The Company

With a portfolio that includes 22 premier hotel franchise and hospitality brands, The Kishan Group is one of North America’s top-performing lodging companies. According to Mike Marcum, Director of IT for The Kishan Group, “My team of five is responsible for security and IT support across all of our properties, from Anchorage to Miami. This includes our new Hotel Aria Best Western Premier in Miami, which has more desktops and servers than any of our other sites. Our company’s growth has kept us on our toes.”

The Challenge

“Our staff and hotel guests are on our network 24/7, and our top priority is managing web security and preventing users from clicking on malicious links and websites,” explains Mike. “With hotels in multiple states and time zones, we need continuous visibility across our network, strong web protection that prevents users from being fooled by phishing or spoofing, and the ability to manage security from any location at any time.”

The Solution

After evaluating a range of cloud security solutions, Mike chose Avast Business Secure Web Gateway.

“Compared to almost anything else in IT, deploying Avast Business Secure Web Gateway was virtually flawless. It just works. Since we implemented it, we have not used any IT resources to repair or clean up any issues,” he says.

Secure Web Gateway, deployed from the Avast Business CloudCare security platform, has made a significant difference in the level of web security Mike can provide and how he manages it. “Through the custom configuration tools,” he explains, “I can allow certain employees more freedom, depending on their business needs, while restricting others. I can also better manage computer use by guests in our business centers. I can program custom alerts that pop up on my email and phone that let me see threats we’ve blocked as they happen, which helps me stay on top of security issues.”

Mike also purchased Avast Business Antivirus Pro Plus, managed through the CloudCare platform. “We really like the CloudCare portal. I get the information I need in a platform that’s easy to use. The Antivirus Pro Plus has also been effective at catching what it should. This is a welcome change from other antivirus solutions I evaluated that resulted in higher incidences of malware getting through or triggered alerts for non-issues.”

For Mike, Secure Web Gateway and the CloudCare platform have given him the ability to continually gauge the security health of his network, effectively protect web traffic, and educate staff about security best practices. “Our computers at our front desks have multiple users, so I really like the alerts that I get when a web threat has been blocked. We are not only improving our network security but this allows me to identify the device and user, and then educate the staff member about safe computing.”

CloudCare provides free remote IT access, which according to Mike, has been invaluable. “The CloudCare remote control tool has proven to be a great addition, as we don’t always have available IT staff to install software or other updates onsite. Now we can configure the updates from our CloudCare portal and email our general managers or front desk staff an invitation to upload software. They can install it, and we can gauge the status from the console. We can also better support our laptop users wherever they are working.”

The Results

After implementing Avast Business Secure Web Gateway at the company’s new Miami property and five other sites, Mike has gained comprehensive network protection that is easy to use, deploy, and manage. In addition, he credits Secure Web Gateway for reducing:

• IT staff hours by 45% to manage security issues
• The volume of malicious web threats by 80%
• Total cost of ownership with a competitively priced, scalable cloud solution

“We’ve eliminated the potential need to reimage workstations due to infections,” Mike shares. “We now have a turnkey network security solution that protects our staff and guests 24/7, reduces time required to manage security, and improves our customer service. The combination of our IT staff using Secure Web Gateway and the CloudCare remote control tool to cover my laptop users when they’re not onsite, along with the competitive price point, has made this a winning network security solution for us.”

Ready to say goodbye to the complexity, network impact, and overhead of maintaining other on-premise or point solutions? Protect your web traffic as you grow and scale with a cloud-based, fully scalable cybersecurity solution from one intuitive platform. Check out the benefits of Avast Business Secure Web Gateway today.