Channel commitment sees local Symantec office generate half its revenue from corporates

Symantec`s local operation has announced that its corporate customers now account for 50% of its revenue, an achievement it believes is due primarily to a solid commitment to the channel.

This follows Symantec`s recent announcement of record worldwide results for the first quarter of fiscal 2000, when first quarter revenues of $175 million was reported, an increase of 27% over the same period last year.

Stephan le Roux, Symantec sales manager, explains that Symantec Corporation last year announced its intention to address the corporate space with enterprise-centered products. In line with this, the local office changed its business model and started to focus heavily on the corporate market.

"This strategy is now showing significant results," says Le Roux, "and we`ve exceeded our expected growth in this sector, and surprised our US principles with our quick turnaround!"

He believes that the relationship that has been established with the channel locally is key to this success.

"We value our partners and they are central to everything we do. Our success in the corporate space is due to the dedication of our partners. Like us, they believe our products offer customers the best solution on the market today."

Another move which has strengthened Symantec`s corporate focus considerably is the integration of Symantec`s Norton AntiVirus not only on a Windows NT platform but also onto CA UniCentre and Tivoli.

Simon Bromfield, Symantec product manager at distributor Datatec Workgroup, says this integration has enabled the corporate channel to approach an entirely new range of customers who are using these platforms.

The additional release of Norton AntiVirus for OS2 means there is no platform that Symantec is not on.

"Now we can offer companies a corporate-wide solution," says Bromfield.

The move is indicative of Symantec`s commitment to bringing its retail successes to the corporate environment.

"Long a successful player in the retail market, Symantec is now focusing its efforts on moving its software utilities products into the corporate channel," explains Le Roux.

The release of corporate editions for all Symantec`s products has also broadened its spectrum in the corporate environment. This is true not only for Symantec`s Norton AntiVirus product but also for Ghost and Norton 2000.

Bromfield describes this effort as a "customer focus instead of a product focus".

"Resellers appreciate the value-add, the increase in revenue from licensing and the repeat buys that this corporate focus brings."

Symantec`s corporate growth was also driven by its ability to leverage its partnerships with companies such as IBM and Intel. Since signing an alliance with IBM in May 1998, in which Symantec licensed IBM technologies and IBM agreed to re-market Symantec`s Norton AntiVirus product, Symantec has converted 2.3 million IBM seats worldwide to its anti-virus solution.