DT Swiss
Clearing the flight path: DT Swiss cuts admin hours by 60% with Microsoft Entra Internet Access
Branche
Elektronikfertigung
Zielsetzung
Umstellung auf die Microsoft 365 Cloud
Lösung
Microsoft 365 Cloud
DT Swiss AG cuts admin hours 60% with Microsoft Entra Internet Access
DT Swiss AG manufactures high-performance cycling components with teams across Europe, North America, and Asia. As the company expanded globally, its security perimeter grew increasingly complex. Ensuring regulatory compliance while maintaining high performance and operational efficiency became a strategic priority.
Challange
With revised Swiss data protection regulations (revDSG) and GDPR requirements top of mind, DT Swiss sought an approach that would keep traffic in-region, reduce attack surface exposure, and lower administrative overhead, without compromising user experience. As the organization scaled, several challenges emerged:
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Sensitive traffic was processed outside Switzerland and the EU, increasing compliance risk.
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Existing gateways were not always close to Microsoft infrastructure, adding 60–90 milliseconds of latency.
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Microsoft traffic required unnecessary routing hops before reaching its destination.
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Policies were managed across disparate systems, slowing incident response.
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A complex multi-vendor edge stack increased operational overhead.
The combination of rising compliance pressure, growing latency, and fragmented visibility made it clear that a Zero Trust initiative was required, anchored in identity-centric access and centralized control..
Solution
DT Swiss partnered with Experts Inside to deploy Microsoft Entra Internet Access across its global branch offices.
By integrating Entra Internet Access with Cisco SD-WAN, Microsoft 365 traffic is now routed directly through Global Secure Access (GSA) tunnels into the Microsoft backbone network, eliminating external gateway detours.
From the outset, the initiative focused on three priorities:
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Reduce risk
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Cut costs
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Simplify management
Key measures included:
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Identity-centric network access: Replacement of static IP allowlists with dynamic Zero Trust policies in Microsoft Entra.
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Direct Microsoft routing: IPsec tunnels from branch offices route traffic directly to Global Secure Access.
“By consolidating siloed business systems and shifting key functions to Microsoft, we’ve created a unified security and compliance framework which honors the Zero Trust approach. Combining remote network access with SD-WAN and integrating it into Microsoft 365 has allowed us to build a modern, consolidated security architecture.”
Niklaus Bischof, Head of ICT Operations DT Swiss AG
- Centralized management: Policy configuration and monitoring via the Entra Admin Center.
- Phased rollout: Pilot in Germany, followed by expansion to France and the United States, with further rollouts planned.
- License optimization: Leveraging existing Microsoft 365 E5 entitlements to avoid duplicate third-party licensing.
Results
Following implementation, DT Swiss achieved measurable improvements across security, performance, and operations:
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50% of global sites now enforce Zero Trust-aligned network access policies.
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Administrative effort reduced by approximately 60%, from 20 hours per month to about 8 hours.
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Latency reduced to 14 ms (US), 25 ms (France), and 20 ms (Germany).
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Microsoft 365 performance became faster and more reliable due to elimination of backhaul routing.
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Centralized logging improved SOC visibility and reduced incident response times.
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Third-party licensing costs decreased by consolidating security capabilities under Microsoft 365 E5.
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