The club hopes that by switching from an ‘individual point’ solution to a unified one, it will also be able to reduce the time it spends managing e-mail quarantines.
Moving to the “Software as a Service” model forms part of an overhaul of the club’s local area network.
Mimecast, a specialist in always-on e-mail, said the new system will allow the club to follow strict industry guidelines – especially regarding the timing of new player signings.
Bolton Wanderers can now provide evidence of all electronic communication between players, agents and the club, and is able to access these documents quickly.
The club has signed a 10-year archival contract with Mimecast, and is paying an annual flat rate per user.
Mimecast said Bolton Wanderers’ IT manager, Dave Atkinson, was attracted to the solution because emails are stored on triple-redundant servers at geographically remote locations – offering a continuous service even in the event of a server outage.
But Atkinson said the biggest advantage has been spending less time trawling through e-mail quarantine lists looking for messages that have been mistakenly classified as spam.
“The impact of the new system which has now been installed for three months has been to eliminate virtually all email-borne viruses and spam.
“It provides the club with an e-mail infrastructure that can support it for the foreseeable future, giving us the peace of mind of an email archival system that provides an audit trail of communication that could be used in court to defend the club’s reputation should the need occur.”
The system also blocks inappropriate e-mails in an attempt to save disc space, and a marketing capability allows club bosses to send targeted emails campaigns to fans.