Johannesburg, 14 Jul 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown of economies across the globe have forced companies to rethink the way their employees’ work within the physical structure of the organisation as well as interface with customers. Working from home (WFH) has become a prerequisite for many organisations to keep their business running, which means IT infrastructure has to adapt to provide secure and reliable remote access to readily meet both internal and external operational demand.
Badger International, a company that specialises in insurance and related services, employing over 1 200 staff members across South Africa and Australia, has such a requirement. Founded in 1995, the company today insures over 180 000 clients with premiums of more than US$100 million.
Like its financial services counterparts across the world, Badger International has had to mobilise its operations to readily move towards an environment dictated by lockdown restrictions, while still providing reliable and secure services to its clients across SA and Australia. Badger turned to Galix, a managed security specialist, to do this.
Remote accessibility in no time
Following SA’s lockdown announcement on 25 March 2020, Badger International called on Galix to recommend a solution that would allow its employees, particularly its call centre staff, to securely work from home.
Badger International and Galix have been partners for a number of years, with the security technology service provider responsible for a number of the company’s IT assets, including its three dispersed data centres.
“We simply weren’t prepared to work from home. We needed a partner that could provide us with a quick solution, guide us through the various licensing requirements and ultimately provide us with a solution that offers robust security features such as multi-factor user authentication. It was particularly important that our call centre employees use this remote environment in order to ensure that our customers were provided the same level of service they were used to,” explains George McKay, Group Head of IT at Badger International.
Galix recommended SonicWall’s Secure Mobile Access (SMA) unified secure access gateway that allowed Badger International to provide access to its employees from any device to any application within the organisation.
“The SonicWall SMA secure access gateway enabled us to provide access to employees working from home, allowing the company to provide information through a cloud environment coupled with multiple device accessibility and mobility,” explains Simeon Tassev, Managing Director and Qualified Security Assessor at Galix.
Business as usual
The virtual SMA solution was rolled out to 800 users in a matter of days, which meant Badger International was operational within the first week of April 2020, readily providing support and service to the company’s clients despite lockdown restrictions.
“The solution is very user friendly and not data ‘hungry’, which are two major advantages. Also, Galix’s support was tremendous during this very confusing time, allowing us to adjust – with relative ease – to working from home while accessing critical operations in a safe and reliable environment,” says McKay.
“The success of this project is undoubtedly testament to our relationship with Galix and their ability to understand our needs. The team at Galix will jump through hoops to support us and find the best solution that suits our business requirements.”
Expertise and secure accessibility
“It was critical that we implemented a solution that plugged any potential vulnerability – enabling us to meet the security requirement set by the various regulatory bodies and legislation,” says McKay.
As an insurance service provider, Badger International must meet the compliance requirements set by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), POPI (Protection of Personal Information) Act and the Financial Services Board (FSB).
“With an international footprint, we’ve gained a wealth of knowledge in providing robust security solutions to the financial services industry. This expertise we bring to Badger International undoubtedly strengthens our partnership while offering important value add in these critical and unprecedented times,” Tassev concludes.
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