Pictured (L to R): Mariana Nunes, Channel Account Manager EMEA, Cato Networks; John Clancy, MD Managed Services, Ergo Group; Alba de la Fuente, IT Operations Manager, BidX1; and Anthony Walsh, Country Director, Ireland, Cato Networks.
Dublin, 23rd November 2023 – Ergo, Ireland’s largest IT solutions provider with a growing global footprint, today announced a deal with real estate company BidX1, which has seen the company transform its network and IT security strategy. Partnering with Cato Networks, the deal will enhance BidX1’s security and connectivity to drive innovation, support business growth and facilitate ongoing international expansion.
Established in Ireland in 2011, BidX1 is a leading property company with a digital platform that enables buyers and sellers to complete transactions seamlessly online. Now active across five markets – Ireland, UK, Spain, Cyprus and South Africa – this innovative approach has seen BidX1 sell more than 15,000 properties with a Gross Transaction Value of over €3 billion.
As part of its managed services division, this project saw Ergo roll out a Cato Networks Secure Access Service Edge framework and SD-WAN solution, along with Zero Trust Network Access for BidX1’s remote users.
It involved a shift to a 100% cloud-based environment for BidX1; as well as enhancing security and improving connectivity, this new IT foundation can be scaled to enable further business growth and support new regions in line with BidX1’s expansion plans.
This new approach also provides greater security and protection for BidX1 staff across five locations by delivering a managed firewall service, implementing authentication processes and providing disaster recovery capabilities. Furthermore, the in-house IT team can better manage, monitor and control access to internal networks.
The new portal centralises visibility of company systems and constantly assesses performance across the entire IT environment. Furthermore, it delivers a full audit log of the network, including detailed data insights.
The Cato Networks framework allocates a static IP for each geo location; this enables staff to connect to and access resources based on the country they are in at that time, streamlining administrative tasks and making the systems easier to use.
The cloud-only foundation established by Ergo is also a more cost-effective approach and is easier-to-use. It can be managed by the in-house team, which can choose which features to activate, and was installed seamlessly, in a matter of weeks, with configuration completed by Ergo off-site in advance.
Commenting on the rollout, Alba de la Fuente, IT Operations Manager, BidX1, said: “Cloud-based technology and data-driven insights are key enablers for our platform, an online real estate marketplace which attracts thousands of bidders each year. This latest phase on our digital journey will enhance our service delivery and enable further business growth. We’re very pleased to benefit from the cutting-edge solutions developed by Cato Networks, as well as the experience and expertise of Ergo, which has been second-to-none both in terms of communication and implementation.”
John Clancy, Managing Director, Managed Services at Ergo Group, added: “We really enjoyed partnering with BidX1 on this project, a company that is driving true innovation in the property sector, as Cato Networks are doing similarly in the SASE space. Our aim was to leverage the technologies of Cato Networks to create a secure, smart way of working which would equip BidX1 with the means to continue on their digital transformation journey and support their growing global footprint and operations.”
Mark Draper, Area Vice President, EMEA Channel Sales, Cato Networks, commented: "We are very pleased to be working with Ergo. Their experience and credibility have accelerated the enterprise opportunity in Ireland, and the BidX1 opportunity is a great reflection of this. It's been a fantastic journey to date and one that will increase significantly as more enterprises adopt a cloud-native approach to security and networking throughout 2024.”
About Ergo
Ergo is the largest privately-owned IT solutions company in Ireland, headquartered in Dublin, with offices in Cork and Limerick as well as the UK, US, Romania, Colombia and New Zealand. We excel at the intersection of business and technology with market-leading multi-cloud solutions, managed services and IT resourcing. For 30 years, CIOs and IT leaders have relied on Ergo for a powerful combination of agility and resilience – agility to grow and continually improve; resilience to withstand whatever disruption comes next. For more information, visit www.ergogroup.ie.
About BidX1
BidX1 is Europe’s leading digital property marketplace. The PropTech company has built a digital platform which connects users across the globe with property investment opportunities in five markets and enables them to complete the entire transaction online. Established in Ireland in 2011, BidX1 is the market leader in online property transactions; the company has sold more than 15,000 properties to date, raising over €3 billion. More than 30,000 bids were placed through the BidX1 platform last year, with buyers from over 60 countries to date.
BidX1 has been recognised as a Deloitte ‘Best Managed Company’ for three years in a row and has received numerous other awards, including an Irish Times Innovation Award and a KPMG Property Industry Excellence Award.
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