Case Study

Standard Wool

What we did for Standard Wool

Industry: Retail

Published: 30/06/2026

Project Overview

Standard Wool, a prestigious international wool merchant with origins dating back to the 18th century, faced the challenge of securing a complex global operation with a small IT resource. Operating a round-the-clock manufacturing facility in the UK and maintaining a footprint in Chile and New Zealand, the company required a security partner that could provide expert technical oversight and 24/7 accountability for their infrastructure.

By consolidating their security under SEP2’s Wingman Managed Services, Standard Wool transitioned from a fragmented, multi-vendor history to a unified, managed environment. The result is a “marriage made in heaven” that allows Martyn Wren, their IT Manager, to focus on business strategy while SEP2 handles the “staggering amount of nonsense” found in the modern threat landscape.

The Challenge

Small internal team, making 24/7 monitoring impossible without external support.
The manufacturing plant is 100% controlled by software, making protection from downtime and cyber incursions mission-critical.
Managing complex firewall environments required intensive, specialised training that did not align with the internal team’s core business focus.
The sheer volume of security noise and technical tickets would have required a full-time resource to manage manually.

The Solution

Consolidating under the Wingman suite provided 24/7/365 proactive monitoring.
SEP2 only provides Standard Wool with security tools that they trust and use to protect their own organisation.
Complex hardware migrations are managed end-to-end by SEP2 during planned shutdowns, ensuring zero impact on manufacturing uptime.
The implementation of managed phishing awareness training has turned a mandatory requirement into an engaging point of company culture with minimal administrative effort.

Who is Standard Wool

Standard Wool is a market-leading global trader and processor that serves as a vital link between the world's wool farmers and the international textile industry. Headquartered in West Yorkshire, the group utilises a sophisticated, software-driven infrastructure to manage a complex supply chain that sources, scours, and distributes wool to customers in over 30 countries. Unlike traditional trading, their Dewsbury-based manufacturing facility operates 24 hours a day, relying on high-capacity machinery that is 100% controlled by software. This dependency extends across New Zealand, and Chile, making their IT environment the essential backbone for maintaining continuous production and ensuring a reliable, real-time service for manufacturers worldwide.

Why Standard Wool chose SEP2

Standard Wool chose SEP2 to transition their security from a manual, internal burden into a professionally managed operation. Martyn Wren recognised that the complexity of modern threats required a level of specialised expertise that exceeded internal capacity, stating: “Very early on I realised that this wasn’t my skill set and wasn’t going to be my skill set.” This decision was validated by SEP2’s reputation for technical excellence and their commitment to using the best tools available, with Martyn noting that the company only recommends tools they trust for their own infrastructure: “You’ve researched each product that you sell thoroughly. I read recently you are your own first customer.”

A key differentiator was SEP2’s "good fit" philosophy, which prioritises strategic alignment over aggressive upselling. Martyn was impressed by a partner that respects the specific scale and pressures of his business, noting: “I’ve always been offered something as a good fit for us. You know, not always the big shiny thing... they know not to pitch that kind of stuff.” Ultimately, the choice to move to the Wingman managed service suite was a logical step to achieve enterprise-grade oversight for their 24/7 global environment.

Working with SEP2

The integration of SEP2 has allowed Standard Wool to "barely think about security." The most significant impact has been the reduction in manual workload, and the expert handling of the high-volume malicious traffic that is filtered before it ever reaches the network. Martyn went on to say, “I can comfortably sit back and think: SEP2 has got my back on perimeter security, email security, and endpoint security. I really don’t have to worry about it.” This has allowed Martyn to focus on the bigger picture, moving from reactive maintenance to strategic business development and resilience.

Beyond the technology, Standard Wool values the responsiveness of the team, noting that any ticket is met with a “good response and most times a positive outcome in a very quick time.” This reliable, low-friction relationship ensures their 24/7 global operations remain secure without straining lean internal resources.

