What support does at ExchangeDefender
Day-to-Day
The primary objective for the support staff at ExchangeDefender is to be cordial to partners while resolving support tickets within our SLA. Other duties include escalating issues to higher tier support members and notifying our engineers of any alerts that may be going off.
Support Issues
We make our support staff available on the phones 24/7. The phone may sometimes be the best way to describe a problem, however, the first step is to open a ticket. The most efficient way to get your issue resolved is through a ticket in our support portal. The support portal allows you to provide a more detailed description of the problem, including the ability to attach screen shots and provide verbose logging. It is more manageable to review a NDR as an attachment than have someone read you the headers over the phone! The portal also protects you and your clients from social engineering, as it requires a password to access.
A support ticket sounds great but I have an urgent issue and I need to call someone immediately to get it resolved!
You can skip Tier I support by opening an urgent ticket in our portal. An urgent ticket goes to the top of the support queue and our Tier II/III support staff is directly alerted of the issue. Please keep in mind that because our staff is alerted to be sure the issue warrants the priority as you may incur an hourly fee or opening an urgent ticket for a non-urgent issue.
Help us Help you
The more precise details you can provide us the quicker we’ll be able to resolve issues. This includes, but not limited to, screen shots, verbose logging, how to replicate the issue you are having, and the troubleshooting steps you have already taking. Once a support request is opened you will be promptly greeted by our friendly support staff. Based on the material provided we will do our finest to resolve your issue in a timely fashion.
Putting it all together
We are here to help you. Everything our support staff does is to make our partnership with you stronger. We strive to provide outstanding support so you can count on us for all of your email needs. For any feedback or concerns about support please let us know at Support Feedback
Why should a business owner use our XD mobile platform.
In today’s business world mobility is dominating every industry vertical. This boom in market share puts your customer’s ability to contact your company at unprecedented levels. However, if your company is not equipped to meet those demands you’re likely to leave your customer with unmet expectations.
This is where the ExchangeDefender Business Communicator comes into play. On the surface it appears to just allow your team the ability to manage their SPAM quarantine, but once you look beyond the black and white feature set there’s so much more. Now your team has a tool that, alongside with their Hosted Exchange Active Sync, has full access to the all the business tools they would need for conducting business on the go.
One of the major cost saving trends in the SMB community and even to some customer facing enterprises is the home office. Our mobile platform allows those business tools that generally run on your desktop to now be accessible wherever you need them to be. Email security software has been in existence for two reasons. To keep your networks safe and to maximize productivity by avoiding sifting through SPAM all day long. However, no system is 100 percent accurate at flagging SPAM correctly. This is why quarantines exist as every now and then you may need to look for a message or two in your quarantine. Some methods require you to log on to a portal or review an email report. These methods are not designed for mobility. Their short comings are based on rendering size, requiring credentials, and navigation limitations. When you’re on the move, you need a mobile app that gives you the ability to:
- Release a message or trust a sender with a single swipe
- Preview messages within your mobile device before releasing
Beyond the basic operations of SPAM management there are two major components you want available to you employees: data leakage protection and business continuity. If a message contains private information your compliance department will be happy to know that your team doesn’t need to be logged into Outlook on their desktop to encrypt a message. But most importantly you need the peace of mind that comes with knowing that if your mail server (or provider) ever goes offline that your team will have working internet email only one tap away!
Our mobile platforms unrivaled ability to deliver increased productivity, security, data leakage protection, and business continuity is the solution your company can’t be without.
They why’s of Installing the ExchangeDefender app
Installing the ExchangeDefender app is easy and free. Our new app combines the features of ExchangeDefender with the convenience of your smart phone. If you haven’t already installed it, do it right away. You’ll want to install the ExchangeDefender app so you have access to all of our key features, making your job easier and employees more efficient.
