THE CUSTOMER
SOTEC GmbH, headquartered in Laudenbach, Germany, is one of the leading IT systems integrators and service providers in the Rhein Neckar metropolitan area in southwestern Germany. Serving small businesses and enterprises, the company provides consultancy, security, and infrastructure management services throughout the IT lifecycle for workstations and data centers. As owner and managing director Oliver Fritz shares, “Our service and consultancy business accounts for more than 65% of our profits and we expect this to continue to grow as we respond to client’s security and compliance needs.”

THE CHALLENGE
According to Oliver, the company’s main challenge today is helping its clients put effective security protection in place to achieve compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). To help clients meet GDPR requirements, Oliver and his team developed a process called the 3-Step Model. This includes: a thorough risk analysis and security assessment of a client’s hardware, software, and services infrastructure; detailed reports that indicate the security recommendations required; and the implementation steps to achieve GDPR conformity. He explains, “Our 3-Step Model is critical for state-of-the-art security. It provides an effective way for us to ensure businesses are GDPR ready and gives us a unique selling point and competitive advantage. The challenge is making this happen very efficiently across our customer base.”

THE SOLUTION
As an AVG-Avast partner, SOTEC GmbH migrated ten years ago from the company’s Norman Security product line to Avast Business Managed Workplace. Oliver uses the cloud version of Managed Workplace and chose this for its ability to easily integrate with Office 365 environments, private cloud solutions, as well as home office and mobile devices.

INDUSTRY
IT systems integrator and
services provider

BUSINESS NEED
Helping clients achieve GDPR
compliance

SOLUTION
Avast Business Managed
Workplace

RESULTS

• Reduced administrative time needed to meet client’s GDPR requirements by 30% using Managed Workplace’s security assessment and security services
• Added Managed Workplace to new GDPR servicemodel and selling it as part of company’s Information Security Management System (ISMS)
• Transformed role with clients beyond services and system integration to trusted advisor SOTEC GmbH Case Study

THE RESULTS
According to Oliver, his 3-Step Model has become an effective customer acquisition tool and Managed Workplace has made this possible. He explains, “We use Managed Workplace for most aspects of our 3-Step Model and also sell the solution as part of an information security management system (ISMS). We have been able to not only help customers with their GDPR compliance needs but win new business through the new service model we created.”
SOTEC GmbH recently signed a contract with a Weinheim company that Oliver’s team had been pursuing for hardware services for several years. Oliver shares, “We started marketing our GDPR service and the same company contacted us directly and asked for support. Now we will be working with them on steps 1 and 2 of our model as well as designating an external data security officer for them from our team, and then implementing the ISMS. This is a brilliant example of the success of our service model and use of Managed Workplace.” Oliver believes the solution’s remote monitoring and
management (RMM) platform along with its security assessment, asset management, integrated antivirus, alerting, patch management, and customized reporting capabilities are key elements in SOTEC GmbH’s 3-Step Model for GDPR compliance. He explains, “GDPR requires a comprehensive RMM solution like Managed Workplace to meet the requirements for a state-of-the-art-security system. Using the Managed Workplace RMM, we can monitor and manage the security infrastructure of our customers across all aspects of our 3-Step Model – analysis, reporting, and implementation – and continually assess the status of client’s systems and networks to achieve GDPR compliance. We can perform security assessments very easily and efficiently across all customer locations, identify where security protection is needed, start implementing the services and provide reports that show exactly how we are improving security – all from the RMM platform. We also deploy the solution at our customer sites as the final step and this enables us to continuously monitor and manage their IT environments.”

Want to see how the Avast Business product portfolio can help you differentiate your business, save money, and win new customers? Visit www.avast.com/ business.

Using Managed Workplace, we can ensure our clients are ready for GDPR and have the security systems in place to comply while at the same time, build and market our portfolio with new value-added services that drive recurring revenue.