Australia's largest equipment hire company moved from ad hoc security communications to an automated, measurable phishing simulation and training program built for a nationwide workforce.
Coates is Australia's largest equipment hire and solutions provider. The company supports customers across construction, infrastructure, mining, engineering, manufacturing, agriculture, and major events, providing reliable, safe, and productive solutions at scale.
With more than 145 branches, almost 2,000 employees, and a customer base of over 16,000 organizations, Coates combines a nationwide equipment fleet with specialist engineering, industrial, power, and HVAC solutions.
Daniel Babaian works in Security Operations within Coates' Cyber Security & Risk team. His responsibilities include day-to-day security operations and the configuration and management of endpoint controls through Microsoft Intune and Defender.
The core team consists of three full-time employees: the Head of Cyber Security & Risk, a Governance and Compliance Analyst, and Daniel in Security Operations. Together, they are responsible for maturing Coates' security posture, reducing exploitable vulnerabilities, strengthening identity and access controls, and building a more security-aware workforce.
Coates' Cyber Security & Risk team supports a broad technology environment spanning Azure, Microsoft 365, SaaS, PaaS, and on-premises systems, with more than 3,000 assets under its remit.
Its security roadmap includes progressing toward ASD Essential Eight Maturity Level 2 while managing several operational challenges:
Before implementing Right-Hand, Coates did not have an active, consistent phishing simulation and training program. Phishing simulation activity had lapsed, and security awareness relied primarily on one-off communications.
"Security awareness was ad hoc and reactive. We had no consistent way to measure or improve how our people respond to phishing threats."
Daniel Babaian, Security Operations, CoatesThe challenge was not simply to restart phishing simulations. Coates needed to establish a structured, measurable program without creating additional manual work for an already lean security team.
Coates evaluated Right-Hand as part of its FY26 security operations roadmap and broader SOC migration planning. It became the company's first dedicated phishing simulation and human risk management platform.
Right-Hand's phishing simulation capabilities and security awareness training library gave Coates a foundation for moving from reactive communications to an ongoing program with repeatable processes and measurable outcomes.
The initial implementation involved completing the required technical whitelisting and configuration steps. Coates also worked through the integration requirements for connecting training completion data with its SuccessFactors learning management system.
"Having clear documentation and support for the technical whitelisting and configuration steps made the initial setup straightforward. Ongoing support with simulation campaigns and training content has helped us run the program with a lean team."
Daniel Babaian, Security Operations, CoatesFor Daniel, the connection between simulations and immediate learning is one of the platform's most valuable capabilities.
"The ability to run realistic, automated phishing simulations and immediately route users who click into relevant training is what we love about the platform."
Daniel Babaian, Security Operations, CoatesRight-Hand was one of the first components of Coates' new security operations model to go live.
Although the company is still establishing its baseline metrics, the immediate operational impact is already clear. Coates has moved from having no active phishing simulation program to running a structured and repeatable simulation and training cycle.
As its baseline develops, Coates plans to track phishing simulation click rates and training completion rates as part of its broader security KPIs. This will allow the team to demonstrate progress and identify where further intervention is required.
For Coates, the value of Right-Hand comes from combining realistic simulations, immediate training, and measurable human risk data in a program that a three-person security team can manage.
The platform reduces the operational burden of building campaigns manually while helping Coates deliver training to the employees who need it most. Ongoing support with simulation campaigns and training content further extends the capacity of the internal team.
"For a team of our size, having a platform that automates simulation campaigns and delivers targeted training is far more efficient than trying to build and manage that process manually. It lets us run a mature awareness program without needing to add headcount."
Daniel Babaian, Security Operations, CoatesThe connection between Right-Hand and Coates' SuccessFactors LMS also makes training results visible beyond the security team, giving the broader business a clearer view of program participation.
"We connect the program with our LMS so training completions are tracked and visible to the business, not just the security team."
Daniel Babaian, Security Operations, CoatesRight-Hand helps organizations build workforce resilience against phishing, deepfake vishing, and AI-powered social engineering. The Right-Hand Human Risk Management Platform brings together phishing and vishing simulations, behavior-driven security awareness training, human risk intelligence, and integrations with the wider security ecosystem. By turning human risk signals into targeted interventions and measurable learning, Right-Hand helps security teams reduce risk without adding unnecessary operational burden. People are not the problem. They are the solution. Learn more at right-hand.ai.