The new ExchangeDefender app gives you:
Email at the tip of your fingers: First and foremost the ExchangeDefender app is an easy and quick way to check your email. No longer do you have the have to go through the pain of opening the web page and zooming in and out to pull up your email. The ExchangeDefender app scales everything to fit on the page. This allows you to keep your inbox clean and minimal of junk, allowing you to be more productive. Along with checking your email, the ExchangeDefender app also allows you to check your daily SPAM reports. You can trust and release messages just like you would with the Outlook add in.
Continued Workflow: One of the most important features of the ExchangeDefender app is the access to LiveArchive. LiveArchive allows your clients access to their email, even when their Exchange server is down. LiveArchive is also scaled to fit the page, so just like with your email you don’t have to worry about trying to work on a 4 inch screen.
Encryption: Encryption is a top priority in many companies. Within the ExchangeDefender app, the encryption function opens your selected mail application and populates the messages with the encryption tags as well as giving your clients the ability send encrypted emails.
If you haven’t already, go download the app from the app store. For any questions, please feel free to contact me at: Anastasia@ownwebnow.com. 877-546-0316 x 739.
ExchangeDefender Mobile Apps… Does it even work?
We are constantly publishing updates to our mobile applications and with every update there is the possibility for the introduction of new bugs. If you or your client happens to encounter an issue the first thing you should do is make sure they are running the latest version of the app.
This can be achieved one of two ways depending on the mobile platform that is being used.
IOS – Visit the “App Store” and see if there are any updates available.
Android – Visit the “Play Store” and check if any updates are available.
After confirming that you’re running the latest version of the mobile application we can begin to document the issue. The best resource that you can provide is a screenshot of the error or information about the process to recreate the bug.
Taking Screenshots
IOS – Simply press the “Home” and “Sleep” buttons at the same time. If done correctly the screen will flash and you’ll hear a sound as if you were taking a photo with the camera. Your photo will now be located inside of your camera roll.
Android – This can vary from version to version, however if you are running Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) and above this can be achieved by pressing and holding the volume down and power buttons synchronously. After a few seconds your phone will take a screenshot. Your photo will now be located in your gallery or photo directory on your phone.
After you have compiled this information and screenshots head on over to our support portal located at: https://support.ownwebnow.com. Here you can open a ticket with the information collected and attach any screenshots that you have acquired. Please be as descriptive as possible and explain the steps involved to reproduce the glitch. After one of our technicians has reviewed your ticket and confirmed that the issue you are experiencing is actually a bug they will submit a bug report for your case.
You will then be provided with a link to view status updates and track the current progress of your issue via our live bug tracker. Please understand that development issues may take several weeks before they are even examined depending on the issue and current development queue.
Mobile – XD Business Communicator
XD Business Communicator is one of our latest additions to our mobile software suite. Extending the functionality and portability of our ExchangeDefender product line, this app keeps your connected!
Quarantine
You have the ability to manage your SPAM & SURESPAM quarantines. You can view each message in real time with a life preview pulled directly from our secure network. In the event you come across a message that has been caught by mistake, you can release the message for delivery. You also have the ability to whitelist (trust) a sender to ensure future mail delivery from that specified contact.
Encryption
Another useful feature packaged within the mobile application is the ability to generate an e-mail message ready for encryption. This feature will start a new message with [Encrypt] prepended to the subject line. This will ensure the message is sent through our encryption mail delivery channels. The only thing left for you to do is enter the recipient and message body and hit send.
LiveArchive
In the event of a catastrophic failure and your mail server is down or inaccessible, you have direct access to your live archive account. By clicking the button labeled Livearchive you will be signed directly into your business continuity account. This provides a quick and workable solution in the event of an emergency!
2FA
This feature is one of our newest additions. If you have 2FA enabled on your ExchangeDefender profile, this will allow you to generate a one-time use authentication code to access your account. Upon attempting to sign-in to your online profile, you will be prompted for the 2FA code which will be available on this mobile device. Those who required increased security, this is the feature that will help bring that comfort home!
About
We’re constantly providing updates to our applications. The about page display general information about the application and information about what’s changed between software revisions.
SMTP Security Outlook 2010, 2013 & Desktop Client – Major Update
Today we’ve published an update to the Outlook 2010, 2013 and Desktop Client SMTP Security application. This update addresses several bugs, performance issues and even a few feature requests!
