About Cobotec GmbH
Cobotec is a system house from Bielefeld with 16 employees and offers a wide range of IT services. The company takes care of networks, servers, cloud services, workplace management and hardware provision.
In recent years, Cobotec has increasingly focussed on managed services. The company is pursuing a clear strategy: moving away from sporadic requests, where customers only seek support in emergencies, towards long-term maintenance contracts and standardised processes. This ensures greater scalability and efficiency.
Cobotec's clients are predominantly medium-sized companies with between 8 and 50 employees. These companies generally do not have their own IT department, but also require extensive security standards. IT security is a critical factor in this segment in particular, as cyber attacks are also increasingly affecting smaller companies.
Decisive Points for the use of lywand
How Cobotec Became Aware of lywand
Before working with lywand, Cobotec already had various security measures in place, but there was no simple systematic way to check their actual effectiveness. Patch management and protection mechanisms were in place, but it was unclear whether all potential vulnerabilities had really been closed.
It was through the exchange with Infinigate that Cobotec became aware of lywand. The possibility of objectively evaluating security measures through regular, automated checks and immediately receiving targeted recommendations for action was particularly convincing. This not only improved internal processes, but also provided clients with more transparent information about their security situation.
Impressive Visibility & Awareness
The very first tests with lywand revealed that even Cobotec's well thought-out IT security measures were not completely free of vulnerabilities. Despite established processes, the checks provided valuable information on security gaps that might have remained undetected without lywand.
The clear visual representation of the vulnerabilities found was particularly impressive. This not only enabled the team to work on targeted improvements, but also made it much easier to explain to clients where risks existed and what measures were necessary. Visibility and awareness of IT security increased considerably as a result, and even clients who had previously paid little attention to IT security developed a better understanding of the urgency of security measures.
Successful Implementation of lywand in Internal Processes
Connection to Ticketing System
A central component of the successful implementation of lywand was its integration into Cobotec's existing processes. Analysing the measures manually would have been inefficient, which is why Cobotec linked lywand to the TANSS ticket system via a specially developed interface.
This interface enables recognised security problems to be automatically recorded as tickets. A ticket is created, for example, if a vulnerability with a risk rating above 7 is discovered or if the general rating of a client deteriorates significantly. Even if an important security update has not been carried out as planned, this is automatically recorded and forwarded to the technical team.
This automation ensures that no problem is overlooked and that all security measures can be implemented promptly without the technicians having to work their way through individual client views.
Efficient Implementation of Measures Thanks to Automation
The introduction of lywand initially required a certain amount of familiarisation, but through targeted automation and scripting, Cobotec was able to significantly reduce the administrative effort. Initially, there was an initial effort to automate recurring tasks using scripts and to optimise processes. Special care was taken to ensure that common security problems could be recognised efficiently and rectified directly.
During operation, however, the manual effort was significantly reduced. As many security problems can be solved by automated patching processes and scripts, the technicians only have to intervene in special cases. This means that the additional workload remains manageable, while the security standards for clients are kept continuously high.
Introduction of the Service to Clients
While new clients were supported from the outset with the fully managed IT packages including lywand, the introduction for existing clients was different:
For managed service clients, lywand was an extension of their existing service contract, so no additional steps were necessary for them.
A different approach was chosen for project clients who had previously only received sporadic support from Cobotec. Free initial scans were carried out to demonstrate the added value of lywand to these clients. The management reports generated by lywand helped to make clients aware of existing security risks. Many companies that had previously invested little in their IT security opted for permanent support from Cobotec following these analyses.
Whether clients are aware that lywand is being used as a tool depends on the individual case. Cobotec communicates IT security as a holistic service without emphasising individual tools. The company wants to remain flexible and integrate new technologies if necessary without having to adapt its client communication every time.
About the Collaboration with Infinigate & lywand
Cobotec was given initial access to lywand via Infinigate, allowing the system house to test the platform without obligation. The subsequent onboarding via the distributor went smoothly so that lywand could be quickly integrated into the operational process.
Billing via the Infinigate MSP portal also simplifies the administrative workload, as Cobotec can retrieve invoices directly and easily. At the same time, lywand was always available for technical queries and ensured that the platform was easy to use.
"We are very satisfied with the close dialogue and good cooperation with lywand and Infinigate. The support was professional and uncomplicated right from the start." - Mario Techel, Managing Director Cobotec
