Symantec vs. Partners: Big Misunderstanding?
If you work for Symantec’s channel organization this week, coming to work isn’t much fun. Two channel media sites are claiming that Symantec is taking its large business engagements direct and leaving partners out of the loop.
The controversy stems from comments Symantec’s COO made to Wall Street on June 12, notes ChannelWeb. But has Symantec really changed its channel strategy — or simply clarified how its direct sales force operates?
The controversy started over on ChannelWeb, and has since spilled over to Channel Insider. The VAR Guy expects Channel Marker to weigh in any minute now. eWeek and eChannelLine are also piling on. And several small security software vendors are now trying to recruit partners away from Symantec, according to a few emails that have hit The VAR Guy’s inbox.
But has Symantec really *&^%ED its partners in an attempt to take large corporate sales engagements direct? The VAR Guy isn’t so sure. The controversy, as covered by ChannelWeb (originator of the story), sounds more like bad Symantec communications with partners rather than a concerted effort to bury partners and go direct.
Still, perhaps The VAR Guy is wrong and a bit too trusting of Symantec? After all, this is the company that goofed a major ERP project during the Symantec-Veritas merger, leaving a lot of partners and distributors flying blind as they tried to coordinate Symantec-related sales.
The only thing The VAR Guy knows for sure from all this: EverythingChannel, owner of ChannelWeb, certainly doesn’t look like the only channel media game in town.
