Interviewed on 24 Nov 08
Michael Hamstra, Director of Marketing
AppRiver was founded in April 2002 with one clear value proposition: to offer businesses of all sizes secure messaging solutions. Since its inception, the company has sustained an impressive 97% customer retention rate while growing its customer base to more than 30,000 companies and over 5 million mailboxes worldwide, making it one of the largest email security service providers in the world.
AppRiver is a Software-as-a-Service (Saas) provider specializing in secure messaging solutions for all things email. In addition to spam and virus protection, the company provides a Hosted Microsoft Exchange. AppRiver’s Secure Exchange Hosting Service eliminates the time and investment required for businesses to purchase and maintain Exchange servers in-house. AppRiver’s exclusive partnership with Akamai also assures users will always have quick and reliable access to Outlook, Outlook Web and Mobile Devices without internet disruptions, regardless of location.
What unique selling points do you offer?
AppRiver approaches business with a focus on creating a positive customer experience from first contact to post-sale support. This unique customer-centric methodology adds great value to AppRiver as it differentiates the company from competitors who do not offer the same experience.
AppRiver also offers users the only network optimized for Microsoft Exchange. Understanding the need for high performing, always available applications, AppRiver teamed up with Akamai to make the Internet behave more consistently for business-quality application delivery. By implementing the Akamai platform within its service, AppRiver assures its users will always have quick and reliable access to Outlook, Outlook Web and Mobile Device applications, regardless of their location or what is happening on the Internet.
AppRiver provides unlimited mailbox storage, as well as access to an easy-to-use, web-based interface called Shoreline™. Shoreline™ is AppRiver’s proprietary architecture that defines all elements necessary for a highly reliable, professionally engineered Microsoft Exchange platform. It details how system elements are secured and includes a control panel that reduces complex management requirements to simple tasks.
Finally, AppRiver owns all core email filtering technology used in its SecureTide™ service, which allows the company to be highly adaptable in the fast-changing anti-spam environment, ensuring the system's quality and cost variables remain under AppRiver's control.
Describe the services you offer?
Web hosting companies provide clients Internet connectivity and data center space for servers they do not own. While the scope of hosting services varies widely, AppRiver offers secure Microsoft Exchange hosting services to help eliminate the time and investment required for businesses to purchase and maintain Exchange servers in-house.
By outsourcing application infrastructure, AppRiver customers are able to scale according to their operational requirements. Internal IT and engineering personnel are now free to focus on strategic initiatives rather than IT chores that do not create competitive advantages for their business.
Describe your target market?
The majority of our customers are in the SMB space, qualifying AppRiver as one of the largest and most knowledgeable providers of SaaS solutions to this market. The company currently has three product offerings:
• SecureTide™ is a fully managed e-mail protection service that shields gateways from up to 99% of unwanted e-mail, delivering only legitimate mail to client message servers.
• Secure Hosted Exchange with Shoreline™ is a service that simplifies setup, provisioning, and management of a Microsoft Exchange e-mail system while providing enhanced e-mail protection and support for all mobile platforms.
• AppRiver’s Message Sniffer™ is an e-mail scanning engine that uses advanced pattern recognition technology to accurately identify spam. Message Sniffer™ can be easily integrated into existing e-mail platforms, appliances and spam filtering services.
How is your company planning for the future?
AppRiver’s growing number of customer success stories clearly illustrates the tangible and measurable benefits organizations are gaining from SaaS. In fact, Gartner predicts that SaaS could represent a third of all business application spending by 2012, indicating that its appeal has spread beyond small and midsized organizations to the enterprise.
The benefits of SaaS are not just theoretical. Since its inception, AppRiver has sustained an impressive 97% customer retention rate while growing its customer base to more than 30,000 companies and over 5 million mailboxes worldwide. Clients on six different continents rely on AppRiver services to maintain network security and enhance productivity. Today, AppRiver is one of the largest e-mail security Managed Service Providers to the business market.
What benefits can you offer your customers?
We often ask our customers, “Why AppRiver?” The answer (in addition to Question Two’s response) is, “AppRiver is easy to work with, affordably priced, and offers excellent customer support.”
How do you support your customers?
AppRiver’s Phenomenal Customer Support utilizes a customer support ticketing system, live chat, and 24/7/365 U.S.-based telephone support.
• No Contracts Required
• No Cancellation Policy
• Free 30-day Trial for all Services
