LTL Holdings

ZILLIONe had the privilege of playing an integral part in the digital transformation journey of the LTL Holdings a prestigious, reputed and dynamic engineering enterprise, renowned locally and internationally. In the Engineering Arena of Sri Lanka, the Company is affectionately known and called as “LTL”,

LTL is well known for Power Sector Engineering works, engaged in manufacturing, construction & service industry, spanning across Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering Fields. Having journeyed through the last four decades, LTL has achieved an impressive array of accomplishments and adjudicated as the best Engineering Organization in the Infrastructure Development Sector at the ceremony organized by the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka for “Engineering Excellence Awards”. LTL has also received the Prestigious Gold Award for the “Best Independent Power Producer (IPP) in the Asian Region” of the Asian Power Awards organized by the Asian Power Magazine.

The LTL has earned the title in the Sri Lankan market as the first and largest independent power producer and Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) contractor. LTL Holdings expanded to international borders on the strength of its ability to cater to the complete supply chain of the power sector.

However, with the on the onset of Covid-19, which ravaged the global economy, LTL encountered certain difficulties in using the legacy technologies, used in multiple processes and interdepartmental areas of the group of companies, necessitating revamping into a new sophisticated and innovative remote working transition.  Therefore, LTL took the wise and impromptu decision to explore the possibility of obtaining the services of ZILLIONe, a Software Engineering firm, renowned for its Engineering Excellence with modern and innovative technologies to analyze and eliminate and/or solve serious problems successfully. ZILLIONe helped LTL Holdings to revamp and provided customized IT solutions to spur growth and innovation. These services were deployed, ensuring a smooth migration. Now LTL Holdings stands taller and stronger fledged with top-notch technological systems to withstand any challenges of this competitive world.

Issues, issues, issues! A dire need for a digital transformation

Before partnering with ZILLIONe, LTL Holdings experienced three main issues. A need for refined ultra-modern cyber security system, a well-set robust collaboration platform, and well-knitted team thoroughly familiarized cloud solutions. These shortcomings somewhat hindered the arrangements made by the Company to work-from-home transition.

The foremost issue LTL Holdings faced in terms of security was the gap of available cyber security system and a robust and proactive cyber security system capable of monitoring vulnerabilities and potential threats. Before the implementation process, the company occasionally experienced widespread and targeted phishing attacks. Due to these Phishing attacks, they were at high risk of the identity of some users getting compromised and they were vulnerable to password spray type attacks. In addition, a system to manage the security compliance of organization’s mobile devices, and to make sure the sensitive corporate data keeps secure in remote working conditions and BYOD scenarios was not in place. Considering all facts, it can be concluded that the Company was in a vulnerable state. It was assessed that there was a possibility of hackers’ attack to access the company’s sensitive data.

Before acquiring assistance to implement the existing spontaneous and efficient communication platform, LTL Holdings utilized the Zimbra email server. However, the ongoing pandemic forced the company to rely more on the former online communication method. Soon, the company realized that they outgrew the existing communication method and were in dire need of a more versatile communication platform. If not for this imminent change, the company’s growth and innovation that triggers an efficient flow of communication may suffer stagnation.

Research by Jabil says employee pushback and lack of expertise to lead digitization initiatives are the top two barriers to digital transformation. These findings imply that the company may receive mediocre results from investments made on cyber security and communication platforms unless a holistic approach inclusive of staff training and awareness is implemented.

LTL Holdings preferred IT solution provider – ZILLIONe

 In search for Smart collaborative work environment, we meet ZILLIONe. Having the experience of trust and reliability, ZILLIONe introduced Microsoft 365, enhancing the system into a robust collaborative platform inclusive of proactive cyber security and efficient remote working conditions. Strategic measures were taken by them, to clearly understand the necessary implementations for boosting productivity, with the development of long-term upgrade plans and network mapping. The after-sales service has been commendable, and their continuous support through improvements is admirable. Now the system provides secure data collaboration for our sensitive engineering activities, with smoother working conditions.

