Case Study: Falkirk Council achieves VPN-free, zero-trust work-from-anywhere access and 50% cost savings with Zscaler

Falkirk Council Serves 160,000 Constituents Using WFA Model and the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform

Falkirk Council, the unitary authority serving about 160,000 residents in Falkirk, Scotland (roughly 8,000 employees, including 3,000 educators), faced an urgent shift to cloud and remote work when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Its legacy VDI and perimeter-based security struggled with the sudden demand for videoconferencing and remote access, leaving the council needing a faster, more secure work-from-anywhere model that would also be cost-effective for taxpayers.

Falkirk implemented the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange—using Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) and Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) with lightweight client and app connectors—to provide VPN-free, least-privilege access to internet and internal apps. The rollout delivered stable, high-quality collaboration, reduced attack surface, enabled rapid deployment to 1,000 teachers’ iPads in under a week, cut infrastructure and cyber costs by about half versus the prior VDI approach, and improved resilience and productivity across the organization.

Falkirk Council

Murat Dilek

Network, Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Team Leader