Symantec hands over consulting services to partners

Symantec has confirmed plans to shift the majority of its direct consulting services business to select partners in Australia.

Symantec channels and SMB director for Asia-Pacific and Japan, David Dzienciol, said the vendor’s long-term global objective was to drive and recognise more services business led through partners. Consulting services encompasses traditional IT services such as technology deployment, infrastructure assessments, health checks and risk management.

The vendor plans to retain a select few high-end, very large global accounts but will certify partners in each country for the majority of consulting business under a new formal services program. The initiative will run independently of Symantec’s traditional channel structure.

“This model is about scalability and giving partners the ability to leverage more offerings with their customers, which creates long-term revenue opportunities around Symantec solutions,” Dzienciol said. “It further aligns to our vision of working with the channel community.

“The key difference is that by taking our focus away from driving our own services, it removes any perceived competition between us and our partners.”

The vendor will now work on identifying suitable partners across the region and Australia to become authorised consulting services providers. Candidates will need to demonstrate skills in lines of business and Symantec product sets, have existing services capabilities, or be willing to further invest and expand their services portfolio.

“We haven’t traditionally measured those existing [partner] services in terms of revenue or quality,” Dzienciol explained. “We will have new enablement activities to ensure partners have access to the right Symantec IP, toolsets and best practices.”

Dzienciol said partners could be large or small, with vertical market, SMB or enterprise-sized customer focuses.

“These are partner-led services, endorsed by Symantec through enablement and certification, driving their own services to deploy, upgrade or conduct risk assessments and health checks. Many partners in A/NZ have been and are already well equipped to drive services in the market place,” he said.

The consulting services initiative kicked off in North America in October last year. The vendor also recognises a range of other channel-led offerings covering managed services, hosting, business critical and education services.

“Consulting services is the one where there has been conflict in the past,” Dzienciol added.