MSSP Protects Restaurant and Hospitality Patrons with WatchGuard
Challenge
What started as a hobby to help a friend manage the IT at their new bar, Eat IT Drink IT has now grown to be a continuously growing managed service provider (MSP) in the UK. Built from the ground up, Eat IT Drink IT evolved into a full MSP organization servicing over 160 businesses. The company’s growth can largely be attributed from word-of-mouth recommendations from the various successes of its customers in the hospitality and restaurant industries.
Before Cliff Gurdin, Director and Founder of Eat IT Drink IT, established his MSP business, he found the security industry to be difficult to navigate for small and midsize businesses with its complexity and variety of pricing models. Cliff has been using WatchGuard for many years even prior to starting Eat IT Drink IT. Additionally, Cliff found WatchGuard to meet all his criteria in providing a security solution that is simple to deploy, reliable and affordable. “We always used WatchGuard for its reliability, affordability and support network. We get the best possible pricing from WatchGuard, which helps us remain competitive in the hospitality industry,” explained Cliff.
Solution
In the hospitality and restaurant industry, Wi-Fi and network security are two of the top concerns when it comes to protecting these businesses. Not only was the deployment process easy to implement, but the management of these solutions was straightforward for Eat IT Drink IT to monitor. “The ease of configuration couldn’t be easier. Honestly, we’ve never had a technical issue before, which is another reason why we continue to choose WatchGuard,” commented Cliff.
As an MSP, visibility into a customer’s network is critical. Eat IT Drink IT leverages Dimension, WatchGuard’s visibility tool, to visualize data from all of their customers’ Firebox appliances and access point deployments. Additionally, Eat IT Drink IT receives notifications instantaneously in real time to alert them of any abnormal network activity. “Dimension will tell us exactly what issues there are, giving us visibility with proactive real-time information. It makes our lives easier and our customers’ lives easier. Often, the problems are resolved even before the customer knows about it, and that’s exactly what a customer wants when they work with an MSP,” noted Cliff.
Results
Eat IT Drink IT finds that not only are WatchGuard products and solutions affordable but continue to deliver the latest in Wi-Fi and security technology to their customers in the restaurant and hospitality sector. Eat IT Drink IT has continued to grow organically over time, and WatchGuard has provided both the technology and world-class support they’ve needed every step of the way.
Cliff concluded, “The equipment is highly reliable and capable, and this simplifies our ability to deploy the systems in the most challenging environments. The support that we can leverage from WatchGuard, should we need it, is also critical and a major factor in our choice to partner with and supply WatchGuard solutions. Lastly, our local WatchGuard support has been working perfect for us and I would never change the set-up of the team in any way, shape, or form.”