While the recession saw most of other IT sectors being badly hit, anti-virus was the only segment which saw growth during that period. The Indian market saw very aggressive campaigns being unleashed by some of them. In sharp contrast Symantec chose to keep a low profile, commenting on the same Sood said, “It does not bother us if the market is flooded with more players now. I look at it differently, and I see it as an expansion of the market with newer players coming to the fore. The new entrants are still looking at the mass market while we at Symantec are more focused at the enterprise segment. We have a market leader position in that segment, and we are confident of maintaining the same.”

Discussing the segments that will see the most traction in the coming year Sood said, “I believe that the security and surveillance market is poised to grow exponentially this year. The next phase of growth in the IT market will be driven by this segment. In fact we are already working with our partners to ensure that they are trained for the opportunity ahead. The way we like to work at Symantec is that we are always at the forefront of training our partners for the next level in the market. We truly believe that our partners are the ones who will not only take us through this growth curve but will also help us in retaining our market leadership. That is why we are emphasizing on specializations for our partners.”

Globally, Symantec's channel strategy focuses on three types of partners—The Global Strategic Partner, System Integrators and Value-Added Resellers. In India, the company has a robust channel, which includes SIs and VARs. They have already started various programs ranging from 'Symantec Partner Specializations' to 'The Real Deal' concept which is applicable to Symantec partners worldwide.

The 'Symantec Partner Specializations' are designed to recognize solutions expertise of Symantec’s partners and to help them differentiate and grow their businesses. Partners can demonstrate their proven ability to plan, design, implement, and manage Symantec solutions to both customers and other partners. Under its specialization programs, the company not only trains its partners put also the employees of the partners. “At the end of the day, the transaction has to be done and fulfilled by the partners team and that is why we are keen to train the employees also,” Sood said.

As far as rebates are concerned, Symantec offers 'rebates' to eligible partners on qualifying products sold, helping the partners in increasing margins and selling opportunities. Lastly, there is an incentive driven program called 'The Real Deal', that rewards channel partners for driving incremental and new license sales for Symantec core products. To name a few more important initiatives by Symantec, 'The New Specializations' program which deals with value addition to customer and programs like 'Opportunity Registration' gives other additional benefits to its partners. Talking about the flexibility of Symantec’s customer policy, Sood pointed out, “We can cater to a small office of five users to an organization which has multiple datacenters around the world. We are open to providing our solutions to all kinds of businesses.”