Symantec may be the next large corporation to split itself into two smaller, more nimble entities. The security company, which has accumulated a number of technologies over the years, from storage, security, commercial and residential, is now following the example of other entities like HP and IBM, who have made similar decisions to focus their attention by other splitting up the company (i.e., HP) or by selling off divisions (i.e., IBM).
The Symantec new, if it happens, signals a larger issue related to corporate structure and efficiency. However, it also is a sign of how these larger entities are approaching the channel, and how changes are required to be successful when engaging with channel partners like MSPs.
Symantec Move a Positive for Channel
The reason larger companies like HP, IBM, Symantec, and others, make decisions to streamline their product and service offerings is predominantly efficiency. As a smaller organization, you tend to have more focus, more efficiencies, greater accountability, and a higher success rate when it comes to sales and marketing. IBM, for example, decided that both its PC and lower end server divisions were getting in the way of their higher margin cloud and high end servers. So, they sold the low end divisions to Lenovo. Now, IBM is left with a lean, focused, high margin organization that can more aggressively sell more narrowly focused solutions to the right type of customer and channel partner.
Accountability is key here. Not just accountability to the channel, but accountability to the shareholders as well. When organizations grow to a certain size, their ability to be efficient in their movements is significantly hampered. Marketing and sales goals become more challenging to meet. Sales teams will naturally gravitate towards higher cost solutions and leave lower cost solutions as afterthoughts.
MSPs also notice when these vendors begin to lose interest in them when they grow to a certain size. The account reps can no longer respond fast enough, the flexibility on pricing, marketing funds, etc., become more rigid, especially for "smaller' MSPs, which in turn causes bad feelings to grow. After a while, this bad sentiment can create a lot of resentment and negative discussion about the vendor. Pretty soon, the vendor has a bad reputation and no MSP wants to work with them. While this may not be a stated reason for these corporate breakups, I certainly believe it is an underlying characteristic they are trying to solve.
Vendors who have channel programs need to focus on growing those partners. Period. This means their products must be clearly defined, and hte channel rules must also be known ahead of time so MSPs can be aware of any direct approach tactics.
