LOGICALIS SOUTH AFRICA: IT Security Excellence Centred in SA

The South African IT sector received a major boost in August when global technology solutions provider, Logicalis, announced that it will open a Security Operations Centre (SOC) in South Africa. The SOC will be maintained and manged by Logicalis South Africa, headed by CEO Frikkie Grobler.

Established in 2017, this local arm of a global powerhouse has made great strides establishing itself in the market as a managed services provider. The company has secured several significant contracts with major organisations in South Africa, choosing Logicalis because of its large service portfolio and international partnerships with the world’s preeminent technology organisations.

With the establishment of the SOC in SA, Grobler hopes to onboard many more clients from around the world and develop an outstanding IT security sector in South Africa that is reliable and sustainable.

“Most companies have now realised that they must be able to work from home and they must be digital, and that has opened up a lot of opportunities for us, especially with the cloud,” says Grobler. “The corporate world is thinking differently about IT. Security is a major concern that people are talking about and that opens up big opportunities for us.”

SA SOC SUCCESS

A SOC is much like a multifaceted guarding operation around a secure estate designed to protect homes, but in digital form and taking care of information through cybersecurity knowledge. It is an ongoing effort that requires advanced skills and constantly evolving operations to fend off threats and to be able to respond to security incidents.

“We deliver different services from the SOC including end point protection, managed firewall, web gateway management, security awareness services, authentication services, managed detection response, vulnerability management, mobile management, SIEM Services and more,” details Grobler.

Currently, the SOC is managed by 17 T1 -3 Service Desk Analysts and Security Engineer Specialists servicing multiple customers. South Africa offers a unique prospect with lower operating costs, a highly skilled and scalable resource base, and a versatile team that can be mobilised very quickly.

“It is like a Network Operating Centre (NOC) – where you monitor company networks to see where lines are up and down, and where ports are failing. Constant monitoring issues alerts if there is a breach or an attempted hack. It is more in the software layer. Typically, you monitor firewalls, and you can see that they are up and running. You can also monitor ports to see that they are closed or if they are being attacked. It’s a first and second line of monitoring that we can handle on the security estate, and the third line is specialised consulting level where our people can simulate an attack on the company and identify vulnerabilities,” details Grobler.

The SOC is managed out of Johannesburg, through a local service desk which can delegate calls to the appropriate engineering functions. For South Africa, this announcement bolsters the sector and can bring a whole new level of security service to clients in the country.

“Moving the group SOC service to South Africa, we have a funded SOC that we can grow into the South African market,” smiles Grobler. He is also excited about the potential for global expansion as the SOC gives Logicalis South Africa a stepping-stone to bigger clients.

“The move of our group SOC to South Africa lead to us being appointed by Liquid Telecom, as a strategic security partner. The security solutions that they sell on to customers will be provided by us and their internal security will be fulfilled by us. The move to South Africa proved that we have the skill and could handle the challenge,” says Grobler.

“If you want to be in security solutions, everyone will ask if you have a SOC service as that is the base of the entire security operation. To build and set it up for future business is quite challenging as it is costly and skill-heavy.”

Building, managing, and maintaining a SOC internally is extremely resource intensive. A costly and time-consuming mission, for most, it makes sense to outsource this function to a player with a reputation for excellence.

“There are so many different skillsets that are required, it becomes very costly very quickly. The average corporate cannot afford to build a great SOC inhouse. The tools are also expensive and, depending on how deep you go, you often need multiple tool sets,” says Grobler.

Such a comprehensive SOC in South Africa has already buoyed the local business, allowing new clients to be onboarded while integrating into the security operations of complex, large networks. Leading food group Lactalis recently signed up with Logicalis, bolting on a range of managed services, seamlessly delivering a truly comprehensive suite of services.

COVID RESILIENCE  

Logicalis has 10,000 customers around the world, with 6500 people across 27 countries, and annualised revenues of $1.5 billion. During the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the company was able to quickly pivot to remote operations, protecting staff but serving customers as normal.

