As hybrid work, cloud-first infrastructures and edge computing become standard, IT leaders are facing a fundamental shift in the design of network and security architecture. Employees expect seamless access from anywhere, data must be agile and scalable, and enterprise footprints are increasingly global. These dynamics are pushing the pace of change as traditional perimeter-based models fail to meet expectations for risk management and employee experience. Forward-thinking IT organizations are recognizing that a cloud-native security approach is not only simpler and more scalable, it’s essential for protecting today’s distributed workforce and ensuring operational resilience.
Enter Secure Access Service Edge. SASE converges WAN and various network security services into a single, unified, cloud-delivered solution. The goal is to provide secure, seamless access to applications, regardless of where users or workloads are located.
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What’s Driving SASE Adoption?
Real business outcomes delivered by SASE:
- Predictable user experience: The debate over whether it’s “better” for employees to work remotely or onsite is beside the point. Businesses need employees to work from anywhere, and employees expect the same seamless, consistent access experience wherever they are. SASE enables this by enforcing consistent, uniform access and security policies across all user locations.
- Improve risk and cost management: With users, devices and applications dispersed across geographies and clouds, SASE simplifies the sprawl by consolidating tools into a single, manageable framework to deliver simplified operations and improve cost management.
- Increase agility: Few businesses today manage workloads entirely on premises. SASE provides direct-to-cloud connections with built-in security enabling accelerated cloud adoption, a strengthening of compliance efforts, and a future-ready framework aligning with zero-trust principles.
Rather than allowing broad network access based on location or device, SASE solutions are built on zero-trust principles, authenticating users and devices continuously, reducing the risk of a breach and stopping lateral movement when a breach does occur. Instead of exposing internal resources to anyone on the network, zero trust brokers secure, identity-based access to specific applications.
Organizations adopting SASE also benefit from improved performance, as direct connections to the cloud reduce latency, and provide easier management and improved scalability. With SASE, enterprises can apply a single set of security and access policies across users, devices and locations. This centralized governance simplifies compliance and reduces risk, particularly in regulated industries such as finance and healthcare.
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Challenges to SASE Adoption
Gartner predicted that at least 60% of enterprises would by now have explicit strategies and timelines for SASE adoption, up from just 10% in 2020. The reason is clear: As workforces remain distributed and applications continue to move to the cloud, the demand for scalable, intelligent and cloud-native security architectures will only continue to grow.
However, SASE isn’t a plug-and-play solution. Organizations must assess their current infrastructure, identity management maturity and cloud strategies to determine the right implementation path. Technology provider selection is also critical. While many providers now claim to offer SASE, capabilities can vary widely. Enterprises should look for solutions that are truly integrated, not just bundled, and that offer strong visibility, threat protection and identity integration.
This is where partnering with an experienced adviser can help to inform your choices. The best partner has deep knowledge of all of the relevant vendors while maintaining vendor neutrality to prioritize your organization’s needs. If you haven’t yet deployed a SASE-based approach to your security, it’s probably time to do so. But first, make sure you’re talking to experienced experts who have your best interests at heart
