What is our primary use case?
In Qatar industries, the legacy systems like the Bluecoat Proxy is still being used, these solutions work at a limited capacity. For instance, one of our organization's customers is in the Oil & Gas transportation business with tankers, if a company like them wants to deploy a proxy solution, physical proxy deploy is very complicated for such companies, therefore our organization proposes a cloud proxy solution to them like Zscaler DLP.
There are several cloud proxy solutions in the market, but Zscaler DLP provides the lowest latency rates due to the presence of global enforcement nodes in the solution. Whenever a potential customer approaches our company, which has a large workforce, has offices distributed across a wide geography and is in need of a cloud-based solution, we suggest Zscaler DLP for comprehensive global control.
What is most valuable?
The in-line DLP feature is one of the most vital features of the solution. Data security is a global concern, like in Europe there is the EDPR, while Qatar has its own data protection laws, so at our organization while data gets classified using different tools like Boldon James, security control in transit remains a concern so the in-line DLP policy is a valuable feature in Zscaler DLP that remains absent in most other products. Zscaler DLP takes care of the security when data is in motion.
What needs improvement?
The technical team in our company suggests there are some performance issues with the solution once the module addition begins. For instance, suppose I am using Zscaler Internet Access, and the connectivity speed is excellent, but the moment I start integrating some add-ons like DLP, then the solution considerably slows down in functionality.
But I believe the aforementioned instance or scenario is acceptable because an initial data check gets performed upon integration and it probably can be solved by the vendor through some alterations in the architecture. The set of features provided by Zscaler DLP is enough for the market in which our company operates.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zscaler DLP for two and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. It's a highly stable solution. The product consistently functions all the time, but it slows down a couple of times when a large-scale data transfer is being processed that involves multiple policy checks.
Zscaler DLP almost never crashes, and when it does rarely, it's very specific to the customer environment. When some changes are made to the deployed product upon the customer's suggestion, initially, some instability arrives, which is then fixed through fine-tuning.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. The Zscaler DLP is extremely scalable and we have experienced it hands-on in our organization. One of the customers of our company was beginning operations in the Philippines, and they were already using Zscaler DLP in other locations like Kuwait and Jordan; they asked us to increase the license numbers and deploy the same Zscaler DLP solution for their Philippines location as well, the entire process was smoothly completed by our team.
I believe the downscaling of the solution is as easy as upscaling. Around 80 to 90 customers of our organization are using Zscaler DLP. The customer portfolio of our company for Zscaler DLP comprises 20% government enterprises, 60% are medium-scale businesses, and the rest are small-scale businesses.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support team has been responsive enough to our organization's queries in Qatar. In our company, we had to reach out for customer support on very few occasions. I would rate the tech support an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
I would rate the initial setup an eight out of ten. Our organization implements the setup operations and transitions of Zscaler DLP for each customer. Rarely the deployment team of our company has faced some challenges, but it has been due to the unique customer environments, server placements and connection requirements.
About 95% of the deployments have been carried out in our organization without any obstacles. Our organization always deploys Zscaler DLP on the cloud.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's an affordable solution. I would rate the pricing a six out of ten. Once after deployment, you start bundling up additional components, the cost significantly increases. When compared to the cost of a competitor solution and the quality of Zscaler DLP, the price of the solution is justified.
Some customers who are familiar with other product environments of Palo Alto or Cisco might find Zscaler DLP a bit expensive when looking at it from an environment compatibility or opportunity perspective.
What other advice do I have?
For companies that have operations across the globe, it's crucial for them to have the same set of data security controls and measures across all locations; Zscaler DLP helps in such implementations. For instance, if there are certain enforcement policies or data security norms implemented for the headquarters of an organization, Zscaler DLP allows a professional to just copy the implemented policies of one location to another, irrespective of the site members or users.
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. I would advise others to perform due diligence before directly adopting the product, but just because the product is the market leader doesn't mean it will fit perfectly into every environment.
I always analyze the customer's requirements and existing environment before proposing the best solution. If integrating Zscaler DLP into a Palo Alto environment will create difficulties, then it's better to choose a solution from Palo Alto.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. reseller