Johannesburg, 26 Jan 2021
As COVID-19 took hold in March 2020, companies sent users home often armed only with an MTN or Vodacom mobile SIM to support Internet and business application access. The result, a significant increase in the cost of mobile data, often as much as 10x the usage and cost pre-COVID.
One such company, a leading supplier of cement and building materials, received its first shock data bill of almost R800 000 in April 2020, one month after its users started working from home. This un-budgeted cost represented a 750% increase over historical monthly costs.
After engaging with Accelerate Networks and deploying Zscaler Internet Access, the company was able to reduce data costs by 77% by using Zscaler’s Cloud URL filtering, advanced mobile security and application-specific usage information.
Diagram 1.1 Locking APN’s or data SIMS to Zscaler Cloud
“We are in the process of working with multiple large and medium-size organisations that have unexpected mobile data bills anywhere from R200 000 to R5 million per month, amounting to as much R50 million in un-budgeted charges since the start of COVID. Sadly, many of these organisations have not been given the advice or guidance on how to easily manage and reduce these costs,” says Stuart Hardy, CMO of Accelerate Networks.
The decrease in data usage and cost was largely attributed to gaining complete visibility on data usage, eliminating unauthorised data use and implementing automated controls that restricted users and groups from accessing Internet traffic deemed to be abusive or unnecessary on expensive APN data, eg, torrents, streaming, social media.
In addition to cost and usage control for data SIMS, Zscaler solved another key challenge – protecting enterprise users when at home. Zscaler, the market leader in cloud security, ensures end-users are protected from sophisticated Internet threats regardless of where they are, what device they are using or what network they are connected to.
The cost of deploying Zscaler Internet Access amounted to less than 5% of the savings experienced through the reduction of SIM data usage while extending enterprise security to the user from home and when working remotely.
For more information regarding APN and data management solutions, contact Accelerate Networks.
Accelerate Networks is a proud 10-year partner of Zscaler for sub-Saharan Africa.
Accelerate Networks - info@an.co.za or www.an.co.za
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