Mimecast Increases Profitability, Productivity for IT-Focused MSP MCA Technology

With its roots as a value-added reseller, MCA Technology turned its focus to managed services two decades ago, building out networks, servers, and firewalls for clients. The sweet spot for the company, formed in 1987, are customers with less than 150 employees that can’t afford an IT staff or even a cybersecurity professional. MCA’s role, as James Bender, the company’s chief strategy officer, explains it, is “to provide everything to that customer.”

For those clients, which operate across sectors from healthcare and finance to manufacturing and hospitality, cybersecurity — and, specifically, email cybersecurity — is a critical element of MCA’s offerings.

“While we don’t label ourselves as a managed security service provider, we are an MSP that has the security toolset in place,” Bender explains. “We help our clients understand where their risks are and how to mitigate them.”

Some of MCA’s customers have to comply with cybersecurity regulatory requirements, while a smaller, more sophisticated segment are proactively thinking about cyber risk. Most, however, are focused on what they do best — whether its retail sales or product manufacturing — rather than “identifying the bad actors that might wish to cause them harm,” Bender says. It’s MCA’s role to think about that so its customers don’t have to.

What a True Partnership Looks like

An engineer by training, Bender is focused on MCA’s products, packaging, and pricing, including determining which vendors to work with. Finding the right email security partner didn’t happen immediately, he says. MCA encountered “all kinds of issues” with other vendors before selecting Mimecast as its sole partner in 2018.

Mimecast’s standing in the marketplace was a selling point. “When we talk about our email threat protection platform, [customers] are aware of Mimecast,” Bender says.

But the reasons why Mimecast is such a model partner goes beyond brand recognition. “[Mimecast] is one of the top three relationships that I have because they truly do work with their partners,” Bender says.

A vendor-MSP relationship can be tricky if the software maker sees the MSP as cannibalizing inside sales. Vendors typically say, “OK, we’ll allow you to sell this product, but you have to do all the work,” Bender says. They may refuse to help with client or technical issues or do so on a billable basis.

In contrast, Mimecast rolls up its sleeves. “If our guys don’t have the competency or understand a client issue, Mimecast jumps in,” Bender says. “They’ll talk with our client to help them figure out how to do something the client wants to do.”

The MSP channel is the closest a software provider will get to the customer, he adds, and Mimecast gets that. MCA has a dedicated Mimecast technician who helps out pre-sales (and sometimes post-sales). “If we ever get a customer that’s on the fence about the solution,” Bender says, “this person will talk them through it and spend a lot of time.”

Mimecast meets annually with MCA to discuss the previous year’s performance and, looking forward, how it can help the company grow its numbers. “Their interactions with me have made me a better strategic adviser for my clients,” Bender says.

Mimecast is also good about making sure MCA’s technicians stay up to speed on training and upskilling. “If you can make the technicians happy, that makes the sales team happy,” Bender says. “And that makes the customers happy.”

A Gateway to Growth

In addition, Mimecast helps fund MCA’s marketing programs and events. It also offers the MSP opportunities to get involved in beta testing new products.

One of those newer products is Mimecast’s Cloud Integrated (CI) solution. MCA had great success selling and supporting Mimecast’s Email Gateway. “Our guys understand it really, really well,” Bender says. “It was a core competency.”

A gateway solution, however, is complex. “It has a lot of knobs, levers, and dials to tweak to get to that sweet spot,” Bender explains.

When MCA’s technicians began working with the CI product, the simplicity was a selling point. “And when you think about its native connectivity with Microsoft 365, there’s a lot of benefits,” Bender says.

CI is now the default product for MCA’s managed services. Nearly any technician, regardless of experience, can install CI, which increases the rate at which MCA can onboard new customers and decreases the cost. Faster go-to-market means faster billing. And customers appreciate the lower price point, the lack of additional data centers to worry about, and not having to worry about resiliency or continuity issues.

MCA is moving existing customers eager for a gateway-less product to CI as well. Those migrations are a little trickier technically, but Mimecast is working with MCA to address those issues.

How To Boost Profits and Maintain Focus

Another benefit of the Mimecast relationship is the ability to attach a higher-margin product to MCA’s lower-margin products.

“We’re lucky to get 20% gross margin off of a Microsoft 365 deal, and then you’re paying commissions and overhead to manage that side of business,” Bender says. “For us, it’s very important to attach complementary products, like Mimecast, which we try to price at a 60% margin. That’s extremely lucrative and helps bring those contracts into a very profitable light.”

Mimecast understands its MSP partners’ profitability requirements, according to Bender. “Any MSP out there looking to partner with Mimecast can rest assured that it’s definitely going to enhance the profitability of their contracts,” he says.

Looking ahead, Mimecast will continue to be an important partner for MCA. While some other email security providers lost focus trying to be everything to everyone, Mimecast has maintained its expertise. Thus, “they’re in the best position to bend with the market versus other players out there,” Bender says.