The IT Marketing AgencyHi there, I’m delighted and flattered that Zen Software have asked me to write a guest blog, and we thought that some simple steps to get started on marketing your MSP business would be a topic that worked for both of us, and hopefully you, too! Firstly…if you’re not doing ‘much’ (or even ‘any’!) marketing, you’re not alone! In my previous roles of Head of Marketing for Ingram Micro and Network Group as well as in the work I do now, I meet a lot of MSPs. Almost without exception they tell me sheepishly “I know I should be doing more (for which I read ‘some’) marketing”. Or “Here’s my card, but don’t look at the website, it’s being redesigned.” Or if they’re being honest: “I just don’t know where to start!”. So, here’s where to start. And by the end of this blog post, you’ll have no excuse not to – so be prepared! ☺

MailStore Promotion In a recent blog post I talked about how MailStore can help manage and speed up the unenviable task of migrating all of your historic Exchange 2003 email to MDaemon Messaging Server. The point at which you're moving email platform is ideal to be introducing an archiving solution like MailStore. Primarily because it will aid with the migration process itself, but also because it will manage your mailbox sizes on an ongoing basis too. With this in mind, we're offering a very healthy 50% off new MailStore licences to Exchange 2003 owners who are purchasing a new MDaemon licence of any size.

Exchange to MDaemonOne the biggest challenges you're likely to come across if you're considering upgrading from Exchange 2003 to an alternative email platform, is how to move the colossal volumes of email you're likely to have amassed over the years. It can be a daunting prospect, but if you're moving to MDaemon Messaging Server, the process is made considerably more simple than it might otherwise be, thanks to a free 'MDMigrator' utility that's bundled in the installation folder.

Windows 10Unless you've been living on a remote island for the last couple of weeks, and also covering up your Windows task bar every time you use your computer, you probably know that Windows 10 is now available to the masses. Yes, Microsoft's new flagship desktop O/S is upon us in all of it's glory. It'll take some time to see whether the hype was justified, and of course to discover the new features (and quirks), but if you've already upgraded or are thinking about doing so, you'll no doubt be keen to know how it interacts with our products. In this update I'll detail what level of support (if any) is currently offered for each of the products we distribute.

It's not often we promote events that aren't actually our own on the blog, however this particular one is national , it's free and it's aimed specifically at IT support companies and MSP's like you who want to make your business more profitable. It's also the brainchild of the highly acclaimed IT Marketing Agency and industry expert Richard Tubb, both of whom stole the show at our recent partner event so we have no doubt it'll be of the usual high calibre and well worth your valuable time. Visiting Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester and London, the specific aims of the roadshow are to help you: 
  • Use vendor partnerships to better meet the needs of your customers
  • Develop and execute a go-to-market strategy to help your business develop fast
  • Increase business with sales and revenue strategies for high growth

As an archiving solution for individuals, MailStore Home is a hidden gem, and one we're guilty of not giving enough exposure here on the blog.  In a nutshell, MailStore Home solves two of the biggest problems you're likely to face as a home user with a personal email account(s):
  1. How to find specific emails quickly when they're buried among hundreds of messages from GroupOn 
  2. How not to lose your email should your hosting provider spontaneously combust

Will MailStore alert me when a job fails? Of the many queries I see as a member of the MailStore support team here at Zen Software, this is one of the more common ones. Unfortunately, for the time being at least, this isn't something you can do from within the software but fear not - the reason for my post is that there is a workaround. EDIT: Email reporting was introduced in v10.1 - more information here.

Today sees the latest point release in the roadmap of German developer MailStore, and in addition to a long list of fixes there are a couple of interesting new developments which have caught our collective Zen Software eye. Version 9.2's 'juicy bits' that I'll talk a little more about in this post include:
  • Independence from the Windows scheduler
  • A great new synchronisation feature for users of Office 365
  • Better handling of large search results in the MailStore clients
  • Support for the new 64-bit version of MDaemon

If you're struggling to manage your mailbox sizes, or just need to keep email for long periods for compliance reasons, you may well have found yourself looking around for an archiving solution of some kind.  There are plenty out there, with many sharing some similarities, however it's the technical approach of the various products that's a good method for distinguishing them. Some of the vendors you'll come across will employ the use of a technology known as 'stubbing'. As MailStore Server doesn't, in this post I'll take a brief look at what it is, and why it's German developers have decided against stubbing and instead chosen an alternative route.