Case Study: Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council achieves secure hybrid working for 3,000+ staff with Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access

Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council transforms hybrid working for over 3,000 staff with Palo Alto Networks

Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, which provides services to roughly 238,000 residents, faced a sudden need to move more than 3,000 staff to secure remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their incumbent connectivity platform was complex and not built for large-scale remote access, creating security risks and a poor experience for many non-technical users, while the Council also sought to align with Wales’ “Smarter Working” remote-working strategy.

The Council deployed Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access (ZTNA 2.0) with Panorama management, Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM), and ML-powered next‑generation firewalls to provide least‑privilege, cloud‑scale access and end‑to‑end visibility. The solution enabled rapid, secure access for 3,000+ hybrid staff, improved user experience and troubleshooting, reduced virtual desktop costs, and strengthened protection of sensitive citizen data while simplifying security management.

Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council

Gareth Pearce

Head of Technology