Managing Complexity with a Lean Team in a 24/7 Environment
Founded in 1927, Cremo SA is a cornerstone of the Swiss dairy industry. With a highly distributed fleet of hundreds of endpoints powering industrial facilities that operate around the clock, the company’s digital environment is as mission-critical as its production lines.
Even with their reputation for operational precision, Cremo’s lean IT team faced increasing challenges in managing security risks. The team of just six technicians, two of whom were dedicated exclusively to system maintenance, struggled to stay ahead of vulnerabilities in a landscape where both uptime and security were non-negotiable.
By relying on manual patching tools that were inefficient, time-consuming, and lacked visibility into deployed patches and missing software updates, the IT team found it difficult to maintain a proactive approach to patching and vulnerability management without sacrificing performance or operational stability. “In an industrial environment where system availability is essential, we needed a reliable, automated solution that could seamlessly integrate with our existing ecosystem,” stated Christophe Kottelat, IT Director of the Cremo Group.
As digital threats evolved, Cremo recognized the need to find a new solution that would enable them to manage security updates more effectively.
Finding the Perfect Platform to Help Close the Gaps
After a thorough evaluation of several different solutions, Cremo decided to go with Action1 due to its intuitive interface and rapid onboarding process, allowing the team to see value immediately. With automated patching that covered both OS and the extensive package of third-party applications, Action1 closed crucial gaps in the company’s vulnerability management approach.
Action1’s support team not only helped Cremo easily integrate the solution into their infrastructure but also provided guidance on best practices that have since become part of their day-to-day operations.
Automation and Real-Time Visibility Accelerate Response Time and Reduce Risks
Action1’s automation capabilities made a significant impact on Cremo’s IT operations, strengthening their security posture. Thanks to the platform’s unified, autonomous patching of both OS and third-party applications, Christophe and his team streamlined their patch management routine, shifting from manual workflows prone to oversight and delays to proactive security management.
The team particularly benefits from Action1’s customizable patching policies, enabling them to manage security patches efficiently while avoiding downtime. “We were able to structure our environment into specific groups — such as clients, servers and critical systems — which gave us better granularity in patch management,” explained Christophe.
Action1’s native integration with Microsoft Entra ID simplified authentication through single sign-on, while open API compatibility enabled seamless connectivity with Cremo’s existing monitoring infrastructure, enhancing visibility across their IT environment and improving response times.
With real-time visibility and streamlined patching enabled by Action1, Cremo saw measurable improvements across key performance indicators. Prior to deployment, only 40% of endpoints were free of critical vulnerabilities — a number that soared to 98% post-implementation. This transformation significantly reduced the company’s attack surface, reinforcing the stability and resilience of its production systems.
With Action1, we’ve turned patch management into a real performance lever. Our infrastructure is now more secure, more stable, and our teams can focus on their primary mission: ensuring the continuity and quality of our dairy production.
Christophe Kottelat, IT Director of the Cremo Group
With patch management no longer a daily drain on resources, technicians were empowered to focus on more strategic initiatives. “Automated patching allowed us to save the equivalent of a full-time position, which we reallocated to higher-value tasks”, said Christophe.
This transformation with Action1 boosted IT efficiency and security at Cremo, ensuring the company continues to reliably deliver high-quality dairy products essential to Switzerland’s food supply.
