Hankyu Hanshin Properties Accelerates Digital Transformation with a Secure Zero Trust Environment Powered by Netskope

“The DX Promotion Department works alongside each business unit to drive business DX, operational DX, and value DX. These initiatives extend beyond just our company—they apply to all real estate–related group companies as well. Within that structure, the Core IT Management Group is responsible for our internal information systems.”

From the standpoint of operational DX, the company needed to modernize workstyles by achieving both strong security and high user convenience. The key to enabling this transformation was Netskope, which provides the foundation for implementing Zero Trust.

Managing shadow IT and moving away from a VPN with known vulnerabilities also became critical themes for strengthening security. Additionally, their existing remote access environment had performance issues. Assistant Manager Shoichi Matsukawa explains that “our existing remote access solution authenticated through servers at domestic data centers, which caused latency due to traffic backhauling for overseas offices,” and adds that “even within Japan, remote-work connections would sometimes become unstable.”

In 2023, the company began evaluating Zero Trust solutions to enable secure and convenient cloud service usage while resolving remote access challenges. Ishigami recalls that after consulting with Marubeni IT Solutions—a long-time business partner—they were introduced to Netskope and that “visiting a company already using Netskope and hearing their direct experience gave us confidence that Netskope could address our issues.”

When comparing different solutions, Ishigami highlights Netskope’s advantages, stating that “Netskope integrates CASB, SWG, and ZTNA into a unified platform, whereas competing products often required more complex architectures.” He also emphasizes that “Netskope’s granular control of cloud service permissions, its advanced blocking categories, and the ability to manage generative AI services were major strengths,” adding that “these categories are continuously updated, allowing us to keep pace with the latest cloud services.”

Kuniharu Seike further stresses that “for secure and reliable remote work, the ability to use CASB for cloud service visibility together with a VPN‑less environment was a major advantage.”

These achievements were highly praised by company leadership, and Matsumoto—who led the project—was awarded the company‑wide MVP recognition.

Looking ahead, Speee aims to further strengthen its zero‑trust network environment while maintaining user autonomy and freedom. “By deepening the integration between Netskope and our existing security tools—such as EDR, EPP, and SIEM—we hope to unify our fragmented security measures and enhance our defensive posture as a whole,” Matsumoto explains.

As AI agents become increasingly embedded across internal operations, autonomously exchanging and processing data, Netskope will continue to play an essential role in enabling the coexistence of advanced AI utilization and strong security.