In association with Waterford Technologies
Software is only half the story. So says Mark Mulcahy, technical sales director EMEA, at Waterford Technologies when explaining how that company differs from its competitors.
Based in Waterford, but with offices around the globe, Waterford Technologies is an e-mail archiving compliance and file management company. As Mulcahy says: “As a software house we are ideally positioned to create the functionality that competes with the best in the marketplace.”
Founded in 2000, Waterford Technologies provides clients with a toolset to manage email and file data. “We work in email and file data management, which covers the likes of e-discovery, classification of data, automation of managing data security, protection, or data analytics, data reduction, simplicity, cost savings,” says Mulcahy.
ComplyKey, its compliance suite, consists of SISCIN and MailMeter. An email and file management and compliance platform, MailMeter provides management, e-discovery, retention, and automation that is not available in out of the box without adding complexity and expensive add-ons.
It can be used as a tool to conduct e-discovery, freedom of information, and DSAR’s searches directly from your desktop. The e-mail archiving solution gives you the ability to narrow the scope of your search across email using clearly defined criteria.
“Essentially it stores a secure copy of every e-mail that goes in and out of an organisation,” says Mulcahy. “That store copy is legally verified as being the original copy through a mechanism that we use, meaning it can be used as a legal record because of the verifiable integrity built into the stored copy.”
Policy matters
SISCIN, meanwhile, supports the creation of data-based policies for retention, deletion, or archiving, which enables full control when managing file data. It reduces management time and the demand on primary disk by moving older files to an alternative secure encrypted location, reducing backup timeframes and costs, as well as providing content search and setting automatic policies for continuous lifecycle management.
“SISCIN sits across a lot of functions in an organisation,” says Mulcahy. “For IT; it does data analytics, reduction and simplification. For HR, legal, or compliance teams, it does e-discovery data classification, content indexing and subject access requests. For finance, it provides massive costs savings by optimising the use and need for storage.”
Waterford Technologies supports its software with a personal, dedicated touch. A strong proponent of the power of good customer support, Mulcahy says: “If I had 30 seconds to talk about our software, I would spend the entire 30 seconds talking about the managed service piece that surrounds it.”
As the business works within a highly competitive space, the logic is sound: “More than 50 companies offer a similar type of software, so we had to have a differentiator. Our approach is this; we make ourselves available to our clients, we have expertise on our market, and we have a team that has a broad understanding of how software sits inside an organisation. More importantly, we can help them understand how to use it, and how to get a return on their investment.”
It’s clear Mulcahy has great confidence in what the team offers. So great in fact, that he tells clients they can “get a fivefold return on investment with our software. But they can’t do that without our help. I’m sure they’re not doing it with our competitors, not because their software is in any way deficient, but because this type of enterprise software is by its nature and area in the compliance/legal space is complex. It only delivers its full potential when wrapped in a fully managed and ongoing team, which we see as our big advantage.”
This confidence doesn’t come out of thin air. It’s supported by glowing feedback from the most important group – clients. “Without a shadow of a doubt, customer feedback would be our unique selling point. We have clients getting us business because of how we interact with them. They see the effort and the passion we put into the relationship. On average, we keep customers four times longer than the industry average.”
Support
One of those clients is Paul Quinn of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, who recently said he was “extremely grateful for all the support Waterford Technologies have given over the past few months… MailMeter has played an integral role in the council’s ability to organise, securely store and find historical e-mail.” Another client, the Health Research Board, said: “The support is very good; we receive health checks every month. I feel like we get a lot of TLC. It is a solid product, that never goes down.” While Noel Galligan, IT manager, Pobal added that Waterford Technologies solutions and support have enabled “us to address the challenges in managing compliance, GDPR, and data protection. This is of paramount importance to us due to the highly sensitive nature of our email and file data.”
For Mulcahy, this personal touch is vital for remaining competitive. “There has to be a differentiator if you are not a $20 billion IT company. We have to bring something different.”
While Office365 is heading to be the dominant player in this area, Mulcahy says he is comfortable with that. “Our competitors should be worried as O365 adds more and more compliance/e-discovery functionality as part of the offering. We feel this is giving us an edge as it perfectly articulates our strengths.
“With high-end licenses you have functionality that can be complex to use and in that critical moment of use, there is no team available to lean on. Now compare that to what we offer; a similar functionality at a fraction of the cost, that’s simple and clear to use, and a full team available to help you through your whole e-discovery case. Which would you prefer? We’ve had some clients leave that soon realised that while they replaced the software, they were missing that managed service piece. It was only half the story.”
Using the analogy of house insurance, Mulcahy explains the benefits of what they offer: “You think about house insurance twice – once when your bill comes in, and again when your house is on fire. That’s what people can miss about this type of software. It’s precise, complex, and extremely important, but most of the time it’s forgotten about. You have to educate people to think about the value of the managed service.”
Continuing his analogy, Mulcahy adds: “Not only have we sold you house insurance, but we have a team walking around your perimeter 24/7. We’re an extension of your IT team. My team becomes your team for the duration of partnership.”
Of course, understanding the software is vital, which is why educating clients is part of the team’s process. Mulcahy puts it like this: “When it comes to software, what matters most is how you use it. Part of our sales process is a learning process. Quite often, a client needs to be educated on gaps or risks in their organisation.”
Scattered problems
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has aggravated cracks in many seemingly steady foundations. Between companies undergoing rapid transformations or making speedy switches to remote working, it has brought turbulence for many.
Mulcahy says the pandemic shone a light on existing vulnerabilities: “If you have a thousand employees in an office block in Dublin coming in at nine and leaving at five, there was sense that they’re all doing what they’re meant to be doing. You scatter those thousand people across Leinster, and the IT manager becomes acutely more aware of the data leakage, risks, the security risk, or reputational damage that a thousand people working out of their bedrooms or their kitchens can do. In a way, this has helped clients realise the importance of protecting data.”
In Mulcahy’s view, the pandemic has brought clients a greater appreciation and understanding of the managed service offering. “A lot of our clients have been under pressure, so they’ve reached out to us for support. We provide advice and guidance as they undergo changes in work practice. I think it’s been a real comfort to know they have us at their beck and call.”
For more information on email and file archiving with a human touch, visit: waterfordtechnologies.com/products/email-archiving-mailmeter/
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