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The Wrekin Housing Group. Safe as Houses
The Wrekin Housing Group had a rigid and internally focused infrastructure that lacked flexibility. Their security systems weren’t designed to facilitate remote users, which became more common during the pandemic.
To address these issues, they sought assistance to create a secure environment that would protect both office and remote workers and provide better visibility for the IT team.
The problem
The Wrekin Housing Group is a Community Benefit Society that provides housing and care services which deliver social value across Shropshire, Staffordshire and Telford & Wrekin.
The Wrekin Housing Group’s previous infrastructure was robust, but largely inflexible. It was built around a model whereby resources were mainly internal, and the users accessing the resources were, overall, internal to the network. The security systems in place did not provide adequate reach or visibility when users left the safe-hold of the on-premise network – an event that quickly became commonplace during the pandemic.
The Wrekin Housing Groupwere in need for a secure environment that provides full protection for both office and remote workers; with the visibility that the IT team needed to stay on top of cyber threats – Wrekin set up a plan to improve flexibility and robustness of their security systems and turned to us for assistance in achieving these goals.
It was clear from the outset, that this project would involve reworking and redesigning core elements of the network during a very narrow downtime window – a tall order for even the most experienced Cisco Partner, but one that we took in our stride.
The Solution
The Wrekin Housing Group had already trusted Nowcomm, now a FourNet business for over 10 years with their network and collaboration needs. Therefore, it was natural for them to turn to us to help to achieve their security goals. Our expert engineer, Luke Hudson worked closely with Wrekin’s in-house IT Team to deploy a combination of tools from Cisco’s Next Generation security portfolio, from next generation firewalls, to cloud delivered DNS security – and more.
The Outcomes
Since installation of the security systems, we have been monitoring upwards of 2.2 million web requests per day from the customer, with a small, yet critical, number of these being blocked. With just 3 clicks, the customer can gain visibility of the day’s threats from a central dashboard.
"The fact that we have been enjoying the support and services for more than ten years tells its own story. They boast the perfect blend of expert knowledge and a customer focused approach. Projects are delivered with the needs of the business at the forefront and their support is excellent."
Danny Rushton - ICT Infrastructure Manager