Warner Hotels, established in 1932 as Warner Holiday Camp, operates a collection of scenic country and coastal properties across the UK, including locations in North Wales, Somerset, Herefordshire, Berkshire, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, the Isle of Wight, Suffolk, Hampshire, and Warwickshire.

For the past four years, Madoc Batters, the company’s head of cloud and IT security, has been tackling the various cloud and cybersecurity challenges that come with running such a business. His journey began just before the COVID-19 pandemic, when he joined the team only to be sent home shortly after. Despite the unexpected start, he quickly adapted to the role.

The challenges Batters has faced are not unique to the hospitality industry. In many ways, they mirror those encountered in other sectors. Ensuring the security, resilience, and availability of services and infrastructure is a universal priority. If technology fails, customers are directly affected, and revenue generation comes to a halt. This is especially true in hospitality, where guests are quick to voice their concerns when issues arise.

Warner Hotels operates around 18 properties across the UK, with two new additions in Scotland. The company specializes in offering short breaks for adults, a niche it has served for decades. Previously part of the larger Bourne Leisure Group, which included Haven and Butlins, Warner Hotels is now focused on establishing itself as an independent entity.

Batters’ role encompasses cloud and IT security, as well as networking, a field he has been involved in since earning his CCIE certification in 2003. His responsibilities include managing the company’s wide-area network (WAN) and ensuring seamless connectivity across its properties.

One of the biggest challenges Batters has faced is driving change within the organization. He emphasizes the importance of optimizing services to benefit both the team and customers. However, getting people to embrace change can be difficult. Batters acknowledges that humans tend to resist change but believes it’s essential to bring everyone on board to achieve progress.

Batters is a proponent of change, both in terms of company culture and organizational structure. A few years ago, Warner Hotels transitioned from traditional, siloed teams to a more integrated approach. Teams were restructured to focus on specific services or applications, with each unit responsible for building, owning, and maintaining its system. This shift allowed for faster deployment and quicker issue resolution, enabling the company to adapt more rapidly to changing needs.

Recently, Batters and his team overhauled the company’s network infrastructure by adopting a cloud-first strategy using Alkira’s Network Infrastructure-as-a-Service platform. Traditionally, making changes to the network involved a lengthy process of raising tickets and waiting for external providers to implement them. This often resulted in delays and errors.

To streamline this process, Warner Hotels embraced infrastructure-as-code and GitOps methodologies. Changes are now managed through version-controlled code stored in GitHub, with continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines automating the process. Engineers can approve changes without going through a legacy change board, significantly speeding up the workflow.

Alkira’s platform was particularly appealing because it supports Terraform, allowing Warner Hotels to manage network changes in the same way it handles cloud infrastructure. The company is implementing Alkira in phases, starting with multi-cloud connectivity. This enables direct cloud-to-cloud links, eliminating the need for traffic to loop through on-premises infrastructure.

The platform also supports virtual firewalls, providing a central security enforcement point for all network segments. This simplifies security management and enhances overall efficiency. Warner Hotels plans to route all hotel connectivity through the Alkira network, creating a central hub for connectivity between clouds, third parties, and hotel sites.

Batters stresses the importance of being able to implement changes quickly, especially in the hospitality industry, where rapid problem resolution is critical. He advocates for shifting security left in the development process, empowering developers to identify and fix issues before deployment. Automated tools are used to flag insecurities and generate tickets, reducing the administrative burden on engineers.

For companies looking to adopt similar approaches, Batters recommends ensuring their organizational structure supports rapid change and embracing new technologies. Warner Hotels’ adoption of Alkira is a testament to the benefits of bold, forward-thinking decisions. By letting go of outdated practices and biases, organizations can position themselves for success in an increasingly fast-paced world.