As Shimel picked up earlier this week, CRN/ChannelWeb dropped what they undoubtably thought was a quite a bomb [article here]. According to the article (and eWeek's sensationalist version here) Symantec was going to strip their own channel of the top 900 global accounts, taking them all direct. According to some, this sort of strategy is what helped bring ISS down. Not quite believing what we were reading (it just seemed a bit, well...crazy and irrational), we dug deeper.

After a few calls, into Symantec, their channel partners, and the financial community, we learned that this was not a new strategy at all. It seems that Big yellow has always allowed their bigger customers to go direct, even if a channel partner registered the deal and brought it to the table. While this seems to "poison the channel", as Shimel said, I have been assured that in most (but not all cases) if the partner registers the deal, but the customer goes direct, then the VAR still gets a 'kickback' on the deal from Symantec. Now, I don't know if this common amongst other vendors, but this does show another leverage point for the buyer. If you can save a few points on the deal by going direct with Symantec, but a VAR did the legwork, then you know a bit of the deal will flow back to them. This is a clear indicator that a little more can be squeezed out of the deal to your advantage. It also means that an interesting dynamic can be created by pitting Symantec against their own channel for the business. In short, the VARs need to work very hard to put the Value back in their name.

Symantec's COO, Enrique Salem's response to the firestorm, forwarded to us by our concerned colleagues,  is pasted below the fold.

Also, the PDF of Salem's original comments to Wall Street , quoted int eh above mentioned articles, can be found here. Page 25 seems to be where all of this noise started.

From: Symantec Corporation

Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4:54 PM

To: Partner

Subject: A Message from Symantec's Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem July 16, 2008

Dear Partner,You may have seen some recent media coverage around Symantec and our partner community. I want to ensure you have the most accurate information on our current channel strategy, correct some of the current misconceptions and reassure you of our dedication to supporting the channel.Symantec continues to be a channel-led company, with the majority of our business flowing through you, our partners. We are deeply committed to providing you with market leading products, the best quality service and support, and programs to help drive profitability and improve your experience with Symantec.There has been no shift in our channel strategy. It is important to remember that Symantec's customers have always had the opportunity to buy direct in all of our segments. This is not new. However, as a result of feedback from our partner community that we provide clearer rules of engagement, we have recently clarified with our partners that only our top named account customers have the choice to take their business direct. We have not made any compensation, discount or program changes that would incent a customer one way or the other. Business outside this list is to be fulfilled 100% by our partners. This provides clear guidance, and a significant opportunity for partners to drive our business in the Enterprise and Mid-market space.I would also like to reiterate that we have not moved away from a two-tier distribution strategy. We continue to maintain a two-tier distribution strategy and, like many other vendors, we are now allowing our single tier partners to fulfill complex enterprise contracts directly with Symantec to streamline the process for our customers and partners.Finally, we are not changing our strategy to take SMB renewals away from our partners. Rather, we have invested in automation that will drive efficiencies for the channel in how we renew customers in our SMB customer segment. Our 60-day renewal notice to our customers encourages the customer to renew, with their partner, and provides information on the reseller of record. At 30 days, we remind the customer to renew - either through their partner, or online. By prompting customers to renew, and providing information on the originating partner, we believe this will increase your profitability and help drive more revenue for you in this space.I appreciate your on-going support of Symantec. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your Symantec sales manager or send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Sincerely,

Enrique Salem
Chief Operating Officer
Symantec Corporation

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