Support Renewals
Introduction
For Symantec, Avnet and our partners, the renewals business is an important area of focus and continuing growth. It is surprising how many partners do not focus on closing down their renewals in a timely manner - perhaps because they are sometimes very small and seem insignificant, or maybe because you are simply not aware of them.
Statistics prove that the opportunity to close down a support renewal starts to shrink after the expiry date passes, with the likelihood of closure diminishing significantly after 90 days pass by. It’s therefore critical that you are clear about the value of renewing Symantec support contracts and can communicate this effectively to your customers at the earliest opportunity. At present, attrition rates in some partners are as high as 30-40%, resulting in lost revenue, unsatisfied customers and a rise in reinstatement fees which affect both the partner and the end user’s base cost (cost can be 25% plus if expired/closed down quotes need to be reinstated).
Utilising Avnet’s extensive in-house skills can complement your offering and extend the scope of the renewals opportunity. Our close relationship with Symantec means that we can assist with trouble free deployment and provide quarterly reporting to alert you about up and coming renewal opportunities. Our unique quote engine enables us to turn round quotes faster and more efficiently than ever before and log the information intelligently to be used effectively year on year.
Why Avnet?
- Access our extensive in-house skills and expertise to complement your offer and extend the scope of the opportunity
- Avnet’s close ties with Symantec ensure trouble-free deployment
- Quarterly report alerting you to upcoming renewals opportunities
- Unique quote engine enabling us to turn around quotes faster than ever before
What's in it for you?
- Extend Symantec sales – using renewals as an opportunity to touch on new technology, talk data protection, discuss migration plans and introduce Symantec services
- Reduce your Symantec customer attrition rates from a typical 30-40%
- Differentiate yourself from partners that just sell product
- Build easy to forecast, year-on-year annuity revenues
Simplify and streamline Symantec business with:
- co-termination agreements
- ongoing software maintenance and upgrades
- constantly updated virus definitions
- Use a Symantec Install Base Report (IBR) to quickly discover your customer’s Symantec estate and identify extended business opportunities
- Take control of your accounts and improve customer loyalty
- Delegate the hard work to Avnet’s specialist Symantec Renewals team for simple, profitable Symantec Renewals business
- Peace of mind from the assurance of ongoing support for their Symantec solutions
- Avoid paying a 25%+ reinstatement fee, should their support contracts expire beyond the renewals window
- Reduced risk to the business of downtime and having product releases that are not up to date
- Simplified management of licenses and support Continual virus definition revisions for security products
- Co termination – easier to manage, more efficient, cost effective Reduction in the number of duplicate or redundant licenses – avoiding unnecessary expense
- Enables accurate budget allocation
- Increases ROI
Qualification Questions
Are they still using the Symantec products they have taken support on?
Has their estate changed at all since they took the support out? If it has, do they actually know what they’ve got now? If it hasn’t changed, you can offer a renewal quote via the Avnet renewals team.
If it has changed and they know what and why, you can offer a quote accordingly. If they are no longer sure what they have there is now an opportunity to offer to run an Installed Base Report (IBR), which will not only clarify this for them but will also give you an opportunity to offer them a ‘Co-termination’ (see point 4 below). This will add value, increase customer loyalty and generally expand the opportunity. This will also give you an insight into their entire Symantec license estate, which will strengthen future engagement and business prospects.
Are they happy to continue or extend their commitment to Symantec?
There is always scope to expand the discussion around Symantec and data protection. Avnet can help you explore issues such as training, upgrades and migration to ensure you maximise the sales opportunity. Sell the benefits of continuing their support.
Would they like to combine all their Symantec support renewals into 1 easy to manage, annual contract for no extra cost?
IBR and co termination
Handling Sales Objectives
I’m not sure what licences I have to renew. With their authorisation you can request an IBR to give them a full view of their estate.
I haven’t needed to use my support to date. What happens if I don’t renew my contract? Without support how will they solve any problems that occur in the future? Can they afford the risk of downtime? Also, support not only provides them with technical resolution, but gives them free upgrades for new releases of products, migrations paths and patches, which are otherwise classed as new purchases.
Renewals cost too much. Without support, they are putting your business at risk. What would the cost of unplanned downtime be for the business?
The renewals process is too complex. Use Avnets team to manage this process and the Symantec relationship for you, including: Account Support, Pre-sales, Account Management and the Renewals Team.
About Symantec support
Symantec Technical Support is flexible enough to meet the cost and services needs of any kind of network. Support options vary from level to level, but never in quality, allowing end-users to choose what suits them now, with the option to upgrade at anytime.
Packages include ongoing software maintenance with upgrade protection, and continual virus definition revisions for security products.
Basic support: For small to medium-sized networks that need telephone support during normal business hours.
Essential Support: Recommended as the core offering across the breadth of the Symantec product line, Essential Support provides 24x7 global technical expertise for businesses needing fast, around the clock assistance.
Business Critical Services: Symantec's premium level of support features industry-leading response levels with a proactive single point- of-contact.
For more information on gathering your Symantec Support revenues, contact your Avnet Account Manager.
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