Is Symantec Making a Comeback?

Is Symantec making a comeback? Most consumers and IT professionals who have had recent experience with the industry leader understand that they have been in quite a slump. Many blame the slump on their merger VERITAS, which, from a channel partner’s perspective, seemed to go off with more than a few hiccups. In late 2006 many customers (including many of Wasatch Software’s) didn’t receive license certificates for several days or even weeks. Other customers were experiencing hold times of several hours when they called for support. In addition to these issues IT professionals complained of inaccurate reporting in the management consoles of Symantec products (most notably Symantec Antivirus).

Thankfully, Symantec seems to be resolving these problems. Since the beginning of ’07 most license certificates are being issued within 2 or 3 business days. Hold times can still be rather long from time to time, but they are certainly improving. The addition of VERITAS’ line of products is a great compliment to what Symantec already offers. Acquisitions of companies like Altiris also signal that the software company is likely to continue its dominance of their market.

With these positive signs channel partners were beginning to get over the unease they had been feeling about Symantec. Personally, I was further pleased by a discussion I had with our Symantec territory sales rep, who acknowledged that there were problems in their transition with VERITAS. He described to me how they had ramped up their support staff, and how the issues their customers were facing were regrettable ‘growing pains’. Had it not been for the progress I had seen over the past few months I might have viewed this as mere lip service. However, the worst seems to be over for Symantec and their future may be brighter than ever.