Symantec Australia tech support layoffs not as widespread as reported: reseller

Claims rumours of no local tech support are 'rubbish' and only PC tools support team affected

Symantec has not let go of its Australian tech support team and off-shored it to India, according to an insider who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The source claimed that rather than as reported elsewhere the layoffs only related to the PC tools support team.

The source, who has a close business partnership with Symantec, clarified that the vendor’s core tech support team is intact.

Instead, the redundancies were expected in the consumer-centric PC tools support team.

“The rumours about the entire tech support team being let go are not true at all,” the source said.

“It is just the PC tools team that has had its support outsourced to India but nobody else.”

The source characterised the layoffs as affecting only “a few people” on the PC tools side and not anybody in the “core” Symantec team.

As for assertions that there is now no local support by Symantec for Australian customers, the source labelled it as “rubbish” and reiterated that the enterprise support team remains in place.

When asked whether the changes to the PC tools team will affect their reseller business, the source expects it to be "business as usual."

“This development won’t affect resellers such as us in the slightest, as PC tools is just the consumer product side and is not related enterprise products,” the source said.

Part of a bigger change

Symantec Australia yesterday declined to answer any direct questions about the alleged layoffs, such as the true extent of the downsizing, why India was selected to off shore, and how the job cuts were communicated to affected employees.

A spokesperson from Symantec instead responded by saying that the company is undergoing a “transformation” and a “company-wide reorganisation” forms a part of this.

“As a result, some positions have been identified for redundancy,” the spokesperson said.

They added the reorganisation effort is not limited to Australia but is global in scope.

Symantec’s spokesperson was unable to confirm or deny which teams or locations are affected by the reorganisation, as well as any specific numbers.

“The specifics around individual employees remain confidential,” the spokesperson said.

“However, we are in the process of determining whether we may be able to redeploy some of our staff into different roles within company.”

Patrick Budmar covers consumer and enterprise technology breaking news for IDG Communications. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_budmar.

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