Good Drinks has signed a network and security deal with Macquarie Telecom aimed at reducing outages during peak trading periods.
The Perth-based brewer said seasonal spikes in workload and staffing had exposed weaknesses in its network across manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution and hospitality operations.
Good Drinks employs about 300 full-time staff nationwide and operates key sites in Western Australia and Queensland. Its portfolio spans beer, cider and ready-to-drink brands, making uninterrupted systems critical to moving stock through the supply chain during busy summer and holiday periods.
It identified several technical problems affecting efficiency and increasing risk, including cloud archive rules that drove unnecessary data storage growth, a mismatch between two authentication platforms, resilience issues that sometimes disrupted backup access, and firewall security gaps.
Growth strain
Those issues became more pressing as the business expanded. A larger workforce and heavier seasonal demand increased the impact any network disruption could have on internal operations and product distribution.
"For a smaller brewery these issues would be less of a concern but as the business grew, we knew we needed better support and protection mechanisms," said Kelly French, IT Manager at Good Drinks.
Macquarie Telecom is supplying a secure access service edge network setup alongside SD-WAN and security services. The arrangement is intended to improve reliability and strengthen cyber security across Good Drinks' operations.
Provider choice
French said the brewer chose the provider based on previous experience working with Macquarie Telecom and its proposed approach to network management and security.
"I had worked with Macquarie Telecom before and the company presented a SASE (security access network edge) solution that would bring intelligence and security to our networks, reducing risk while improving efficiency. Macquarie is the backbone of our network, and it allows us to contribute at a higher level within the company," said French.
The changes have already altered how the brewer handles maintenance work. Network upgrades that might once have required visible downtime can now be carried out without interrupting users or background processes.
Less downtime
"Recently we had a network upgrade, and we prepared for an outage to allow for the work, but nothing was disrupted. Background jobs weren't affected. That's what you want out of a network. Things can get upgraded in the background, and everything else just keeps ticking along and the end users don't see any issues," said French.
Alongside day-to-day resilience, the project has also improved the company's response to cyber incidents. Greater visibility over network activity and simpler governance arrangements should make it easier to identify where a compromise occurred and how to address it.
Incident response
"Our cyber security posture is vastly improved. But if we do get compromised, we can show how we got compromised, where we got compromised, and what we can do to correct the issue and try and prevent it from reoccurring in the future," said French.
The agreement reflects a broader challenge for operators with seasonal peaks, where short periods of heavy demand can test core systems as much as staffing and logistics. In sectors such as food and drink, even brief outages can affect order processing, warehouse access and the flow of goods to retailers and venues.
Operational focus
For Good Drinks, the focus appears to be on reducing operational risk as the company grows rather than making a wholesale change to its business model. The network project is also intended to consolidate services through one provider, which the brewer said would strengthen governance while simplifying system management.
Macquarie Telecom, part of Macquarie Technology Group, has positioned itself in managed network services and security for Australian businesses seeking local support. In this case, the deal gives Good Drinks a way to address technical weak points that became more visible as it scaled and demand surged during summer and holiday trading.
The brewer's immediate priority was keeping systems stable as volumes rise, and French's account of a recent upgrade suggests reliability has become less noticeable to staff because the network is causing fewer interruptions.