This week, Microsoft announced that it had chosen its Microsoft Security 20/20 Partner Awards Finalists for the year, a prestigious classification in the Microsoft partner community. I am honored to announce that Zscaler has been chosen as a finalist in two categories:
- Security ISV of the Year (which Zscaler won last year); and
- Zero Trust Champion – ISV
These nominations validate and underscore Zscaler’s approach to delivering the best and most secure digital experience for our customers. Together with Microsoft, we have secured thousands of enterprises, from major industrial companies such as GE and Siemens, to leading consumer brands including L’Oréal. In total, we have more than 3,000 joint customers that benefit from our seven deep integrations across Microsoft 365 and Azure involving key programs and technologies in support of the zero-trust journey.
I would be remiss without thanking our customers for joining us in this journey. The past year has been difficult—to say the least—and our collaboration with Microsoft has shown time and time again what having two innovative companies working together can create.
To demonstrate this point, I’m going to share two quick stories, the theme of which you are likely familiar with, but each with an ending that speaks of triumph, innovation, and poise.
Racing to get the workforce remote: Zscaler + Microsoft 365
Nearly a year ago to the day, many of us received notice that work wasn’t going to be in the office for some time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Putting technical hurdles aside for a moment, a question that arose for many enterprises around the world was, “How are we going to get our work done?” With so much of the world using enterprise business and productivity apps on-prem and in the cloud to communicate, organize, write, present, calculate, exchange files, etc, there was no time to waste. People had to go home, but work couldn’t grind to a halt.
IT leaders had a lot to think about. “Is my network going to hold up? Does everyone have the access to the apps they need? Is my security for remote workers enough? What do I need to implement to handle growing traffic needs and new attack surfaces?”
It became evident nearly overnight that the network architectures of the past had run their course. It was time to try something new, something innovative for the new work-from-home reality.
Johnson Controls: 100,000+ office workers required to go remote
Johnson Controls is a large, multinational corporation that specializes in the production of HVAC, fire, and security systems for buildings. When the pandemic hit and workers needed to become remote, Johnson Controls turned to Zscaler and Microsoft to alleviate pains with legacy VPNs that became impossible to scale and hurt the user experience. In three weeks, Johnson Controls was able to overcome VPN capacity limitation constraints using Zscaler Private Access and Azure AD, which easily scaled automatically to meet user needs, while significantly improving the end-user experience and implementing a zero trust app access solution.
Johnson Controls was able to transform how work was done in a matter of weeks to meet a changing world.
DB Schenker: Local internet breakouts for 1,400 branch locations in 80+ countries
DB Schenker is a large European-based logistics company with more than 75,000 employees in 80+ countries. DB Schenker looked to Zscaler to enable its move to a SASE architecture that enabled cloud-based applications—including Microsoft 365—and removed IT complexity for branch locations. Together, we:
- Moved to Microsoft 365 cloud services in 80+ countries
- Removed appliances and enabled direct-to-internet connections for 1,400 branch locations
- Created 40,000 “home locations” with direct internet and SaaS access due to COVID-19 mandates
- Allowed critical, every-day collaboration via Microsoft Teams touching 75,000 employees
It’s stories like these that make our collaboration so powerful and unique. When customers need to solve the world’s most pressing IT problems, they can turn to Zscaler and Microsoft.
Zero trust is not a nice-to-have, it’s fundamental to digital transformation
This is the first year that Microsoft has a Zero Trust Champion award, and we’re extremely proud to be nominated. Zscaler is committed to helping our customers accelerate digital transformation with a focus on zero trust.
The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, the platform that powers all Zscaler services, is uniquely positioned to protect a changing, hyperconnected yet dispersed world. Business is taking place off your trusted corporate network and outside your security perimeter.
- Apps now live both in your data center and the cloud
- Users are connecting from everywhere using a variety of devices
- Server, IoT, and OT traffic is growing exponentially
- The internet is the new connectivity layer
Zscaler’s Zero Trust Exchange is a cloud-native platform that securely connects users, apps, and devices over any network, in any location, using business policies to increase user productivity, reduce business risk, slash costs, and simplify IT.
Together with Microsoft, we’ll continue our stewardship of digital transformation built on zero trust principles.
Don’t forget to check out Microsoft Security 20/20
Again, we want to thank Microsoft for the company’s continued collaboration with Zscaler. Our commitment to our joint customers remains steadfast as we expand our integrations across Microsoft’s suites of products, and we stand ready to take on the toughest IT challenges the world has to offer.
The second annual Microsoft Security 20/20 awards will celebrate finalists in 18 categories spanning security, compliance, and identity. Microsoft will be unveiling the winners of the Microsoft Security 20/20 Partner Awards, voted on by a group of industry veterans, on May 12, 2021.
