Prisma SASE simplifies and enhances security for Zespri

SUMMARY

Zespri International Limited (Zespri) is the world’s largest exporter of kiwifruit. The organization operates in 26 countries around the world and exports between 150 to 200 million trays of kiwifruit to over 50 nations annually— accounting for approximately one-third of the global volume of kiwifruit sold annually. Tim Lloyd, head of digital operations was tasked to build up Zespri’s internal capabilities to bolster the organization’s security expertise while uplifting the security posture alongside the business growth.

RESULTS

Days to minutes

Reduction in time spent connecting securely when traveling

Multiple to zero

Reduction of trouble tickets per month

30 minutes

To spin up a new branch

CHALLENGES

The organization’s cybersecurity needs expanded during the pandemic as remote access requirements skyrocketed. The company needed to improve their timeliness with resolving network access issues. These often resulted in delays with both starting work and getting things done.

Complex supply chain needed integrated security approach.
Network access was slow and cumbersome, resulting in poor user experience.
Out-of-the-box security tools had limited capabilities and did not provide key insights to security team.

“What sets Prisma SASE apart from competing products is the actionable intelligence. This enables us to identify alerts and tune our behavior to target real risk.”

Tim Lloyd

Head of Digital Operations, Zespri International Limited

SOLUTIONS

Having successfully implemented Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) previously, the company wanted to continue their firewall strategy into the cloud, and, as Tim says, “leverage some of the secret sauce that Palo Alto Networks could bring to protect our critical systems and gain better insights.” Specifically, this would mean gaining wider visibility and management across the organization and providing next-generation protection to their wider ecosystem.

Meeting security and usability requirements with Prisma SASE

After assessing several solutions, Zespri chose Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE (Prisma Access and Prisma SD-WAN) and Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM). While security was certainly fundamental in Zespri’s decision to select Prisma SASE, Tim highlights that usability and ease of use were also key factors that set the Palo Alto Networks solution apart from competing products.

The end-to-end deployment of Prisma SASE was very simple.

A lean two-person security team at Zespri completed the implementation in under six months—a time frame that could have been even faster if not for global supply chain issues that occurred during the pandemic.

As Zespri rolls out new sites, the time savings have been significant. At a new location, a complete site can be set up and running within 30 minutes, thanks to Prisma SD-WAN. Tim jokes that it “takes longer to take devices out of the box than it does to do anything else.”

Zespri has also been impressed by the capabilities delivered by ADEM, which is helping their IT team to speed up troubleshooting and fault finding. With the insights offered by ADEM, the team can quickly and easily identify where core issues lie, even when presented with complex, and tricky issues—no guesswork or finger pointing, only actionable insights that get users online, secure, and productive.

Since implementing Prisma SASE, Zespri’s security team has seen considerable improvements in the areas of visibility, security, and usability.

Higher productivity and improved end-user satisfaction

Zespri now has greater insights into user behaviors. This enables them to better identify where unusual activity is taking place and allows their IT team to query users directly—uncovering issues and resolving problems in real time, as opposed to hunting through logs and making discoveries later. Zespri is now far better at identifying near misses and incidents, and is laser-focused on these specific events.

Tim shares, “When our teams travel to new offices in new countries, the time they need to set up and get productive has been reduced from one or two days, to just minutes. There’s nothing (special) for them to do, they just get straight in and start working—focusing on why they’re there, instead of logging tickets and having the IT team scramble around them.”

Fewer tickets and security incidents

This level of simplicity and visibility has also reduced the number of security incident counts, dropping these numbers from several a month to nearly zero.

Lloyd also shares that their IT team has tracked a significant drop in the number of tickets logged and have found Prisma SASE to be more stable than their previous security and VPN solution.

More reliability and consistency

Platformization was key to Zespri’s improved security posture. Lloyd details the organization’s decision to approach Palo Alto Networks and Prisma SASE, as opposed to solutions from several different providers. Zespri connects employees and contractors across the globe with Prisma SASE, seamlessly and securely Presently, Prisma SASE offers simple and secure access for Zespri’s operations across the globe. Work is now seamless, even when users travel to new destinations, and network security is enhanced. Best of all, it is all managed by a small security team that punches well above their weight, thanks to Prisma SASE.

Zespri connects employees and contractors across the globe with Prisma SASE, seamlessly and securely

Presently, Prisma SASE offers simple and secure access for Zespri’s operations across the globe. Work is now seamless, even when users travel to new destinations, and network security is enhanced. Best of all, it is all managed by a small security team that punches well above their weight, thanks to Prisma SASE.