- We’ve added the ability to view and manage alias accounts. (See Figure 1)
- An issue where the submission of multiple spam messages at once has been fixed.
- Messages submitted as SPAM are now sent to the “Junk” folder.
- Fixed several performance issues relating to “Hanging” or “Freezing”.
- We’ve fixed the issue that was causing the “Add-In” tab to be renamed.
- We’ve added the ability to disable the automatic refresh cycle. (See Figure 2)
- Fixed an issue that was causing compliance messages to not populate.
- Fixed an issue that caused the quick links to not work correctly. (See Figure 3)
If you currently have the add-in installed, simply close and re-launch outlook. If you had our most recent version previously, the add-in should automatically update. However, if you notice that an automatic update did not occur, simply uninstall the old version and obtain the latest version.
Downloads
Figure 1 – Ability to view and manage alias accounts.
You alias accounts will populate in this list in the order of the main account, then followed by domain and users alphabetically.
Figure 2 – Ability to disable automatic refresh intervals.
You now have the option to disable the automatic synchronization.
Figure 3 – Fixed an issue that caused the quick links to not work correctly.
Clicking this link will sign you into your web management console automatically!
On The Road Again
ExchangeDefender team is hitting the road again this month and we’d love to see you. We will be at the Automation Nation / Labtech event in Orlando, Datto event in Las Vegas and Autotask conference in Miami. If you’re planning to attend any of these events please stop by, we’d love to see you.
Why do we sponsor these events?
Historically, we have sponsored IT trade shows as a method of leads generation – we wanted to partner up with IT solution providers across the globe and help deliver email security solutions everywhere. Our approach and our reason for attending events changed last year.
Last year we made a decision to close our partner program to new solution providers and focus on helping our existing partner base thrive. This is an organization-wide effort with almost every department exclusively focused on helping our loyal partner base grow faster. Last fall we launched the ExchangeDefender Migration & Support service which gives us the ability to deliver our solutions on our partners behalf directly to the end user – allowing the partner to grow faster and be far more profitable with larger projects. We are no longer at trade shows to get new partners, we are at the trade shows to talk to partners about what is working and how to become more effective as a team.
If you do attend an event and would like to sit down with one of us for a longer conversation – let us know. We would love to talk about how our products and services are working around the world, how different verticals are being served, how these solutions are presented and sold. It’s a massive effort – and one that has a great deal of variety from business to business.
Our team is hitting the road to see you face to face, if you’d like to know more come and see us. If you can’t make it to these by all means, call us and email us, we’d gladly do whatever we can to help.
Sincerely,
Vlad Mazek
CEO, ExchangeDefender
Exchange Essentials Relaunch
Hello partners, Vlad here, bringing you the latest news about the most anticipated launch we’ve had all year: Exchange Essentials. If you haven’t seen the webinar about the new service(s) please click here to watch it:
In short, we found that lots of people were using our Exchange Essentials to serve the segments of the market that we didn’t think would find Microsoft Exchange appealing. We were surprised both on the low end (for part time businesses, MSPs that were tired of supporting POP3/IMAP) and on the high end (bigger companies that wanted to save costs and didn’t need or want the full enterprise look and feel). So we decided to redo the product around our core strengths and help you put out a solution that made a lot more sense. With that, we feel like there are three core values that we bring above and beyond our competitors:
1. You will never go down. Exchange is Exchange, it will go down – when it does, you’ll still have Emergency and LiveArchive to send and receive mail.
2. You won’t have to compete with us. Service is only available through our partners, no direct sales.
3. You are getting the best regardless of how much you pay. There is no difference in terms of the infrastructure that is holding your data, you won’t be stuck on slow servers or old versions just because you didn’t pay for the top tier.
So we now have Exchange tiers that are priced below Microsoft and Google Apps and in our opinion offer a far better designed-for-business service. And we did not want to compromise on the solution – which complicates things a little with contracts, prepayments, commitments and different features coming at different price points. So I wanted to give you an idea of what will happen the next time you attempt to order Exchange Essentials from us.