“Covid caught us all by surprise,” he says. “But Logicalis SA was very lucky in the sense that by coincidence we were ready for a pandemic like Covid. From day one, we had designed our systems so they could be accessed remotely from the cloud. It turned out to be a crucial measure, allowing us to continue to help our customers 24/7, despite not being able to access the office.”

This prudent strategy was essential in the switch to remote working. The company closed its offices and within 48 hours the entire company was operational, accessing all systems. But, like most, there were challenges to overcome, with customers facing difficult conditions and looking for support wherever it was available. Logicalis stepped up and provided continuity and stability.

“A lot of companies closed down but needed their systems to continue functioning, so we had a lot of assistance programs for our customers, and that obviously has an impact on us as a business. In the longer term, I believe we will have a loyal customer base.”

Partnerships with the biggest international players was essential during this time, allowing the company to switch and change its portfolio as client’s needs altered. Connected with Cisco, Microsoft, Hitachi, Commvault and many more, has created a wide offering, across multiple price points.

“A critical element of operating a cloud infrastructure is security. Working with our strategic partners we are able to offer bespoke solutions to our clients with managed services to ensure that they remain secure into the future,” explains Grobler.

The recent addition of Hitachi in their vendor network was a real coup in a time where negativity was all too common.

“In 2020, we became a Hitachi partner. During Covid, Hitachi decided to work through a partner rather than going direct,” Grobler details. “They chose us a their partner in South Africa. We employed some of their salespeople and engineers, and that was a long journey. We’ve had some great successes with Hitachi in the market and it has opened doors for us. We’ve had nice deals at FNB, Multichoice and more.

“We’ve been appointed as their exclusive CSP partner in South Africa and that is fantastic as we can now sell managed cloud services in data centres and build data centres, for cloud, for Hitachi. They are invested in us and are making every effort to ensure success with some of the things we are doing in SA as firsts for the country.”

With the third wave of lockdowns still running through South Africa, Logicalis has seen many shelved projects from 2020 being brought back.

“In the corporate world, capital projects were put on hold. They were not cancelled, just put on hold. Everybody was playing a waiting game,” remembers Grobler. “Our financial year starts 1 March and in the new financial year, we saw a lot of paused projects starting to reignite. We had an unbelievable Q1 and a fantastic H1.”

A BRIGHT FUTURE

Logicalis continues to be enhanced by the fantastic effort it puts into its CSR initiatives. Even during the pandemic, where physical restrictions resulted in campaigns for many companies being cancelled, Logicalis navigated a challenging programme to upskill interns and develop skills in the industry.

“That was a very successful intern programme last year and we will run that again this year,” confirms Grobler. “Most of those interns were employed by us or others in the industry and that is a major success during the Covid times as we couldn’t get people into the office to learn.

“We also assisted a few schools with remote learning, setting up firewalls and internet so they could teach the children remotely.”

A shining example comes from the Lenasia Muslim School in Gauteng where Logicalis supplied security systems, firewall technology, and updated Wi-Fi connectivity to enhance teacher ability to connect with students remotely.

“We’re very grateful to Logicalis for assisting us with the latest fibre that was able to better position the school for the current reality and for the future,” said Principal of Lenasia Muslim School, Ms N. Suliman.

In the future, Logicalis SA plans to enlist its global partners in further upskilling opportunities. Grobler is in talks with Cisco about a project which could create jobs in areas they are sorely needed.

“Cisco want to uplift youth and we are discussing an initiative where they will sponsor the training and upskill young people in the security world, we will give practical experience and endeavour to deploy them in the SOC when they complete their training. One of the elements of the discussion is where we set this initiative up. We want to create jobs in the area where people live as, currently, everyone has to move to Cape Town or Johannesburg to find employment and then send money back to families in other areas.”

He highlights Gqeberha as an area with potential, but discussions are ongoing. All of these efforts, combined with the excitement surrounding the SOC, as well as the success of relationships and projects that are now coming to fruition make for an exciting business case and one which Frikkie Grobler is extremely optimistic about.

“If the company continues on the current path, and everything the sales people tell me is true, we are going to have a phenomenal year. We will probably double the company this year. We are very excited about what the future holds,” he concludes.