A new program has been established to reward partner investment in Symantec solutions and services that will come into play at the end of the year.

Symantec revealed its new channel strategy at its Asia Pacific and Japan Symantec Partner Engage 2010 Conference in Sanya, China. The announcement included planned changes to the Symantec Partner Program “focused on helping partners differentiate their business, maximise sales opportunities and accelerate profitability”.

“Asia Pacific and Japan is a growing and diverse market. We are committed to working with our partners to help them build strong businesses selling Symantec solutions and services and providing them with opportunities to differentiate themselves in the market,” said Bernard Kwok, Symantec’s Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan. “We look forward to strengthening collaborations with our partners this year to best serve our mutual customers.” Symantec will put a greater emphasis on rewarding partner capabilities and competence.  The firm said that specialisations, which recognise partners with a proven expertise in a particular area of business, will become the cornerstone of the program.

The Symantec Partner Program will continue with the existing partner levels, which include Registered, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Specialisations will become essential to attaining partner levels and revenue requirements will be removed, the company added. “Our channel vision is to deepen the relationships with our partners and help them to identify new ways to accelerate growth.  Symantec’s enhanced Partner Program based on specialisations will enable our partners to stay ahead through their investment in the development of skills and in-depth knowledge in particular competence areas,” said David Dzienciol, Symantec’s VP for Channel and SMB, Asia Pacific and Japan. “We will be delivering new tools and resources to help partners accelerate these growth opportunities.”