What is our primary use case?
The product is an Internet proxy solution. We use it to manage our users' Internet access, making sure that they don't go to the wrong site. We also use it for data loss prevention.
How has it helped my organization?
The main benefit that we have seen is performance improvements based on not having to backhaul traffic and getting cloud services closer to the user.
It provides a modern, cloud-first model. It allows the users quick access to the cloud, depending on where they are in the world. We have users all over the world who access cloud services in their native regions. Previously, we had to backhaul the traffic to our data centers somewhere in the world, then go back to that region. Now, we don't have to do that. A user and data stays within that region. There is no latency there.
It allows us to inspect all our traffic, including SSLs. This is extremely important because most sites use SSLs nowadays. Putting non-SSL inspected data directly into the source would mean that there is a potential for data loss.
Protecting our customers' data is our number one priority. The data loss prevention rules that we have in place make sure that there is nothing within the packets relevant to our customers.
What is most valuable?
The data loss prevention feature is the most valuable. It stops our users from inadvertently leaking our customers' data to the Internet or anywhere else it shouldn't go.
The cloud-native proxy architecture certainly seems fast enough. The performance is good. The multi-country nature of it allows us to keep the proxy closer to the user so a user's data doesn't transit as far as it would otherwise. It helps to keep latency down and the speed up. It also helps a little bit with cyber threats, but that is not necessarily its primary purpose for us.
Zscaler is constantly improving the network. They are adding new data centers and regions all the time. They listen to feedback, and based on where we tell them to go and put data centers, they add new data centers. For example, they created a couple of data centers in the Middle East, which has been very helpful for us.
What needs improvement?
One thing that they could improve is the ability to import rules from other platforms.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using it for slightly more than a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Its stability is first-class. We haven't had any issues during the time that we have been using it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It certainly scales to what we have asked it to do so far. We have over 50,000 users on it without a single problem.
How are customer service and support?
From a technical support perspective, when we leave a ticket, the time it takes for them to close the ticket is very fast. Their resolution time is exceptional.
I would rate Zscaler Professional Services and technical support as eight out of 10. I am dropping two points because of some blanks in the time zone support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are using it with 20% to 25% of our business at the moment. We are migrating to it from our previous legacy platform.
It adds an alternate layer of protection. We were already using a very powerful tool to do this, but that tool wasn't quite as fast and smart.
How was the initial setup?
It was very complex, but there was training provided by Zscaler. That was very good for understanding it thoroughly. It was complex because we had to make sure that all our rules from previous platforms were migrated over so all our users had access to the same things that they had access to in previous models.
We aren't yet fully deployed. We have been at it for about a year and a half. We currently have over 50,000 users deployed and another 120,000 to go.
The only pain points that we have are self-inflicted because of our slow rollout of the product, which is not actually Zscaler's fault.
What about the implementation team?
We had Zscaler Professional Services helping us for quite a long time at the start of the project. They made sure that everything was set up correctly with no holes. They were very good and first-class.
What was our ROI?
So far, it has not saved us on costs as a result of retiring on-premises technology, next-generation firewalls, legacy proxies, or MPLS links. Though, we are expecting it to do that going forward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have not been involved with pricing and licensing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated several solutions.
What other advice do I have?
Try it, test it out, and make sure it works for you. It is not going to work for everybody because it is not a zero-cost solution. However, it does provide significant benefits in terms of its latency and capability to inspect your traffic as well as keeping your customer data secure.
It hasn't saved us time as compared to deploying and managing traditional network security hardware because we already had everything in place from a traditional standpoint. We take security very seriously. Security is paramount to what we do. We cannot, under any circumstances, allow our customers' data to be compromised. So, we have all the correct things in place from a traditional standpoint. We are now modernizing, and Zscaler Internet Access allows us to do that. However, we will not compromise at all. We have to move slowly to it.
It has not reduced the time that we spend managing security policies. The security policies used on Zscaler Internet Access are the same ones that we used with our previous technologies.
It has not really reduced the number of infected devices in our organization because we already had preventions in place with other technologies. We didn't previously have any infections.
I would rate Zscaler Internet Access as nine out of 10. It is a very good solution.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.