIX enterprise product suite, which will hopefully help Tech Data improve its business with Symantec and further expand its position in the security space.
"I have always been in favor of open-source distribution," Myers said. "When you have it closed, you limit the ability for the partner to drive their business. For credit, product availability, and coverage reasons, going open-source through multiple distribution points is part of what makes the reseller market so strong."
Other misunderstandings were around Symantec's decision to take its SMB renewal deals direct. This is not the case, Parrish insists. Symantec will send a letter to its customers 60 days within the expiration date of the product that advises customers to renew their product. In the same letter, she said the partner who sold the product to the customer will also be stated. In 30 days time, another letter is sent to help facilitate the renewal process in which the specific partner information is again made available, but this time an option for renewing online is also included.
"We're trying to facilitate the matching to the partner," Parrish said. "In the SMB space, we realized our renewal rates weren't where we wanted them to be. Thus our efforts to help drive more automation came about to show customers which partner to go to (for renewal)."
Another statement that Salem made during the call reads, "So if you're a platinum partner, you'll have the opportunity to buy direct from Symantec. Because if the distribution channel is not adding value there's no reason to keep them in the part of the equation."
While this statement came from a company that has always touted its channel-friendliness, it was no surprise that it then caused a huge uproar in the channel.