The implementation of the KnowBe4 training has also been a highlight, creating leaderboards that engage staff across the organisation in security awareness, turning a mandatory task into a point of company culture.

Looking to the Future

Standard Wool is leveraging the operational stability provided by SEP2 to shift its focus toward long-term strategic resilience. With daily security management handled by the SEP2 team, the company is now modernising its disaster recovery and supply chain protection strategies to stay ahead of the threats facing 2026's global markets. By utilising a comprehensive risk assessment produced in collaboration with SEP2, Standard Wool is identifying targeted enhancements to further harden its software-controlled manufacturing environment. This proactive roadmap ensures that the business remains, as Martyn puts it, “absolutely, gold standard, rock solid secure,” protecting its centuries-old legacy for the next generation of global trade.

Testimonials

Hear From Those We Protect

We spoke to other providers, but SEP2 were the only ones who could offer the integrations and compatibility we needed. Once we chose you, it was clear it was the best choice.

We didn’t want somebody who was just going to ship alerts to us and ask us to look into them. We wanted them to do that kind of filtering out for us and then only allow us to escalate when there was something that they really thought we needed to look at.

Partnering with SEP2 has strengthened our ability to protect both our people and our customers. Their collaborative approach and technical expertise have allowed us to enhance our security posture while giving our internal teams the freedom to focus on innovation and strategic priorities.

We knew we couldn’t do it on our own. We didn’t have the time, and we wanted additional expertise to guide us through the process. If we tried to do it ourselves, we’d probably spend a lot of time and effort in the wrong areas.

Emails take time, people miss them even for small things, and you can end up waiting weeks for a response. Having support through channels like Slack makes a real difference. SEP2’s flexibility around how we communicate is something I really value.

During the evaluation process it was clear to me that SEP2 were the strongest candidate from a technical standpoint. During our first meeting, their ability to give immediate solutions to ongoing issues we were experiencing at the time was a breath of fresh air.

SEP2 are knowledgeable, motivated and switched on; they take ownership and they have a drive for resolution. They know their stuff! They are not merely a firewall partner, they are a cyber security partner. They take a strategic approach. They are approachable and offer additional value outside of their support contract. Working with SEP2 means we are no longer fire-fighting; rather we can now take a step back and proactively get things sorted. SEP2 say they are tech driven and people powered, and that’s exactly what they are! It all comes down to the people you are dealing with.

When we hit the limits of our knowledge, it’s having SEP2 there to say, ‘Try these things first.’ That expertise on hand is really important to us.

You’re vendor agnostic, which is key for growth, and your team are providing really good insights in terms of the alerts raised. They also provide meaningful context behind them, which is great for us as an organisation,”

To have people like that around our account that we can pick the phone up to and ask questions was refreshing. Ultimately, we trusted SEP2 and we trust you with our cyber security.

Often the term used is ‘you can’t see the wood for the trees’. Most organisations implement security tooling tools and you’ve got different dashboards. The idea is you put them into a single place, and leverage expert resource such as the SEP2 SOC that actually understands that data and work with it on a daily basis. They can assess it case-by-case and escalate it back to us at Funding Circle only when necessary. And that whole process has been really, really smooth.

They are phenomenal: both personable and very knowledgeable. Our main contact is like a fountain of knowledge. If you ask him a question, he always comes back with ten answers – all the shades of grey, not just a ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ To me that shows the level of passion he has, and that he really wants to do things properly.

The original group of people who founded SEP2 were very deep in their knowledge of this type of technology, which can be complicated. It’s become the whole field of firewalls, intrusion prevention, antivirus, ransomware, etc. Cyber security as a whole has really ballooned, and there’s lots of dimensions to it, but you’ve managed to keep up.

They live and breathe the technology. It comes from the top, however, everyone is an expert within SEP2, from sales through to the service desk. We don’t want to wait to be told what more we can get from vendors’ products. SEP2 are great in pro-actively helping us achieve value-add solutions. They aren’t about chasing revenues, they are about providing best possible value.