Worms create rough ride for Symantec
Published: 27 Apr 2004 15:20 BST
Over the next two or three years, the software maker wants to bundle its security products with system management technology, analysts said. "Symantec wants to go beyond detection by offering remediation to fix problems," Berquist said.
The company also faces the challenge of getting customers who purchased products to sign up for its updates service, once the complementary subscription that came with the software expires. Berquist, for example, estimates 60 percent to 70 percent of home and small-business customers don't renew their subscriptions once they expire.
Consumers cite a number of reasons for letting those subscriptions lapse: laziness, a sense of outrage for having to pay out money every year, and a feeling of being able to handle worms and viruses without assistance.
Ari Chaim, an IT administrator in San Francisco, fits into that last category.
"I bought a Dell (PC) two years ago, and it came with Norton AntiVirus, but I haven't renewed my subscription. I deal with viruses every day at work, so I know what to avoid," Chaim said.
To address the laziness factor, Symantec recently teamed up with Internet service provider EarthLink to offer antivirus and firewall subscription renewals that could be paid for on an EarthLink user's monthly bill.
Some industry analysts already believe the percentage of consumers who renew their subscriptions is on the rise.
"In the old days, people either bought the antivirus software, or it came on their machines, and they didn't renew. That sort of worked because viruses were infrequent," said Norma Schroder, a principal analyst with research firm Gartner. "But the [antivirus vendors] have made it easier to renew. There are automatic delivery updates -- whereas in the old days you had to go to their site to download -- and people have gotten used to paying for renewals, over the last year or two."
If Symantec begins to see a drop in its consumer business, then that could start to balance out the scales with its enterprise segment. But most companies prefer to achieve that balance through growth in their business units, rather than through a decline in sales in a division.
It all adds up to uncertainty about whether Symantec has made the progress it planned to make toward becoming more of a corporate software company.
"The jury's out on whether [Thompson] will be successful in getting the company back on track. He has been able to show great ability in managing the business for what it is. But whenever we think its enterprise business is ready for prime time, it's been a disappointment," Berquist said. "Every time the company has tried to focus on the enterprise and pull off of consumer, there's another big virus attack and their direction shifts."
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