Fiskars Group Needed a Network Overhaul

Moving at the speed of 21^st century business requires a fast, agile, secure WAN that is easy to deploy and manage. Unfortunately, before the Fiskars Group adopted Cato SASE, its WAN had none of those qualities.

“Our network was an old-fashioned mess,” says Jesper Hjørland, Service Manager for Network and Connectivity at the Fiskars Group. “We had both MPLS and Internet connections with multiple security solutions from different providers in different locations.  We often had three or four different devices on each site. Deployment and management of all those solutions was very challenging and time consuming.”

The time it took just to open a new location was far too slow for the company’s business needs. “Our leadership felt it was critical to be fast and agile to meet the rapidly changing needs of our customers,” says Hjørland. “Before Cato, that simply was not possible,”.

Once Fiskars Group had to move a warehouse in Sydney to another location. “It took us four months just to get a new MPLS connection, delaying the move and worrying our management quite a bit,” says Hjørland.

After that stressful move, Hjørland knew it was time to find a better, more simple, flexible WAN solution. “We knew we needed the same WAN and security solution in every location, whether it was a small shop or a large factory,” says Hjørland.

Fiskars Group Evaluates SD-WAN and SASE, Chooses Cato

Hjørland’s needs naturally took him in the direction of SD-WAN and SASE. “We looked at a lot of SD-WAN and SASE solutions, but Cato’s was the only one that allowed us to use the same solution everywhere,” says Hjørland. “It was also the simplest to deploy and manage and much more flexible than the other SD-WAN solutions we evaluated.”

Cato’s management interface looked so simple at first that many of Fiskars Group’s network staff thought it wasn’t capable. “They were really nervous,” says Hjørland. “‘It’s too simple,’ they said. ‘It probably can’t do much.’ It turned out we could do much, much more with the Cato interface than ever before, including things that a lot of network people don’t even understand completely. Yet the interface is so easy even the less experienced network staff can work with it.”

Cato SASE Cloud optimally connects all enterprise network resources, including branch locations, the hybrid workforce, and physical and cloud datacenters, into a secure global, cloud-native service. Connecting a location to Cato is just a matter of installing a simple Cato Socket appliance that links automatically to one of Cato’s 75+ Points of Presence (PoPs) and its fast, global private backbone. The Cato Socket, Cato’s edge SD-WAN device, extends the Cato SASE Cloud to locations, providing prioritized and resilient connectivity over multiple last-mile links. At the same time, the Cato Client and Clientless access enable secure and optimized application access for users everywhere, including at home and on the road.

Cato’s cloud-native security edge, Cato SSE 360, converges a Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and Firewall as a Service (FWaaS) with Advanced Threat Protection. It fully enforces granular corporate access policies on all applications on-premises and in the cloud, protecting users against threats and preventing sensitive data loss.

Aside from the management interface and Cato’s security features, Hjørland liked Cato support. “Cato’s people were always helpful, going over and above to ease our implementation,” says Hjørland. “They had great suggestions to help us use the solution to its full potential for our business and gladly answered all our questions, no matter how stupid, to ensure we understood exactly what we needed to do.”

Fiskars Group Gets the Speed and Agility it Needs

Deployment of the Cato solution to the Fiskars Groups locations has been very quick and easy. “We changed our supplier in the middle of the implementation and, though they had never heard of nor had any experience with Cato, they were able to do their first deployment in under two hours with minimal Cato support.”

Cato SASE has sped up the deployment of moves and new locations dramatically. “We roll out new shops very quickly now,” says Hjørland. “We can just send them a Cato box and explain to store personnel with no network experience how to plug it in and get the service up and running.”

Aside from fast deployment, Hjørland likes that every location large and small has the same robust layer of security. “That consistency was something we sorely lacked in the past.”

However, agility and simplicity are the main business benefits. “With Cato we’re removing three to four different devices on a site and replacing them with a simple Cato box.” Fiskars Group has started using the Cato mobile VPN in Europe and will soon roll it out in Asia as well.

As for cost, Hjørland finds Cato to be very competitive. “The Cato solution has saved us money compared to our previous WAN infrastructure, and that’s not even counting all the additional time and money we spent on consulting services before just to keep everything up and running. There’s definitely a huge cost savings there.”

Hjørland most appreciates that Cato has made his job easier. “Thanks to Cato, I can stand by my promises and feel comfortable we can deliver on the company’s business needs quickly, efficiently, and securely.”