New global partner program from Symantec comes to the Middle East

The goal of these new initiatives is to help make it easier for Symantec's partners to engage with Symantec as well as be more successful in servicing their customers.

Symantec Technical Specialist Program

Designed to help differentiate partner services and ensure partner credibility, Symantec's new Technical Specialist Program offers Symantec's more than 60,000 global partners with online testing to validate their technical skills and knowledge of Symantec products. These individual product assessments help measure product-specific knowledge across core elements, including product strategy and architecture, configuration and installation, and management and reporting.

In addition, the new Technical Specialist Program, which represents Symantec's most efficient, cost-effective validation process to date, provides globally consistent technical assessments of Symantec products whether partners focus on specific practice areas or choose to follow a broad, overall solution roadmap.

All of the assessments are now available via Symantec's online partner portal, PartnerNet, at no cost to Symantec partners and will be updated on a quarterly basis.

"The bulk of Symantec's business in the Middle East is secured and managed through partners, who add value by being close to the customer, understanding their needs and providing them with appropriate services," said Katie Spurgeon, Channel and Alliances Manager for the Middle East. "Our partners now have round the clock access to the latest information on Symantec's products and new releases. This is important as Symantec's stable of software has grown considerably through acquisition and innovation."

Unified Technical Support

In its ongoing efforts to streamline legacy systems, Symantec has unified its technical support offerings for partners. Through Unified Technical Support, Symantec partners who are eligible for partner technical support will now have access to 24 x 7 availability and security technical support for any Symantec enterprise product. Previously, most security partners only had access to business-hour technical support. However, with the unification, both security and availability technical support is now available to anyone within an eligible partner's organization.

PartnerNet Enhancements

To further enhance the experience partners have with Symantec, Symantec has also made a three-fold investment in its partner infrastructure by shifting its unified PartnerNet partner portal platform from an older technology stack onto a new, more robust platform. Symantec has also made several enhancements to its PartnerNet portal which will now make it easier for partners to gain access to all of the program information, sales training, technical enablement toolkits, and support they need to develop new business opportunities and take full advantage of Symantec's partner programs.