SECURITY vendor Symantec has dissolved the role of a country manager for New Zealand, in a restructure intended to ensure its local operation mirrors those in other countries more closely.
Richard Batchelar, who occupied this position since he was elevated from business development manager in 1999, now moves into a newly-created regional role to manage online software sales in Asia Pacific.
Batchelar says the company has been split up into three large silos — enterprise, consumer and services/training.
The enterprise division will be run locally by Rogan Mallon and Natasha Mclean, while Olivia Thomas, formerly of Computerland, has been added to the team to ensure no void is left in customer and partner communications, following the dissolution of the country manager function.
The company’s regional headquarters is in Singapore and Batchelar may yet be relocated there.
Batchelar’s new role involves boosting online software sales in the Asia Pacific region, but he does not foresee that this will put him in conflict with those resellers that previously enjoyed his support as country manager.
He adds the online business will centre on consumer products.
One Symantec partner with a strong online business is web-based reseller, Acquire. But owner Simon Scott says he sees no immediate threat from Symantec’s move, although he intends to monitor the situation closely.
