Symantec Vision 2013: It’s a Revolution, Not Evolution

Last month’s Symantec Vision 2013 in Las Vegas gave you a glimpse into what our plans are during the next year for the company, our customers and you, our partners. Setting the tone for the event was Symantec CEO and President Steve Bennett, who explained that, “We can’t get to where we need to go with evolution. Change like this requires a revolution.” As part of the “revolution”, Steve reiterated that we are making strategic, positive changes that will not only revitalize the company but that will provide you with more opportunities as a Symantec partner. After all, we see partners as critical members of our team that offer broad capabilities and competencies which bring value to our customers.

Part of “revolutionizing” our company is making sure that Symantec and our partners are equipped to help customers tackle modern IT challenges. In his session at Vision, Francis deSouza, president of product and services, explained that the three key IT challenges customers will face in 2013 are exponential information growth, a quickly evolving threat landscape and data center complexity. In order to help customers tackle these challenges, we’ve set the following goals for our company and our partners: help customers increase user productivity; enable them to maintain overall security; and help organizations effectively manage an influx of information.

As part of our goal to protect the world’s people and information, we are continually tracking developments in the security landscape. Our widely popular 2013 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), which was released at Vision, is a great resource for partners who are looking to help their customers navigate the constantly evolving threat landscape. For more than a decade, the ISTR has highlighted the increasing risks to business of all sizes and the continued development of new, sophisticated threats to take advantage of pervasive technology.

One of the areas where we see the biggest opportunities for partners is in the mobile space. Mobile malware has increased by 58 percent in the past year, according to the ISTR, and almost a third of this malware is designed to steal information. As more businesses allow employees to access work-related information on smartphones and tablets, it’s safe to say that mobile threats will continue to grow. To help customers tackle modern IT challenges created as a result of the BYOD world we live in today, we’ve updated the Symantec Mobile Management Suite and encourage you to consider becoming a Mobility Solution Specialist if you aren't already. With the market growing from $682M in 2011 to nearly $2.5B in 2016, we believe that mobility will become a growing revenue opportunity for our partners.

We covered a lot of ground at Vision and focused on everything from our new company direction and our goals for the year to how we can help you equip customers with the best technologies to face modern IT challenges. I am excited about the plans we have in store for our partners during the next year as we look to “revolutionize” Symantec. Consider Vision a preview of what’s to come – it will be a great year.