South African IT solutions distributor Rectron plans to add Norton by Symantec to its product range. The decision is based on opportunities stemming from growth within Africa's cyber security solutions market fuelled by a significant surge in economic crime.

Rectron has referenced PwC's Global Economic Crime Survey which states that cybercrime totalled 29% of the number of crimes reported. According to Norton, in 2017 cybercriminals stole more than US$172 billion from 978 million consumers in 20 countries.

The distributor restarted its security practice with Bitdefender in 2017 and avails this product to both the consumer and corporate markets.

The integration of Norton into its product line forms part of a 12-month overview of its cloud and software solutions portfolio.

"At the beginning of the journey, we recognised that a cornerstone of our portfolio needed to be security due to the growing concerns in that environment. Norton has always been a premium player in the software security game, making it a strong brand for Rectron to partner with," said Elaine Wang, Cloud and Software Solutions Director at Rectron.

The distributor plans to integrate Norton into its RCT cloud platform over the coming months in order to facilitate digital procurement for resellers.

Resellers will be able to offer customers the opportunity to download Norton products via a link

Sohini Nathoo, Africa Manager for Norton, said, "We are proud Rectron and their dynamic team are planning to offer our award-winning protection to small businesses and consumers."

Wang added, "Norton has been one of the leading players in the consumer security space for a great many years. Rectron is thrilled to pick up this partnership to extend our software stack. Each offering that we add to our portfolio only serves to strengthen Rectron's position as a key cloud and software services distributor in South Africa."

Despite substantial media coverage of cybercrime, data leaks and continued cyber threats to business, Rectron believes decision makers are still not implementing the right solutions to protect their digital lives and businesses.