Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid growth of the work-from-anywhere trend, Tower’s goal was to meet the 21st-century head-on with customer-focused, digital-first insurance solutions.
Our board took a strategic decision to focus its efforts on becoming a digitised leader in the insurance industry to enable employees to work from anywhere. Our digital transformation aims to ensure the business is more agile and competitive, while at the same time ensuring secure access and a more efficient user experience.
We understood that digital transformation could not be achieved using traditional hub-and-spoke networks and that zero trust needed to be part of the process.
A number of different products were trialled and evaluated before Zscaler was selected due to its superior performance and support provided. Unlike legacy network security technologies that leverage firewalls or VPNs, Zscaler delivers zero trust with its cloud-native Zero Trust Exchange platform. Built on proxy architecture, it securely connects users, devices, and applications using business policies over any network.
This is important to us because some of the client companies with which we interact don’t offer secure access and, of the Pacific Islands where Tower has branches, only Fiji offers a digital platform.
Zscaler Internet Access has allowed us to not only improve our security without the cost and complexity of appliances, but also simplify our Microsoft 365 deployment, meaning that we are now in a better position to realise the benefits of cloud and mobility.
Zscaler Cloud Firewall provides firewall controls and advanced and consistent security to all our users, regardless of their location, for all ports and protocols. It enables fast and secure local internet breakouts and, because it is in the cloud, there is no hardware to buy, deploy, or manage.
Zscaler Advanced Cloud Soundbox is built on the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange and detects, prevents, and quarantines unknown attacks, including threats hiding in TLS/SSL traffic. Driven by advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning, it stops patient-zero attacks with instant verdicts for common file types and automatic quarantine for high-risk unknown threats.
Our core insurance platform is now cloud-based which provides an additional layer of security and means employees are able to download files when necessary. We have seen a significant reduction in malware incidents with malware attempts either blocked or sent off for analysis without impacting users who are assured of continuous and seamless service.
My mantra is “visible service but invisible operations” and we have certainly achieved this with Zscaler. Our employees are able to work securely from anywhere as a result of the security layers in place, without compromising the user experience.
We have reduced our management overhead with automated reports which provide insights into malware threats, thus saving the IT team significant time. WAN congestion is easily managed through Zscaler which prioritises Microsoft 365 traffic over recreational or less critical traffic. At the same time, data traffic can be directed to a localised data centre.
This level of flexibility was a surprise. Not only have we enabled a better user experience, but we’ve achieved greater efficiency as we’re able to create a number of different security policies all under one portal.
Key to the successful deployment of Zscaler has been the support of highly qualified technical experts which has meant that I have avoided the aggravation of being referred to a website to troubleshoot issues. I’ve worked with a number of technology vendors in the past and never had the kind of relationship with them that I enjoy with Zscaler.
Although our digital transformation and zero trust journey is far from over, we’re confident that we’re on the right road with Zscaler.
To learn more about how we've achieved visible service with invisible operations, I invite you to read the accompanying case study.