Digital transformation solutions provided by ZILLIONe

In response to providing viable and cost-effective solutions, ZILLIONe took a separate two-phase approach to address cyber security issues and company communication platform enhancement issues. Awareness programs to adopt best practices and other collaboration software training for the staff followed. The main challenge ZILLIONe faced in the digital transformation journey of LTL Holdings was to ensure, providing the best, optimum and most cost-effective IT solutions that were favorable to their budget.

After much scrutiny, ZILLIONe decided that the most viable and suited communication platform for LTL Holdings is cloud-based solutions by Microsoft 365 as the first phase. ZILLIONe helped the company to embrace Microsoft Teams as the internal collaboration platform. LTL Holdings were also offered a cost-effective migration from present Zimbra email server to Exchange Online. In the long run, these cloud solutions can cut down a significant amount of cost incurred on IT expenses such as infrastructure maintenance, legacy infrastructure, additional IT personnel, etc.

As the second phase deployment, ZILLIONe implemented Microsoft Enterprise Mobility and Security Suite, a cyber security system to shield LTL Holdings against cyber threats. This suite includes ‘Azure Active Directory Premium (AADP)’ an enterprise identity and access management service that provides a single sign-in and multi-factor authentication process along with a host of other access management capabilities based on additional authentication factors such as the geo location, cloud application, user identity, and device platform. Cloud apps covered in AADP are subjected to tight authentication restrictions while availing secure access to all apps. AADP guarantees to help protect against 99.9 percent of cyber security threats. It has helped to create a highly secured environment for employees for accessing cloud applications and subsequently sensitive company information, on-site or remotely.

To address the phishing attacks, we’ve utilized Defender for Office 365 and its Advanced Phishing filter, Safe attachments, Safe Links, and other features to mitigate these security vulnerabilities in the O365 environments. The Sandboxing and Machine Learning based advanced security functions of these solutions have helped the company greatly improve security on its collaboration platforms such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and MS Teams.

We’ve successfully addressed the concerns pertaining to securing access from BYOD devices with Microsoft Intune Mobile Application Management.

Moreover, we’ve addressed the data security concerns through identifying the business needs and implementing a data classification and protection structure using Microsoft Sensitivity Labeling and while it’s an ongoing process that needs to be further developed, we’ve implemented the baseline policies for complementary solutions in the Microsoft Information Protection suite of solutions such as Office 365 DLP, data retention policies, eDiscovery, etc. to further streamline the Information security, compliance and governance story in LTL holdings IT environment.

Following these implementations, the on-premises LTL Holdings IT team was provided comprehensive training on Admin Center and Best Practices. Additional training was deployed to other subsidiaries at the company on Microsoft Teams and user interfaces of other collaborative software solutions and security practices that were newly implemented.

The benefits reaped following implementations.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, the organized reach of our global network of employees and clients, was disturbed. The collaboration of teams handling multiple projects, faced a sudden dwindle in effective action and communication, with the restrictions imposed in terms of mobilization and social distancing. This broadened our prospects of implementing a collective digital workspace, while maintaining a safe, secure, and reliable platform for our sensitive corporate data.

With Microsoft 365, LTL Holdings, now accelerates the work process to reduce the undesired downtime. The novel work approach has enhanced flexible communication to keep the network close-knit at all times. Site or at the office, or a work from home situation, doesn’t matter anymore, as the optimized communication keeps the integrity of the formal working process. It keeps all of us connected, while scheduling a meeting and managing calendars has become easier than ever. Our sensitive data and design can now be shared at ease with the multitude of secure sharing options available through enterprise mobility and security. This has boosted our productivity and opportunity of distant working collaborations.

Future digital transformation aspirations with ZILLIONe

With the experience of trust and reliability, ZILLIONe has earned its due recognition with a recognized customer service. Their discovery of the critical components and provision of quick solutions, in terms of information security, connectivity and governance, has built a strong relationship open to futuristic developments. The extensive training deployed by ZILLIONe on the administration and user interfaces of the collaborative software solutions has been highly resourceful.

Being an Engineering Company, LTL Holdings cater the local and global supply chain of the power sector, providing futuristic and sustainable energy solutions. This is deemed to cope up with continuous technological advancements with time. As we transform into the digital future, we hope to partner with ZILLIONe, to enhance our workspace to keep our teams close and our global clientele closer!