When New Zealand logistics provider, Fliway, wanted to upgrade its IT infrastructure, it identified an opportunity to improve the reliability, speed and security of its networks. With the help of global cybersecurity leader, Fortinet, Fliway successfully achieved its network objectives and, as a bonus, reduced its costs by 50 per cent.

A fast-moving business needs reliable IT infrastructure

Founded in the 1970s, Fliway has grown to become one of New Zealand’s largest fully integrated logistics providers, with 17 transport hubs, 450-plus staff, and more than 200 vehicles underpinning its operations. Fliway delivers almost anything, whether it’s a standard online order—like a pair of sneakers—or an unusual, outsized, high-value item, like a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine. As a fast-moving logistics business, anything that slows down Fliway’s operations needs to be upgraded, and that was the case with the company’s wide-area network (WAN).

“We always have trucks moving, and we constantly send things up and down the country,” explains Kevin Rowland, chief information officer (CIO), Fliway Group.

“Doing that effectively depends on a highly reliable IT infrastructure, including having essential links between every branch and head office.”

“Simply put, it doesn’t fail”

Rowland knew what he wanted to achieve: stable, fast and secure intra-office connectivity. His team took the request to market and ultimately selected Fortinet as its best-fit solutions provider.

The Fortinet secure SD-WAN solution provides full visibility at each site, right down to each application, while smaller branches use FortiGate 60F devices coupled with a 4G FortiExtender for seamless failover for resilience. Large sites have carrier diverse, high-capacity fibre access and use FortiGate 100F HA clusters for resilience.

The solution relies mainly on fibre links, with a 4G failover system built into the infrastructure. This built-in backup system significantly reduces the risk of disruptions to Fliway’s business-critical network services as it is ready to take over seamlessly in case of any issues with the primary fibre network.

Fortinet’s FortiGate next-generation firewall (NGFW) solution delivers inter-branch connectivity in record time, empowering the team to deploy new sites in a matter of minutes. The dramatic improvements in security, reliability and performance have had a tremendous impact across the business.

“Simply put, it doesn’t fail. If anything happens to the fibre, it can seamlessly switch to 4G, ensuring uninterrupted operations at the depots,” says Rowland.

 “Everyone on the virtual private network (VPN) is secure; we use Fortinet’s firewall as our perimeter defence and really have Fortinet at the heart of our security measures.”

Agility, security and lower costs

Supply chain issues often necessitate quick thinking from the Fliway team and, with the Fortinet solution in place, its operations are now more agile than ever. For example, the team can quickly set up depots on short notice to handle unexpected cargo volumes brought in by customers.

“In one instance, we were informed about stock arriving on a Thursday afternoon. We immediately contacted Cello, our managed security services provider, who provided us with Fortinet solutions. With its help, we set up 4G connectivity and it was up and running overnight. The process of disassembling the setup is just as fast, making our operations even more streamlined,” says Rowland.

The increased agility is fantastic, but, for Rowland, it’s the strengthened security that gives the most peace of mind. “Every CIO tends to feel their environment isn’t quite secure enough. However, with Fortinet’s multi-factor authentication (MFA) setup, everyone on the VPN is now secure,” Rowland says.

Rowland has been impressed, not only by the quality of Fortinet’s solutions, but also the Cello network operations centre (NOC). “Twice, they’ve identified an issue, alerted us and resolved it before any interruption to our service. When we need to speak to engineers, we get people who know what they are doing, rather than following a script,” Rowland explains.

While each benefit and advantage of the new system alone would have made the change worthwhile, the most astonishing result has been the significant reduction in overall cost. Rowland explains that Fliway’s costs have reduced by more than 50 per cent for all-round improved performance and reliability.

“This solution does everything we want and more, and it’s been incredible,” Rowland says.

Skilled people are key to cybersecurity

The team at Fliway know that working with experts takes many of the headaches out of cybersecurity. Fortinet is a global leader in cybersecurity, and recognises that finding the right talent can be challenging. To help bridge this gap, Fortinet publishes its annual global research report on the cybersecurity skills gap, which helps organisations better understand the cybersecurity talent gap and how to address it.

Fortinet’s 2023 Cybersecurity Skills Gap report is now available, and shows that organisations are fighting an uphill battle against cyberthreats. Businesses are incurring more breaches, are in desperate need of skilled professionals and are continuing to struggle to fill key positions.

To find out more about the skills gap and what Fortinet solutions are available, read the full report here: global.fortinet.com/apac-lp-nz-2023-Global-Cyber-security-Skills-Gap-Report