Case Study
Imerys Global IT Gets Rock-Solid Results from SpamSentinel
Case Study
Large installation of SpamSentinel across 6,000 users and 47 countries
is highly accurate, flexible, and simple to maintain.


The Challenges
Complex organization – Because IMERYS has over 6,000 users and 260 locations in 47 countries, it needed a solid yet flexible solution.
Large volume of email spam – High volumes of spam caused user inefficiency, created confusion, and increased the need for IT support.
International requirements – Diversity of email languages mandated a global spam solution.
Limited IT resources – IT resources were thin around the globe.


Company Background
IMERYS, a world leader in industrial minerals operating in 47 countries, was looking to implement an anti-spam software solution. Dave Bailey, Senior Manager for Collaboration Services and Integration, based at the company’s office in Roswell, Georgia, required a solution with full integration, accuracy, and flexibility. Prior to 2004, IMERYS tried to use an add-on to its antivirus solution to do content/spam filtering.

Not only did IMERYS experience poor spam blocking, but even worse, its users complained, IT resource time was wasted, and unexpected crashing of servers occurred around the world. This experience helped to accelerate the company’s investigation of a fully integrated anti-spam solution.


Dave Bailey relates, “IMERYS has done a lot of growth through acquisition. As we integrate each new division, we have found applying our global messaging standard with SpamSentinel to be superior to any other anti-spam solution found at the existing companies.”

Complex Organization
The combination of SpamSentinel Domino server version and hosted solution seamlessly supports all 260 locations.

The SpamSentinel hosted solution provides IMERYS with a full outsourcing solution for a few of the Internet domains that receive email with a simple MX redirect to the MayFlower Software servers. The emails pass through SpamSentinel’s dual-engine system, helping IMERYS accurately manage spam.

All 6,000 users receive only the “good” email scrubbed by the SpamSentinel hosted server.

Large Volume of Email Spam
With SpamSentinel, IMERYS achieved removal of 92% of inbound email that was accurately marked as spam in 2008.

In only three IT hours a week, IMERYS was able to block over 116 million spam emails by supporting consumers with SpamSentinel.
Over the last six years, IMERYS has seen dramatic increases in email volume, in part because of the increase in the number of users, the proliferation of email, and unfortunately, the abundance of spam email going into its servers.


Dave Bailey explains, “While email volume has grown by 167 million emails over five years, the number of user inquiries remains flat at 10–15 inquiries a week for 6,000 users. This is exceptional given the email volume increases.”


The reduction of spam email sent to users translates into time saved managing the inbox, enabling IMERYS employees to concentrate on their work. The IT support groups report a reduction in the number of inquiries by users because of the ease of use of SpamSentinel; it is
native to Lotus Notes and Domino.


International Requirements
SpamSentinel is language agnostic. For IMERYS, that agnosticism saves resources, time, and money across the 47 countries.

Because IMERYS has thousands of users and locations around the globe, it needed a solid yet flexible solution. SpamSentinel’s dual-engine technology easily managed spam throughout the 47 countries and multiple languages required by IMERYS. This benefit was huge for IMERYS because it allowed for a single spam solution, reduced the resources needed to run it globally, and saved money.




The Results
Implementation of SpamSentinel’s Hosted and Server Solution

Complex organization – The combination of the SpamSentinel Domino server version and hosted solution seamlessly supports all 260 locations.
Large volume of email spam – Use of SpamSentinel accurately removed the bulk of inbound spam, and IT now spends only three hours a week
supporting consumers through SpamSentinel.
International requirements – SpamSentinel is language agnostic, allowing for support of all the languages across the 47 countries.
Limited IT resources – Because SpamSentinel is up to 99.6%+ accurate and 100% integrated into Lotus Notes and Domino, the need for IT resources is reduced.



Limited IT Resources
Limited IT resources are not an issue because SpamSentinel has full Lotus Notes and Domino integration, and is highly accurate.

SpamSentinel’s hosted solution is 100% integrated with Lotus Notes, providing enormous savings in administration time. Total integration was a key requirement for IMERYS IT to save time and resources. SpamSentinel achieves upward of 99.6% accuracy through MayFlower Software’s unique dual-engine technology. One example of the success due to its ease of use and accuracy occurred in the IMERYS Paris headquarters, where IT support staff helped to manage the SpamSentinel admin database blacklists and reporting. One IT support analyst is spending only a couple of hours of week on spam management.



Dave Bailey states, “Instead of managing spam, they are taking non-spam-related help desk calls from IMERYS users, relieving the call queue and increasing user satisfaction.”

The Bottom Line
IMERYS has achieved dramatic results across the entire 6,000 users, 260 locations, and 47 countries. The numbers and reduction in spam volume tell a large part of the story. However, one intangible result is the company’s strategic partnership with MayFlower Software. IMERYS reports the level of customer service provided for the SpamSentinel solution to be superior because of its online chat, screen sharing, and quick turnaround.

The strategic partnership worked especially well for an integration of a remote business group in South Africa. IMERYS IT knew that response time to a centralized quarantine database in North America for SpamSentinel would be difficult via South Africa’s satellite connection. Working with MayFlower Software, the product team implemented a hosted option for the South Africa location’s Internet domain, as well as implementing ‘Manage by Example’ which eliminates the daily SPAM report and sends the results to the consumers’ junk folder. As a result, consumers can manage “email” without the complication of dealing with spam messages.
Dave Bailey relates, “This model is working great! We hope to expand this to more users as we plan a global client upgrade to version 8.x of Lotus Notes.”



About SpamSentinel
SpamSentinel is a native Lotus Notes and Domino anti-spam/anti-virus solution. It uses a dual-engine technology to block 99.6%+ spam accurately with almost NO administration. SpamSentinel blocks 99.6%+ of spam by using a community of over 10 million people in 160 countries who work together to block spam combined
with an advanced reputation engine. Both engines are updated continually, in real time, resulting in excellent blocking with almost no administration effort. There are NO rules to configure, NO lists to manage, and NO blocking via subject, content, or word.

SpamSentinel offers the same great product delivered three ways. Customers can mix and match to fit their individual requirements — with no added fees. SpamSentinel is offered as a native Lotus Notes and Domino server version, a hosted service option that requires an MX redirect and a Notes Client version. The hosted version is platform independent. SpamSentinel has the added option to include traditional anti-virus protection for
inbound email.


About MayFlower Software
MayFlower Software, located near Boston, MA, is a leader in solutions to combat spam and viruses. With over 25 years of experience behind us, we focus on our SpamSentinel solution to help companies reduce spam via our dual-engine technology.

MayFlower Software received a Beacon Award for Sentinel Data Integrator in 1995. Our philosophy is to offer the very best spam protection with the lowest false positive rate and the lowest administration along with the very best support possible. We are not satisfied until you are satisfied.

©Copyright 2010 MayFlower Software Inc. - All rights reserved worldwide.


Download the full case study here:
IMERYS Case Study - 2010.pdf
 
©Copyright 2010 MayFlower Software Inc. - All rights reserved worldwide.