Symantec Corp. has announced that over 1,200 Symantec partners have joined the SMB Specialization Program across the Asia Pacific and Japan region, expanding the vendor’s commitment and support for SMBs in the region. Together with Symantec, these partners will focus on reaching a greater number of SMBs, making it easier for SMBs to protect their information and move their business forward with confidence.
According to Symantec’s recent Internet Security Threat Report, 18% of all targeted attacks are directed at businesses with 250 or fewer employees. What’s worse, because of the importance of connectivity and collaboration through web, email, social networks and online applications, their behavior also makes them four times more at risk of malware attacks than their larger counterparts.
However despite increased risk, for some SMBs, buying, deploying and managing security, storage and backup systems is just too complicated for them to devote the time, money and energy. So they cross their fingers and wing it.
Symantec began a variety of SMB-specific initiatives last year and it intends to redefine how SMBs safeguard their information by providing 360 degrees of protection from Web browsing and online transactions, to e-mail and collaboration, to backup and recovery in a way that’s easy to purchase, deploy, manage and support.
Led by Group President Rowan Trollope, the Symantec SMB organization brings together SMB experts who not only understand the specific needs of SMBs and the partners who sell to them, but are focused on serving, enabling, helping and protecting this important business community around the world. Working closely together, the team is channeling their passion and knowledge into the design and delivery of Symantec’s SMB products; marketing, communication and support; as well as delivering partners with hands-on enablement and financial incentives.
“Our SMB partners are critical in helping Symantec expand our reach to today’s information-savvy SMBs, providing them with the solutions they need to protect their information,” said Anand Naik, Managing Director – India and SAARC, Symantec. “We are fully committed to enabling and supporting our ecosystem of partners, and with more than 1,200 SMB specialized partners in this region, we are confident that we can help SMBs address their security, data protection and information management needs.”