With more than 135 stores across the country, Mester Grønn is Norway's largest wholly owned flower chain. Since it was established in 1983, the chain has managed to position itself as a leading player in the market. An important part of this journey relates to digital development, and here Mester Grønn is very much present. One of several people in the company who has been involved in this process is Arve Siitonen. Siitonen works as a network manager at Mester Grønn, which includes operational responsibility for the company's internal infrastructure.
As a result of the digital development, much of the follow-up and communication with customers now takes place via social media. This provides opportunities for quick response and good accessibility to the customer base. However, Siitonen is aware that being present in more and more channels also comes with a need to constantly rethink and keep up with developments on the security side.
- "The bigger your online presence, the more important it is to have an active approach to security. For us, IT security is about both finances and reputation, so it's important that we work actively to safeguard it in line with developments in other areas.
- The first step in this work is to be aware that the threat picture is constantly changing, and thus the realization that IT security is a continuous process. With Netsecurity and Palo Alto Networks on the team, Mester Grønn, with Siitonen at the helm, has built a solid foundation for safeguarding and protecting the company's infrastructure and information flow.
Security with technological innovation from Palo Alto Networks and Netsecurity
When it comes to IT security, Arve Siitonen is clear that he wants to work with the best. That's why Mester Grønn started working with Netsecurity six years ago and has been using firewall solutions based on Palo Alto Networks' technology ever since.
- "The collaboration came about as a result of us replacing our existing firewall solution six years ago. We wanted to see what had changed in the market since then. Our starting point was a fairly classic, traditional firewall, and it was important for us to find out about the latest technology and find a supplier that could best match our needs," says Siitonen.
Palo Alto Networks' ability to keep abreast of the latest technology was a decisive factor in the decision to purchase solutions from this particular supplier. Mester Grønn recently chose to renew the delivery with a new firewall solution, continuing the six-year partnership with Netsecurity and Palo Alto Networks on the supplier side. For Siitonen, several factors are important:
- "We looked at price, performance, features and user interface. Here we still think Palo Alto is the best.
Siitonen elaborates:
- For Mester Grønn, a lot lies in the fact that Palo Alto Networks has managed to stay relevant and competitive over the years. At the same time, they manage to implement new technologies in their product portfolio without compromising existing solutions.
- Where the industry was previously more tied to the traditional way of thinking about security, Palo Alto Networks found that they needed to take a closer look at applications and application security, among other things. "During the course of this collaboration, we've been through several software updates and have seen that their software has developed in the direction we want. We've gotten features we didn't know we wanted, and we've gotten features we asked for.
Internal and external expertise
With a keen interest in security, Siitonen has built up a good technical understanding and knowledge of the firewall solution over the years. He therefore has the expertise to take care of much of the implementation, operation and maintenance himself, but says that he greatly appreciates having Netsecurity and Palo Alto Networks behind him should situations arise where he needs technical assistance.
- "It's really nice to have a sparring partner I can rely on externally, and to know that I always have support available if, for example, I need to update myself on what the recommended configuration is, or what the recommended setup is here and now," Siitonen concludes.
