Persistent teams up with Zscaler for digital transformation and ESG

Indian IT services firm Persistent Systems on Thursday announced a partnership with American cloud security company Zscaler to expedite its digital transformation efforts and boost its sustainability initiatives. 

This collaboration sees Persistent leveraging the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, further solidifying its commitment to enhancing cybersecurity infrastructure while promoting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.

Debashis Singh, Chief Information Officer at Persistent, expressed the organisation's need for a partner that could support its global workforce whilst also aligning with their corporate values on environmental sustainability. 

“Our initial focus was supporting our anywhere computing model for our employees spread across the globe, coupled with zero trust architecture that paid dividends along the way. Ultimately, we aimed to enhance our cybersecurity infrastructure while minimising costs, complexity, and environmental impact. With this in mind, evolving our strategic partnership with Zscaler was the natural next step in our security and cloud transformation journey,” said Singh.

To achieve these objectives, Persistent deployed the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, an AI-driven cloud security solution. This platform eliminates the need for traditional firewall-based security appliances by providing secure access to applications and data regardless of user location or device. The zero-trust architecture significantly reduces the risk of cyber-attacks, ensuring that all users are authenticated and authorised before accessing resources. With Zscaler's cloud-native architecture, Persistent can scale its security infrastructure seamlessly, avoiding the complexities and costs associated with legacy security systems.

The deployment's initial phase saw Persistent implement several key Zscaler solutions. Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) provided secure web gateway access for its 22,800 users across 21 countries. Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) replaced traditional VPNs, offering secure direct access to private applications from any device and location. In addition, Zscaler Data Loss Prevention (DLP) fortified data security with advanced features such as inline TLS/SSL traffic inspection and data discovery. The Zscaler Digital Experience solution ensured swift issue detection and remediation, enhancing user experience, while Zscaler Deception identified and mitigated high-priority attacks by diverting adversaries away from critical resources.

The implementation delivered tangible results swiftly. In less than three months, Persistent saw a measurable decrease in business risk and a significant increase in user productivity. Despite a 35% increase in traffic to 1,000 terabytes, Persistent was shielded from 1.6 million security threats, with 369,305 of those threats hidden in encrypted traffic.

Mike Rich, Chief Revenue Officer and President of Global Sales at Zscaler emphasised the importance of strategic partnerships in balancing innovation, growth, cybersecurity, and sustainability goals. "A strategic partner that helps navigate these challenges can be a key success factor in the digital transformation journey. Zscaler is thrilled to support Persistent in its journey towards minimising environmental impact and maximising innovation. We value our continued partnership, especially as we move toward a future of zero trust built on generative AI."
The new announcement comes only a day after Zscaler CEO, Chairman and Founder Jay Chaudhry firmly denied rumours that the cloud security company is entertaining acquisition offers from Broadcom, in a LinkedIn post.

The company reported revenues of $525 million and a net loss of $28.5 million in its most recent quarter. It is slated to announce Q3 fiscal 2024 earnings on May 30.

Meanwhile, persistent, which reported a 10.2% rise in March quarter profit to Rs 315.3 crore in Q4 against Rs 286.1 crore in the December 2023 quarter, is strengthening its defence against disruptive and damaging cyber-attacks. In April, the Pune-based IT firm launched a strategic initiative to redesign its cyber security and resilience strategies. For robust data security and rapid recovery at scale, the company said that it selected Commvault Cloud, powered by Metallic AI, as its cyber resilience platform.