The Five Reasons Businesses Need SASE

Security of business data is at the top of every leader’s mind, especially when their data is managed by cloud-based applications. Integrating security within a solution is a new strategy that SD-WAN and security systems vendors are creating to meet business connectivity needs. Gartner (News - Alert) dubs this convergence of SD-WAN and network security with a cloud-based management system as Secure Access Service Edge, or SASE, and estimates, the market for SASE will grow at a CAGR of 42% between now and 2024, targeting $11 billion.

Why are solution providers driving down an integrated approach? Is it not better to have the flexibility of choosing best in breed solutions for areas that concern the business? Let’s look at how SASE brings five crucial capabilities together that optimizes and simplifies secure connectivity for any business to answer those questions.

Powerful Security Capabilities at the Edge: Since SASE enforcement sits in the network endpoints, it is in a prime location for providing enhanced network security features. To continuously ensure network security, an enterprise needs capability beyond encryption and next-generation firewalls. The addition of security features like zero-trust network access and content inspection in an integrated solution provides the tight security that businesses need to thwart malware and to protect sensitive content of the users from prying eyes. Deploying these security features at the edge offers the right next step in creating a flexible network that can also satisfy business security needs.

Everywhere-Secured Connectivity with Centralized Control: By centralizing the control and management of security functions with the automated connectivity provided by SD-WAN, businesses can have easy-to-manage, secure connectivity on all sites – from the headquarters facility to remote workers who are in their home office. No longer is telecommuting an employment perk; the at-home worker is commonplace and proven to work over the past several months, driven by the ability to provide good-quality connectivity that can support secure links. The cloud-based implementation of SASE with SD-WAN powers the ability to securely connect all employees of a business at all times wherever they are. SASE’s centralized solution can help companies utilize safe and secure connectivity for all employees.

Integration Reduces Complexity: The integrated approach to SASE is likely its biggest benefit. Instead of needing power and cabling at each edge site for the security devices and appliances, the router, and the management station, SASE brings these components into a single device, reducing site complexity. By deploying connectivity with unified security that can be controlled and managed in the cloud also helps the business implement a consistent security strategy across all teams, systems, and locations that can eliminates incremental security tools and appliances. This approach will improve the business’s bottom line by lowering OPEX (News - Alert) costs over the long term, as there are fewer devices to power, monitor, and troubleshoot.                                                                                                            

Higher Performing Cloud Native Processing Improves Scaling and Performance: Today’s real-time applications need high performing connections from the network, and security does not always cut it. Traditional security methods employ VPNs, which increase latency and impede the application performance, and the last thing a business needs is to struggle with security-induced network delays. Many SASE solutions leverage microservice-based cloud native processing that provide automated scaling of processes to meet the computationally intense security functions in the solution. Businesses that use solutions built with cloud native principles are sure to see secure connections that provide faster, safer connections between sites and to cloud-based applications.

More Efficient Operations Lowers Costs: In addition to lower energy bills, the reduction in on-site equipment means less CAPEX for the business. The integrated model that leverages centralized control and management can also provide for innovative distributed use cases for efficient and secure connectivity. Instead of the traditional hub-and-spoke infrastructure that lacks the flexibility to adapt quickly, CIOs can leverage the cloud-managed SD-WAN to quickly configure new connections between sites, add new locations, or augment capacity by aggregating ISP links from different ISPs without having deploy incremental security devices. The benefits of fast scaling while not needing additional appliances and wired connections provides the power to expand quickly and securely without dipping into CAPEX funds. 

The Result - Better Experiences – From the benefits of ease of use for the IT team to the perceived performance improvement by end-users and network teams, it appears that all departments in an enterprise can reap benefits from deploying SASE. Astute business leaders know that simpler architectures are easy to manage and can provide a consistent end-user experience everywhere for all users across all devices. Business, security, and operations leaders will agree that cloud-based security of cloud-controlled connectivity can increase the effectiveness of their teams when using a cohesive, simplified system.