Mimecast, the leading supplier of cloud-based e-mail archiving, continuity and security for Microsoft Exchange, Hosted Exchange and Office 365, has reasserted its dominance within the local market through the acquisition of several key enterprise level clients in the past six months.
The agreements, which include service commitments to South African Airways, medical insurance provider Netcare, Tiger Brands, Virgin Active, Mediclinic, office supplies specialist Waltons, Sasol, Adcorp, Old Mutual and retail fashion giant Edcon, has extended its already significant enterprise client base, and again underscores its capacity to provide hosted services that are relevant to the needs of major industry players.
Consequently, the organisation currently caters to a total of over 76 000 new enterprise users, which has contributed significantly to a remarkable revenue growth of 37% year-on-year to £42.7 million in FY2013.
As the complexity associated with corporate e-mail management continues to intensify, so a growing number of enterprise-orientated organisations are beginning to investigate possible alternatives to investing in on-premise infrastructure and maintenance.
Added concerns relating to corporate governance and legislative requirements, particularly in reference to the pending Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI), have also encouraged IT decision-makers within large corporate environments to begin seeking out a more effective solution.
Enterprise customers felt the immediate value that Mimecast brought from the onset. "I have been most impressed with Mimecast. Firstly the staff is incredibly professional and competent. They took on our 3 800 users with no disruption to the business, and will enable us to bolt on acquisitions with speed and accuracy," said Darryl Thwaits, Tiger Brands - Group CIO.
Mimecast's substantial growth within the South African business environment has transpired in response to these needs. By providing a secure, reliable and affordable communication infrastructure that is supported by comprehensive security and archiving services, the organisation has solved several pressing challenges faced by modern businesses - especially at mid-market and enterprise level.
According to Brandon Bekker, Mimecast South Africa Managing Director, the organisation's growth within the enterprise sector is a significant vote of confidence in its ability to provide a globally competitive alternative to traditional corporate communication continuity, storage and security frameworks.
"Businesses of this magnitude do not make decisions to fundamentally alter their technical strategies lightly. The impact associated with chartering a new course can be significant and must be motivated by a truly remarkable alternative," says Bekker. "Mimecast's growth within the South African enterprise space reflects its capacity to provide an archiving, security and continuity solution that offers indisputable value to its users.
"These are not the first significant corporate agreements that Mimecast has made in the local environment," he continues, "having nurtured existing relationships with the likes of Bidvest, Pick n Pay, Transnet, Sanlam and Clover for some time now, our growth in this sector highlights an increasing and sustained interest in the solutions that we offer."
According to Garth Truter, Microsoft and Infrastructure Security Service Level Manager at Sanlam, the impact felt by the introduction of Mimecast Email Security to the Sanlam organisation has been significant. "Mimecast has fundamentally changed the way we relate to e-mail security at Sanlam", explains Truter.
Large organisations often go through a very stringent analysis to determine the best possible cloud solution, as there many to choose from. The biggest considerations are security, data storage and location as well as associated governance and continuity options especially for business critical information access.
"Mimecast is the prime example of a matured cloud platform, delivering a consistent, innovative and reliable service addressing a magnitude of security and regulatory concerns. A must for any company!" adds Louis van der Walt, Manager of Server Infrastructure at Clover.
Moving forward, Mimecast will continue to provide more value-added services and products that make true business sense by assisting large organisations to address their needs for servicing both their internal staff and their customers more effectively.
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