How The MX Logic End-of-Life Affects MSPs
By Dianne Skoll, President/CTO of Roaring Penguin Software
There are many times when VARs and MSPs need to select new products to fulfill client needs. One case in particular occurs when a vendor decides to end a product or service. In light of Intel’s announcement that it will end its MX Logic antispam service on January 11th, 2017, many MSPs are looking for a new email security solution to offer to their clients.
That makes this the right time to ask: What should an MSP look for in an anti-spam offering?
Anti-spam can be a simple additional service easily integrated into any MSP’s broader business, and if implemented correctly, can increase customer satisfaction and stickiness while also providing a profit center. More importantly, the most common attack vector of business networks is via email. MSPs must protect their client’s networks from spam and phishing attacks. MSPs looking for a new email filtering solution provider should ensure that the product chosen includes reseller-focused features.
Of course, your end users need a fully functional solution ready to go out of the box, but several other elements are especially important for MSPs. Dianne Skoll, President of Roaring Penguin Software, an anti-spam company suggests five criteria:
- Tech Support: readily available tech support, including processes for the rapid addition of new customers with new requirements, including requirements separate from those of your current anti-spam customers, is essential. Ideally, tech support should be available by phone as well as by email, and available immediately for emergencies during ordinary business hours.
- Integration with PSA tools such as Autotask and ConnectWise: automation of the process from onboarding to billing increases MSP profitability.
- White Labeling: The ability to provide solutions to your customers under your own brand can be a great way to increase customer stickiness and sales. Even if it’s not a feature you intend to use, it’s a great indicator that the vendor you’re talking to cares about MSP requirements specifically.
- Business Continuity: Business Continuity is an essential service for the modern business. The solution must provide a way to read and respond to email while the back-end email server is down.
- Additional Related Services: a number of email services may be essential to different clients. Finding a provider who can provide email archiving, email encryption and outbound filtering when needed reduces the number of vendors you need to integrate with and the risk of poor vendor integration; also, a vendor who can specifically enable features that entail additional cost only for clients who require them can simplify the process of selling these features to your end-users.
Acquiring a new anti-spam filter requires an analysis of many factors, including price and profitability as well as technical and branding elements. However, with a strong focus on business factors and the above five technical criteria, replacing end of life anti-spam solutions such as MX Logic can be simple and lead to success through both direct resale and additional customer satisfaction.
Dianne Skoll is President/CTO of Roaring Penguin Software, an email security company. Roaring Penguin provides its Hosted CanIt email solutions to MSPs with a small and medium business focus worldwide. For more information on Roaring Penguin, including our MX Logic replacement program visit https://www.roaringpenguin.com/