Pacific Partner Engage Kicks-Off in Port Douglas, Queensland

[Dave_Dzienciol]

  The Pacific Partner Engage Conference is one of Symantec’s most important events of the year and last week, I had the great opportunity to meet with approximately 30 senior channel executivesfrom Australia and New Zealand to share with them our plans for the future as well as celebrate some of the key milestones achieved with the enhanced Symantec Partner Program.

Themed “Power Your Business,” the event offered partners the opportunity to hear about Symantec’s strategy and vision, learn more about industry trends that partners can leverage, as well as build relationships, network and exchange ideas with Symantec executives and industry peers.

It was also a perfect opportunity to define how partners can translate trends such as cloud computing, virtualisation and mobility into revenue opportunities for the partner community and discuss the critical role that partners can play in enabling customers to capitalise on the opportunities offered by these trends.

This portion of the event, focused on helping partners understand the importance of taking an information-centric approach to protection. By focusing on information, partners can help their customers confidently capitalise on the opportunities that mobility, virtualisation and cloud computing present without creating more cost, complexity and risk.

At the conference, we also spent some time reviewing the key milestones that we have achieved over the past year with the enhanced Symantec Partner Program as well as receive feedback and ideas on what can be improved.

The enhanced Symantec Partner Program puts a greater emphasis on rewarding partner capabilities and competencies and is designed to provide partners with opportunities for predictable, profitable business growth. Rather than becoming experts across Symantec’s full information management and security portfolio, partners can focus on the areas that work best for them, achieving ‘Specialisations’ by deepening their knowledge and proficiency in a relevant solution family.

The resounding feedback about the program from our partners was very positive and the recurring response was “Specialisations adds value!”

In fact, Andrew Thomas, ceo at Thomas Duryea Consulting said the following, “Symantec Specialisations and accreditations differentiate us from other partners in the ecosystem, adding value to our business across all areas.” 

Ronnie Altit, managing director at Insentra also added that, “The enhanced Symantec Partner Program has enabled us to build seven Specialisations, be recognised for our expertise, maintain relevance and establish predictable and profitable growth for our business.”

Partner Engage also provided attendees with the opportunity to relax and enjoy the Port Douglas setting.  We had dinner in some of the most amazing restaurants that Port Douglas had to offer and some partners got the opportunity to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. The event ended with some time spent on the green. A few partners were able to show off their skills, or lack thereof, on one of the most remarkable golf courses in Australia!

The Pacific region has a long history of working closely with channel partners and the strong turnout of senior executives is indicative of just how much the channel and Symantec values this partnership.

Being a channel-focused company, we rely on our partners to extend our presence in the market and we are very much committed to enabling partners to develop the skills and knowledge to meet their customers’ needs. Partner Engage represents an important part of this investment.

As always, it was rewarding for us to spend time with the partner community which remains key to our success. It is encouraging to see that the enhanced Symantec Partner Program is enabling partners to differentiate their businesses, maximise sales opportunities and accelerate profitability! We look forward to helping them achieve further success over the year ahead.