Channel Satisfaction Survey 2014: Intel/McAfee winner in the category 'Enterprise Security Solutions'

Enterprise Security Solutions (ESS) has been another area where competition has been tough with Intel/McAfee emerging victorious after a good challenge from Symantec which has been quite active recently in the domain.

The key factors which helped Intel/McAfee bag the #1 slot is its position as a pure channel-focused company with its partners extending its presence and strength geographically in every market across India. Its partners complement the technology with their reach and knowledge of the markets.

While earlier the complaint was that it was mainly metro-focused, Intel/McAfee seems to have addressed the issue to a large extent this year. McAfee was also rated the highest in after-sales support and scored well in credit facility, service reliability, advertising strategy, richness in online resources and communications with the solution providers.

Innovativeness of McAfee's market development programs too came in for special praise from the channel partners. Most importantly, partners and system integrators, squeezed in a tight market by profitability pressures seemed to have lapped up the good profit margins given by McAfee.

Symantec has got maximum endorsements from the solution providers over the security aspects of the product and the pricing. It is also ahead of its competitors in responsiveness and availability of service personnel and has an effective online partner portal.

 

Respondents stated that scalability, technological edge and a sound channel plan were the primary plus points for Symantec. This is an endorsement of Symantec's vision helps partners in differentiating their business, maximize returns on investment and accelerate their profits.

However, in terms of marketing support and fund allocation for its partners for marketing and promotional needs, Microsoft has outshone any other competitors in the domain but scored the lowest when it came to after-sales support.