While many partners of security vendor Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) already play in the mobility space, the vendor has now created a dedicated mobility solution specialization to bring all of the company’s mobility-related products and support together in one place.
At the core of the new specialization will be Symantec’s Mobile Application Management, Mobile Device Management and Mobile Security offerings. Partners that achieve the specialization will gain access to margin points, revenue from licensing, services and hardware revenue, access to Symantec’s opportunity registration program. Benefits are tiered, similar to Symantec’s other specializations.
Partners previously sold mobile solutions as part of Symantec’s endpoint management specialization, but with the mobility market evolving it’s no longer just about endpoints said Vizay Kotikalapudi, senior product marketing manager with Symantec.
“The market for mobility has become very diverse, and so has mobility functionality,” said Kotikalapudi, beyond just accessing corporate e-mail on a smartphone. “Now companies are adopting mobile applications, such as CRM, health care, retail and logistics apps. As mobility has expanded in functionality and buyers, we decided to create a specialization to train the people in depth.”
Symantec has been expanding its mobile solutions as well. Building on its base in mobile device management, it recently added mobile security, application management and solutions to address the “bring your own device” (BYOD).
With a dedicated mobile solutions specialization and supporting solutions and marketing material, Kotikalapudi said Symantec can position its partners to have the conversations that today’s CIOs want to have.
“Mobile is top of mind for CIOs right now. There’s a huge opportunity exploding, and many partners want to play in this space,” said Kotikalapudi.
All existing endpoint partners will be grandfathered into the specialization with 90 days to complete the new requirements. Moreover, said Kotikalapudi, now Symantec’s security partners that wanted to get into mobility but aren’t interested in endpoints can add this specialization and offer Symantec’s mobility solutions.
And partners should choose Symantec over other vendors, added Kotikalapudi, because it offers a much wider portfolio beyond just mobile device management (MDM).
“(Partners) can solve larger piece of the customer project,” said Kotikalapudi. “They’re not saying I have an MDM problem, they’re saying I have a mobility problem, help me enable mobility.”