Growth and partners key for Symantec

As Symantec's Vision and ManageFusion 2008 customer and partner conference kicks off, CRN catches up with the company's vice president of its global channel office.

Julie Parrish, has spoken exclusively to CRN about the company's channel strategy and the planned acquisition of PC Tools.

“The most important thing to us is how we manage our relationship with end users. The way to go forward is through communication. A lot of people talk about software as a service and it makes them nervous. We are not going to cut the reseller out,” she said.

Parrish went on to add that despite its size, Australia remains the most mature region in Asia Pacific and a key market and test bed for the company.

“Australia is a very developed and advanced market which looks a lot like the United States in terms of technology trends and reseller trends.”

Parrish said that the acquisition of PC Tools, which Symantec hopes to complete by the end of the year, will expand its consumer product line-up and local footprint.

“We were looking for local talent in terms of their development business and were interested in moving into new emerging markets,” she said.

“Symantec is looking to grow and the way to grow is by acquiring another partner to enter into a new place in the market. Our aim is to buy, to build and to partner with other companies. It helps us to broaden our reach.

Discussing opportunities for the channel, Parrish said that increasing business data growth and the complexity of new trends such as virtualisation will continue to provide new opportunities for resellers.

“Any time you have confusion it’s an opportunity for partners to take that confusion out for the customer and help them understand the best way forward.”
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