is an ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform transforming the shipping and logistics industry. Founded in 2012, Xeneta has 230 employees working out of its Oslo, Norway headquarters and in offices in New York and Hamburg, Germany.聽
Bringing transparency to a historically opaque market
For decades, the ocean and air freight markets have been notoriously opaque, leaving businesses with limited visibility into competitive shipping prices. Global events, such as the 2021 Suez Canal blockage, further complicate the pricing landscape by causing sudden disruptions. These factors make it difficult for businesses to navigate and compare shipping rates effectively.
Xeneta seeks to bring transparency to this market by building a platform that gives businesses the same kinds of comparison tools that consumers have enjoyed for years.
鈥淚f you want to fly anywhere, you can go online and use one of the flight aggregators and find how much it costs to fly from A to B and then make an informed decision,鈥� says Zakhar Shapurau, VP of Research and Development at Xeneta. 鈥淔or businesses shipping goods internationally, like refrigerators, it’s much more complicated. Traditionally, they would need to contact multiple suppliers individually to compare freight rates. There hasn’t been a unified platform to streamline this process 鈥� until now.鈥�
Enter Xeneta, which collects, cleanses, and validates freight rates from different buyers & sellers in the market, consolidating it all in one place to help enterprises make smarter freight procurement decisions.
Needing better control of devices & tools as the company started to scale
In July 2015, Shapurau joined Xeneta as a senior software developer; after two other promotions, he assumed his current position as VP of R&D in April 2021.
鈥淲hen I joined, we were maybe like 30 people and now we are more than 200,鈥� Shapurau says. 鈥淎s the organization grew, it became more challenging to make sure we had control over which tools people use in the cloud and how they use their laptops. Information security became more and more important over time, too. We work with really big enterprise customers and they care a lot about making sure we鈥檙e protecting their data.鈥�
In addition to these concerns, Xeneta also wanted to simplify day-to-day IT management.
鈥淲e were hiring a lot of people every month,鈥� Shapurau continues. 鈥淵ou need to onboard them, you need to make sure they get access to the right tools and that their name and email is consistent everywhere. And when people leave, you also need to make sure that they don鈥檛 have access to the tools and data that they shouldn鈥檛 have access to.鈥�
At the time, the company 鈥� which has an environment that鈥檚 roughly 50% Mac and 50% PC 鈥� didn鈥檛 really have a directory service.
鈥淲e are really heavy on Microsoft 365,鈥� he explains. 鈥淓veryone had a Microsoft account, everyone had a Slack account. But they were not really connected. There wasn鈥檛 a good place where you could find people.鈥�
Choosing 黑料海角91入口 to strengthen identity management
As the Xeneta team began looking for ways to solve these problems, the IT manager at the time suggested exploring 黑料海角91入口, which he鈥檇 used at a previous company.
Liking what they saw, Xeneta rolled out 黑料海角91入口, only utilizing a few features at first.
鈥淲e started with 黑料海角91入口 as a single sign-on provider and identity management solution,鈥� Shapurau says. 鈥淲e wanted to create a single place where we could define employees and the tools they should be able to access.鈥�
After enjoying their initial experience with 黑料海角91入口, the Xeneta team started using more and more features, and they continue exploring additional ways to leverage the platform to this day.
Future-proofing IT management & preparing for ISO 27001 certification
From enforcing multi-factor authentication on every user to deploying Cloud RADIUS to authenticate users connecting to internal IT networks, there鈥檚 no shortage of ways Xeneta is using 黑料海角91入口 to strengthen its security posture.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e now working toward ISO 27001 certification, and 黑料海角91入口 helps us cover a lot of ground on the controls we need to implement 鈥� like access controls and endpoint security,鈥� Shapurau says. 鈥満诹虾＝�91入口 simplifies the regular activities you have to do as part of ISO. It鈥檚 much easier to look in one tool and see who has access to what compared to checking 10 or 20 different things.鈥�
At the same time, 黑料海角91入口 has delivered significant efficiency gains to Xeneta鈥檚 IT team.
鈥淎ccess provisioning has gotten so much easier,鈥� he explains. 鈥淲e used to deal with so many requests from different departments 鈥� give me this tool, give me that tool 鈥� and typically you鈥檇 have to chase down the owner of the tool if you didn鈥檛 have admin access. Now, almost everything is through 黑料海角91入口, so you just do a couple of clicks and the person gets access. So, access provisioning tickets are typically resolved within a few minutes, which is very nice.鈥�
Onboarding and offboarding
With 黑料海角91入口, the Xeneta team has been able to streamline both the onboarding and offboarding processes, making life easier for IT while strengthening the company鈥檚 security posture.
