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Major automotive manufacturer secures exchange of confidential information

Founded in 1997, this European company has grown to become a major player in the global automotive industry with total sales of 17 billion euros in 2017. With 290 sites including 30 R&D centers and 109,000 employees in 35 countries, the company is now an international leader in its three areas of business: automotive seating, interior systems, and clean mobility. The group has focused its technology strategy on providing solutions to vehicle manufacturers for Smart Life on Board and Sustainable Mobility.

 

INDUSTRY: Automotive

GEOGRAPHY: Europe

CHALLENGES: The company supplies major car manufacturers with the essential components needed for vehicle security, quality, and performance. Its daily business activity involves exchanging data with design consultants and customers (R&D, CAD, design programs, etc.) based around the world, and with its own suppliers. These exchanges must be fully secure, particularly as the data is often highly confidential.

SOLUTION: Syncplicity

RESULTS:

  • Alignment with the requirements of major automobile manufacturer customers
  • Secure exchange of confidential information
  • Rapid adoption by users
  • Simplified data exchange channels

 

How Syncplicity simplifies and protects movement of confidential information to consultants, customers, and supplier.

 

A response to the requirements of major automobile manufacturer customers. The company’s business activity is based on a customer-supplier ecosystem in which all types of information are exchanged, particularly technical data, and data relating to R&D activity, to product orders, or to the various projects within the company’s three areas of business: automotive seating, interior systems and clean mobility. The objective is to satisfy three criteria for data exchange: security (confidentiality, integrity, traceability, etc.), speed, and availability. “Any user must be able to exchange data externally in secure mode, for example with the design consultants who we work with on a daily basis,” explains the head of technical data exchange.

 
 
 

“Having major clients, the group requires an easy-to-use operational solution. Syncplicity is a secure and reliable solution, with well-structured functions, and good after-sales support — I would definitely recommend it.”

 
 
 

The group uses a number of data exchange solutions, which are transparent to its 12,000 users worldwide, who include almost 4,000 in-house staff. “Having major clients, the group requires an easy-to-use operational solution,” the official said. In addition, the implementation of Syncplicity has made it possible to reorganize the way that licenses are managed, with a central budget. “The previous solution was more complicated to manage, and we didn’t always know who it was that held the subscriptions in various different countries. All of that is now much better organized, with a lower cost per user.”

 

 
 
 
Guarantee watertight security for confidential data

 

 
 
 
To align with the requirements of two of its largest auto manufacturing customers (between them generating a quarter of the group’s global turnover), the company implemented the Syncplicity solution as a replacement for one of the solutions already in use. Syncplicity was rolled out within a short timeframe of a few months. “We very quickly honed in on the key issue in order to fulfill this requirement to align our data exchanges with our two largest customers.” 

As with any new solution, Syncplicity was very closely scrutinized by the company’s security experts. “Because of the highly confidential nature of our technical data exchanges, we asked the security team to test and validate this solution, which fully satisfies our very strict criteria for data protection. If this hadn’t been the case, the solution simply would not have been implemented,” said the spokesman. Since installing Syncplicity, the company has exchanged the equivalent of one hundred gigabytes of data with its major customers.

 

 
 
 
 
In addition to security, which was the most crucial factor for the company given the strategic importance for its business activity, the group chose the Syncplicity solution for its ease of use. “Our manufacturer customers, having encouraged us to adopt the Syncplicity solution, provided us with all the documentation we needed for optimized use of this new data exchange solution, in addition to the considerable efforts made by the pre-sales teams at Syncplicity, who were highly professional.” The ease of use of the solution is the main reason why the users have been so quick to take ownership. “We communicated closely with the business lines and departments who would be using the solution, focusing on security aspects and best practice, using practical demonstrations and very strong technical support.”