I want to sign up my client for Exchange Essentials..
If you attempt to do so through the portal or over the phone, you will get a message that someone from our management needs to speak with you. I’m not going to sugar coat this: Reality is that we can only make money on these services if we all do our part. Consider the call as a part of presale consulting – we want to make sure you know exactly what the product differences are, how to market them, how to sell them, how to price and them and how to profit from it all.
How are we going to do that? Well, shortly after speaking with one of us you’ll get a welcome packet. Here is what’s in it:
Brandable Marketing Collateral – We’ve built client-facing marketing collateral that just needs your name and your logo (or change it up completely if you wish)
Pricing Guide – Detailed pricing, contracts, requirements and pricing breaks in an easy to understand guide.
ExchangeDefender Essentials Question Based Sales Guide – Sample questionnaire, question sequence and open ended questions that you can ask your prospects in order to determine the best solution for them.
Sample Proposal, Contract and Invoice – Proposal language, sample contracts and item descriptions for your invoice.
Web Site Collateral – Cut and paste info into your web site.
PowerPoint Presentation – Presentation covering Exchange services that can be delivered in under 3 minutes to a non-techie audience, just apply your company colors and logo.
Yes, that’s a lot of stuff but the more we can do to help you the less time you’ll have to spend trying to figure out how to describe this product on your web site or create from scratch.
It’s as simple as that. Exchange Essentials is already available for order in United States and Essentials service with mailbox servers in Australia and Europe will be available starting with June ‘14.
Let’s talk! If you aren’t profiting from the cloud you’re missing out.
Sincerely,
Vlad Mazek
CEO, ExchangeDefender
Compliance Archive – Improved Searching!
Over the last month we have been in the process of improving the architecture behind Compliance Archive. Your information has already been migrated into this new compliance standard and we were able to do this with very little noticeable downtime. The main reason for this improvement was to help enhance database performance and finally be able to offer advance searching and audit reports.
To give you an idea, on the old architecture an advanced report would take roughly 20-30 minutes and would typically time out due to (multiple refreshes) or a user’s browser becoming unresponsive. So before we built the GUI to allow for these searches, we had to get this under control.
Now with the new system not only do searches come back typically within 3-4 minutes, they are scheduled jobs. So you type in your search, submit your criteria and either wait or check back once they have finished. The best part is, you can REPEAT your searches once they’ve finished! So let’s say you’re required to perform the same mundane search once a month, now you can with only a few clicks!
ExchangeDefender & Exchange 2013 Essentials Changes
ExchangeDefender Essentials and Exchange 2010 Essentials have been some of the most popular products in our portfolio for the past year or so. Originally designed as a compromise between “Enterprise” and “Essential”, the products were designed with IKEA principle in mind: “We started with the price… and built a product around it.”; Due to the products popularity and demand we have redesigned 2013 network from the ground up and would like to share the details of the changes that are coming up in April:
ExchangeDefender & Exchange 2013 Essentials
Wed, Mar 26, 2014 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/896377176
On the original 2007 network we ran pricing specials as we reached capacity on our large scale clusters where we could fit a few hundred mailboxes before building another mailbox cluster. With 2010 we had an Essentials system that was identical to our Business setup but without data center redundancy and business continuity – something many could easily live without until they had an issue or their needs grew. During this time we were presented with many usage scenarios in which Essentials simply made a lot of sense.
With 2013 we are expanding the Essentials portfolio to present both new solutions as well as new pricing points to give our partners working in home and micro-business settings a way to create a solution that fits these new concerns. While the focus is clearly on paying only for the essentials, the business model will allow the client to compromise only in the areas they desire to based on the environment they manage – we have made many of the product features optional, adjusted the SLA, adjusted support and business continuity offerings, and a lot more that will be discussed on March 26th.
Please take a moment to register for the webinar and we look forward to sharing the new product suite with you!
Vlad Mazek
CEO, ExchangeDefender
vlad@ExchangeDefender.com