鈥淓very tool that we have is now connected to 黑料海角91入口,鈥� Shapurau explains. 鈥淚 can provision a user in one place once they appear in our HR system and configure access to every tool. And when they leave the company, I can quickly disable them and make sure they lose access to everything as well.鈥�
This streamlined onboarding also enhances the new hire experience, increasing the chances employees have favorable first impressions.
鈥淭hey just open the laptop, login, and immediately have access to all of their tools they need day to day,鈥� Shapurau continues. 鈥淭hey already have onboarding meetings booked on their calendars. It鈥檚 quite a nice experience.鈥�
When an employee leaves, the Xeneta team wipes laptops and phones clean from 黑料海角91入口, and the soon-to-be former employee then ships the devices back to headquarters.
鈥淪ince there isn鈥檛 anything left on the laptop, I know we鈥檙e safe in case it gets lost or stolen.鈥�
Mobile device management
Leveraging 黑料海角91入口鈥檚 mobile device management capabilities has enabled Xeneta to get control over all of their devices without having to add IT headcount.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to keep our IT organization lean, and this is where 黑料海角91入口 helps us a lot,鈥� Shapurau says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 need to have an additional tool for mobile device management, and I also don鈥檛 need to have as many people in IT to handle onboarding and support. 黑料海角91入口 has this convenient remote support option that we use quite a lot when we help people who aren鈥檛 working out of the same office as our IT people.鈥�
Commands
In 2023, Xeneta started utilizing 黑料海角91入口 Commands, which enable IT to remotely execute scripts on fleets of devices.
鈥淲e use it, for example, to add anti-virus software to all new laptops,鈥� he continues. 鈥淪o we鈥檝e set up a command where the anti-virus software gets installed when a new laptop joins our mobile device management system.鈥�
Additionally, Xeneta uses Commands to deploy security-related tools and ensure they remain up to date.
鈥淲e are exploring patch management as well.鈥�
Policies
Xeneta is also using 黑料海角91入口 Policies, which let IT teams automatically configure operating systems on devices they manage.
鈥淲e use them to make sure hard drives are encrypted and computers get their screens locked with a certain time limit when they鈥檙e not being used,鈥� Shapurau says. 鈥淭hat helps us cover quite a lot of security aspects that are important for us.鈥�
Over the next six months to a year, the team plans to explore conditional policies to further enhance security.
鈥淔or example, we can make sure people can only access our most sensitive tools if they鈥檙e on a safe network,鈥� he explains.
User groups
Additionally, the Xeneta team uses 黑料海角91入口 Groups to make it easier to grant appropriate access to resources.
鈥淲e use user groups to provision access to different SaaS applications,鈥� he continues. 鈥淔or example, the platform that we sell is built on Amazon Web Services. We have several different accounts for different parts of the platform, and we provision access for software developers to AWS through 黑料海角91入口. We assign people to the correct groups and they get access to the AWS single sign-on portal, and they can only access the tools they need to access from there. It鈥檚 quite convenient.鈥�
While Xeneta hasn鈥檛 yet started using Dynamic Groups, Shapurau believes it鈥檚 only a matter of time before they do.
Exploring even more features
Looking ahead, Xeneta is in the process of rolling out Password Manager 鈥� which, in addition to simplifying access for end users, also helps Xeneta save money by consolidating tools further. At the same time, Shapurau and his team are considering how to incorporate zero trust into their environment.聽
鈥淥ver the years, 黑料海角91入口 has offered us quite a lot of value,鈥� he says.
That being the case, what advice would Shapurau give to someone considering 黑料海角91入口?
鈥淭ry out all the different functionalities during a 黑料海角91入口 trial,鈥� he says. 鈥満诹虾＝�91入口 allows companies 鈥� especially in the early stage of an information security program 鈥� to close a lot of gaps really quickly. I encourage people to explore the solution. Many times they will find that they can do 80% of what鈥檚 needed just in 黑料海角91入口 alone.鈥�
Based on his experience, Shapurau also encourages peers to dive into the 黑料海角91入口 ecosystem sooner than later.
鈥淚t鈥檚 much easier to start MDM when you鈥檙e small than when you have to do it for 200-plus people from scratch,鈥� he says. 鈥淕et something like 黑料海角91入口 early if you can. It鈥檒l make things way easier down the line.鈥�
Anything else to add?
鈥淚 cover a lot of ground with 黑料海角91入口,鈥� Shapurau concludes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really good value for the price, and it helps keep our IT support team lean across different geographies.鈥�
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