Swire Coca-Cola Secures a Distributed Workforce with Cisco Secure Access
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Swire Coca-Cola, a large organization with a dispersed workforce across 56 offices and multiple data centers, faced significant challenges in managing and securing their network. With 8,000 employees and revenue of over $3 billion annually, the company needed a robust, scalable, and user-friendly solution to seamlessly secure access to their resources, so users have the tools they need to get work done anywhere.
Industry: Manufacturing
Location: Draper, Utah
Organization: 8,000 employees, 56 locations
Solution: Cisco Secure Access
Swire Coca-Cola’s technical environment had evolved significantly over the past few years, with a workforce spread across various locations and data centers.
“We’re also being asked to do so much more with the same resources. These engineers aren’t just given a couple of systems to configure and monitor. Instead, we’ve got dozens and dozens of systems that they have to manage and control,” Anderson said.
The company faced several key issues:
● Dispersed workforce: Managing a workforce spread across dozens of offices and multiple data centers, along with a significant percentage of traveling or roaming users, is very challenging. Employees spread out across the globe need to access data in different locations, including two primary data centers in Atlanta and additional centers in Utah and Arizona.
● Complex network management: The existing network infrastructure, which included multiple vendor products, was difficult to manage. The dispersed workforce and the use of different remote access solutions made it unsustainable.
● Skill set mismatch: The available skill sets in the workforce were not aligned with the complexity of the existing solutions. The organization needed a simpler, more manageable solution.
● Users: Users often struggled with understanding when and where to connect to VPNs, leading to confusion and inefficiencies. They complained about the variability in access methods and the frequency of security tasks.
● Security concerns: Ensuring the security of data and protecting users from threats, especially when traveling overseas, was a significant concern. The company needed to provide comprehensive, low-maintenance security without compromising user experience.
“We wanted to assure them [users] that we were going to keep them protected no matter where they’re located and what they’re accessing to do their work.”
Allen Anderson,
Director IT Infrastructure
Modernizing security for a safer future
Swire Coca-Cola decided to adopt Cisco Secure Access to address these challenges. The decision was driven by the need for a simplified, standardized, and automated solution that can connect with their existing Meraki stack.
“The biggest reason we decided to move towards Cisco Secure Access was that it would create a simplified workflow for our end users and a solution that was easier for our IT,” Anderson said.
The key components of the solution included:
● Cisco Secure Access: This solution provided a simplified and secure access framework that ran in the background, ensuring data security without requiring user intervention. It integrated seamlessly with the Meraki stack, providing a unified and manageable network infrastructure.
● Meraki stack: The company replaced their entire network with the Meraki stack, covering wireless, access, distribution, and core components. This provided a consistent and manageable network environment.
● Identity and access management: A major project for identity and access management is planned, aiming to provide more granular controls and visibility into user profiles to detect impersonation and enhance security.
● Digital experience monitoring: They also plan to utilize experience monitoring tools to track and improve user experience, reducing help desk tickets and ensuring faster resolution of issues.
Overcoming today’s challenges and preparing for tomorrow’s needs
“I feel that Cisco Secure Access is a more refined SSE [solution]. It’s a unified cloud service that is much easier for us to manage, maintain, and use within our organization,” Anderson shares. The implementation of Cisco Secure Access and the consolidation onto Cisco networking and security solutions was a phased process.
● Network replacement: Over six months, the company replaced 54 out of 56 network sites, with the remaining sites scheduled for completion in the near future. This provided a simplified and standardized network foundation.
● Cisco Secure Access deployment: The deployment involved building connections to the appropriate set of Points Of Presence (POPs), setting up routing, and rolling out the solution to sets of users.
● Support and training: Cisco provided significant support, with weekly calls and step-by-step guidance from their engineers. This ensured that the internal IT team was well-trained and capable of managing the new solution.
● Enabling Macs to extend the reach: Swire worked with Cisco to expand the rollout of the client onto Macs and utilized connections to their Meraki devices to drive productivity for an extended set of users.
“So far, it’s been super simple. I’ve been absolutely amazed at the level of help from Cisco,” Anderson says, adding, “I’ll be able to have an entire team that I know can support and manage this solution going forward.”
Matching technology with talent
The adoption of Cisco Secure Access and the Meraki stack brought several benefits and IT improvements to Swire Coca-Cola.
● Simplified management: The new solution provided a simplified and manageable network environment, reducing complexity and skill mismatch issues.
● Enhanced user experience: Users no longer needed to worry about connecting to VPNs or troubleshooting access issues. The solution ran in the background, providing seamless access to applications and resources with an advanced level of protection.
● Automation and standardization: Swire Coca- Cola significantly improved software installations and configurations via increased automation, as well as simplified and standardized processes. This has provided a boost in productivity.
Anderson is confident about the immediate benefits of Secure Access, namely the streamlined user experience that it enables while delivering enhanced security. His goal is to make sure that all users understand, “All of my data is going to go to the right place at the right time and will be secure. Web content will be filtered. Spam will be blocked. Traffic that needs to be tunneled will be. Everything will happen on the back end, and they don’t have to think about it. They just know that they can get fast access to the applications they need, from wherever they are.”
Swire Coca-Cola’s transition to Cisco Secure Access, alongside the Meraki stack, addressed their key security and access challenges, providing a simplified, secure, and user-friendly network environment. The solution matched the available skill sets, enhanced user experience, and ensured comprehensive security, positioning the company for future growth and success. The ongoing support and training from Cisco, along with the planned identity and access management project, stands to further strengthen their network infrastructure and security posture.