Mimecast

Overview
Mimecast is a British software company that sells cloud-based email management services for Microsoft Exchange and Office 365. Its customers tend to be SMEs that do not have extensive IT departments, and Mimecast’s email management software provides a suite of services, from security to archiving and search. Companies are charged a fee per user per year to use Mimecast’s product.

History
Founded in 2003, Mimecast is a British software company providing cloud-based email management services for Microsoft Exchange and Office 365. It now serves over 10,000 corporate customers and has offices in four different countries. Mimecast registered FY14 Revenues of $88.3m (+30% year-on-year from FY13). The company provides different types of email management services: Email Security (ensuring protection against email-borne threats, data leaks and service outages), Archive (unifying email, file and instant messaging) and Large File Send (enabling users to email large attachments).

Customers
Mimecast’s customers are mostly SMEs that use email extensively in their daily business, but do not have a large IT department or lack the resources necessary for administering their email in-house. Corporate customers, operating across a large array of industries, include the Ritz London, Mac Millan Cancer Support and Currie & Brown Asset Management.

Engagement  — Value Creation Proposition
Mimecast’s value proposition is to offer companies a trustworthy email management system, so that they can rely on a continuous service, their data is protected from hackers’ attacks and they can benefit from appropriate archiving.

This can be an effective and less costly alternative that having an IT email security team in-house.

The companies using Mimecast services benefit from integrated email management and archive, high data security and continuity of service. They save costs by eliminating their email service overheads, which are replaced by Mimecast’s cloud-based services.

Additionally corporate customers can benefit from extensive support from Mimecast IT professionals; some of this support is customised to business needs and comes at an additional cost of between £500 to £1,000 per annum: thus, Mimecast operates a work-for-hire business model alongside its product business model. Indeed Mimecast sells a ‘consulting service’ to clients by identifying their email needs and recommending adequate and tailored cloud solutions.

Delivery — Value Chain
Mimecast links customers’ Microsoft Exchange or Office 365 to a cloud. All of the email messages are routed through the Mimecast cloud, which protects against cyber-security attacks and ensures continuity. Also copies of all internal emails are generated through the cloud.

The Mimecast cloud links to a web-based administration console, which can be used by the customer (usually by the IT department) to monitor their email service.

Mimecast has dedicated account managers that support each account through trainings, and ad-hoc assistance.

Monetisation — Value Capture
Corporate customers (usually SMEs or middle size companies) pay a yearly subscription to Mimecast, with the amount depending on the specific service they need and number of users. For instance, for the secure email service prices range from £10 per user per annum (if there are 10,001+ users) to £29 per user per annum (if 25 to 100 users). Customer trainings are provided for free, while business support services cost between £500 to £1,000 per annum.

Digital Technology
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