Network Consultant at work
Our IT consultants work for various companies. Each company requires different skills and expertise to solve their issues and challenges. Read more about them here.
At a bank, infrastructure and security are obviously vital. Tergos consultants work for Rabobank, among others, where they help the bank to build, manage and expand its network infrastructure and security. Via Tergos, René Stienen works as Network Consultant at the bank, where he monitors the network and helps prevent and solve any problems.
Security is a hot topic everywhere, but at a bank it is essential. "At a bank, security is obviously very important. A bank is more likely to be the target of hackers. This threat does make it an interesting challenge to work here." A substantial part of René's work involves preventing and solving internal problems. For example, the data in the bank's database must always be accessible to the right people. If an analyst cannot access this data, it can cause major problems. It is the job of network management to work with database management to solve this kind of problem.
At Rabobank, it is not just their local systems they have to deal with. Their systems are linked to various national and international organisations such as SWIFT, the Nederlandsche Bank and Interpay. The many data centres and servers within the bank are separated by firewalls. Furthermore, the bank has systems for customer data, yet internal and external payments are also processed through the network. Rabobank's global network crosses several borders, again with firewalls between different networks and systems. The administrator's duties consist of monitoring and support. He determines if and where problems occur, and finds out how they are caused. Users create tickets when problems arise, and the network administrators handle these tickets and ensure that the problems are resolved.
Many departments are currently being merged. These departments were previously in different locations, but are now moving to Rabobank headquarters. The challenge at this time is to work together to ensure that all the different ways of working and designations are smoothly merged and streamlined. René recognizes plenty of challenges: "It will take some time for us to get all of the systems and ways of working aligned."