Symantec is in transition and so, too, are the problems that customers are asking us to solve. We believe that the time to simplify and integrate one of the industry’s broadest portfolios is now, refocusing on what’s needed most, in order to fulfil those customers’ widely diverse and ever-expanding expectations.
That is a role we are more than happy to take on at Symantec, especially as more and more organisations are telling us that what they want, most of all, is a trusted IT advisor that can help them seize new opportunities, reduce risk and cost, and ensure that services and data are available, resilient and compliant. In other words, they want a simpler way to grow their business – and a partner to keep their systems and people safe on that journey.
Symantec has been making important changes over the last 18 months that will help us better serve our customer’s needs today, but also into the future – changes that impact every aspect of our business. Much of that is driven by the ‘heavy lifting’ that we’ve been doing behind the scenes: the transformation that is making us more efficient and effective. How? By streamlining our middle management, refocusing our salesforce, and simplifying internal processes to increase productivity.
Why Symantec? Because we have a portfolio that is uniquely positioned to meet those needs. And I’m pleased to report that this is not just us saying so. Eight Symantec customers and three partners were happy to endorse Symantec’s trusted advisor role to their businesses in front of a packed room of analysts at Symantec Vision in Las Vegas a couple of months ago.
Unifying Information Management
Three customers spoke openly at Vision about how they are working with Symantec to unify information management. The challenge is that data now all too often exists in silos that need to be joined together into a unified whole. So Symantec is developing an Information Fabric Platform that uses metadata to automatically map, classify, manage, protect and streamline the search and discovery of unstructured data.
Another key customer described how it has been working with Symantec to streamline its backup processes. In just a few years, its data has expanded to the point where it is now carrying four times more servers, packed with customer transactions. A series of Symantec NetBackup appliances, remotely and centrally administered, has provided the solution, freeing up staff to concentrate on more mainstream activities.
Analysts also heard from another customer in the financial sector that had to implement new controls within 30 days, in order to receive federal TARP funds – a deadline that seemed impossible to meet. However, I’m happy to say that Symantec engineers immediately took on the challenge and came up with a solution that integrated identity access management with Symantec Data Insight and Data Loss Prevention, saving the day. “Symantec made our IT department look like a superstar,” one executive noted. That’s an endorsement we are grateful to accept and will endeavour to live up to that.
Unifying Security
At Vision, four other customers also talked about the ways in which Symantec is unifying security and the payback that this is delivering:
- One Midwest bank integrated its point security solutions by monitoring these through Symantec Managed Security Services, enabling it to automate many security functions and control security labour costs.
- Another reduced malware events 70% by turning to Symantec.cloud protection for web and email, with Symantec Endpoint Protection automatically enforcing policies that shut out additional attack vectors.
- The third major customer evaluates risk exposure by using Symantec solutions when considering new marketing initiatives. It has proved a vital asset in protecting customer data.
- And the fourth has turned to Symantec Mobile Management Suite to wrap a layer of protection around mobile applications and data, with the ability to change security policies ‘on the fly’.
Simplifying partner success
But such successes are not something you can achieve in isolation. Our partners also play a vital role in getting Symantec solutions to market, delivering to the same high standards we set ourselves. One of the key messages we flagged up at Vision was how we have redesigned our Partner Programme, rebuilding it from the ground up, to reinforce that philosophy every step of the way. It means wholehearted commitment to, and greater rewards for, those partners who, across a range of competency areas, deliver the greatest value to our customers.
So, what can you expect next from Symantec? First and foremost, we are planning to pick up the pace of our transformation, with a new innovation model focused on bringing to market new, integrated solutions. And we will continue to enhance our existing solutions and develop others that integrate with our own. We are bringing to market a whole suite of updates around Advanced Threat Protection, mobile, information archiving and other solutions across our information protection portfolio. On the ATP front, we now have a whole new approach to advance threat protection, delivering even stronger safeguards and business value.
We’ve created new centres of excellence, such as the Appliance Centre, which takes the lessons learned from creating the fastest-growing, purpose-built integrated backup appliance, and more efficiently share them for other aspects of our business that could benefit from a delivery model.
Our pledge is to help our customers meet their needs simply, safely and quickly – and then push on from there to meet their evolving requirements.
The Symantec goal is to fundamentally change the way security is delivered and information is managed through our integrated efforts and ecosystems. That indeed is the vision; now we are ready to deliver against that.
Check out the highlights from the Industry Analyst conference, (Registration required to download content) and some videos from Vision 2014 on SymantecTV