Zscaler > Case Studies > ALD Automotive Streamlines IT Infrastructure and Enhances Security with Zscaler

ALD Automotive Streamlines IT Infrastructure and Enhances Security with Zscaler

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Cybersecurity & Privacy - Application Security

Applicable Industries

Automotive
National Security & Defense

Applicable Functions

Maintenance
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Fleet Management
Tamper Detection

Services

System Integration
Testing & Certification

About The Customer

ALD Automotive is a service company that provides vehicle leasing and fleet management to corporations. Founded in 1946, it is part of the Société Générale group, one of Europe’s largest financial services organizations, which employs 163,000 persons. ALD Automotive operates across 39 countries, and its IT infrastructure is overseen by Chief Information Officer, Laurent Hallermeier. The company has experienced rapid growth, leading to an increase in IT infrastructure complexity. It uses a mix of local and central Internet connectivity, and has a proliferation of Web applications used for business.

The Challenge

ALD Automotive, a service company providing vehicle leasing and fleet management, faced a significant challenge due to its rapid growth across 39 countries. This expansion led to an exponential increase in IT infrastructure complexity. The company had established a mix of local and central Internet connectivity, which required the provisioning of multiple disparate security point products at each site with different policies. This fragmentation made it difficult to obtain an aggregate view of the organization's security state. The proliferation of Web applications further complicated management. Broad policies to deny access were no longer sufficient as Web applications of all types were being used for business, requiring more granular policies that varied across countries. With the evolution of the Web, content became more dynamic and threats more sophisticated, necessitating SSL inspection. ALD Automotive was in need of a comprehensive security solution.

The Solution

ALD Automotive opted for a web security SaaS (Software as a Service) solution to reduce the complexity of managing multiple point products in each country. The company could simply forward traffic from all countries to the cloud without making major changes to the infrastructure. Moreover, a single policy could be administered across all countries. Augmenting functionality to cloud-based solutions was as easy as enabling additional services, eliminating the need to install any additional products within their infrastructure. This made costs low and predictable. ALD Automotive implemented the Zscaler service as a proof of concept with a handful of users at a handful of geographically dispersed sites. The users experienced ultra-low latency due to Zscaler's distributed multi-tenant architecture that routes traffic to the closest geo-localized gateway. Zscaler also leverages a single unified policy across all services and sites, which alleviated a large IT burden.

Operational Impact

The implementation of the Zscaler service has brought about significant operational benefits for ALD Automotive. The company now has total real-time visibility into its network, thanks to Zscaler NanoLog technology that compresses large log files. This allows detailed activity data compiled over long periods of time to be viewed in real-time. Reports can be dynamically generated and alerts of threats can be received in real-time. The ease of deployment was another major benefit, with no client installation required and browser settings automatically provisioned. The use of a single unified policy across all services and sites has also significantly reduced the IT burden.

Quantitative Benefit