apetito taps SOTI for device security and data protection

European Frozen food company has selected SOTI MobiControl to make the most secure and productive use of mobile devices

apetito, the parent of the UK’s number one provider of home-delivered frozen meals Wiltshire Farm Foods, has partnered with leading IoT and device management expert, SOTI to protect its highly sensitive business data across its multi-platform device estate.

For almost 60 years the European frozen food company has supplied nutritious meals to the health and social care sector. The ability to continue to protect its customer information - often about vulnerable clients, and keep communication confidential is therefore pivotal for the business to ensure it complies with new data protection industry regulations.

apetito has deployed MobiControl to over 250 iPhones, enabling the IT team to manage devices in the field. It also uses the solution on 60 ruggedised Zebra TC55 devices which provide its delivery drivers with the same management, as well as intelligent route planning and real-time navigation to optimise apetito’s daily deliveries of tens of thousands of frozen meals across the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada.

Mike Calverley, IT Service Delivery Manager at apetito, explains, “Both categories of devices contain highly sensitive and personal customer information. Most companies only worry about the cost of replacing a device if it’s lost but for us the data is far more important. A data breach, either through the loss or theft of a device, could be disastrous.

SOTI’s MobiControl provides apetito with a one-stop shop to give complete peace of mind over data vulnerabilities. The application is used to easily wipe, track, locate and re-set devices via the SOTI server.

Richard Smith, regional manager at SOTI, says, “Enterprises often struggle to manage the chaos of connected devices, especially where mobility is critical to their business. apetito’s mobility strategy is focused on the security and protection of data to the highest level, without compromising daily routines and working processes. SOTI MobiControl has the key features to eliminate customer data loss; alongside location services and device management, it provides complete peace of mind in every way possible.

“apetito, like many firms, is rightly putting a major focus on cyber security, with new initiatives around data encryption and data loss prevention. This is not only spurred by the need to protect clients, but also the need to comply with new regulation on data protection. A mobility strategy which focuses on security is therefore a vital component to any mobile business - data protection doesn’t stop at the desktop. Those who fail to do so could not only face heavy fines but also risk reputational damage and the potential loss of customer confidence.”

Mike Calverley concludes, “SOTI MobiControl has become critical to our business in ensuring we are meeting data protection requirements. The maths is simple: it doesn’t come down to the number of lost phones the company has been able to recover. Instead, it comes down to the ability to continue to protect our customers and keep communication confidential, which is priceless. We now have plans across our apetito management services to add more devices to the business, including iPads. It will therefore continue to be essential to have a centralised system and base to manage all of our devices at apetito.”