Enterprises are being forced to embrace the concept of “adapt to survive” as global geopolitical and economic volatility shows no signs of letting up. The responsiveness that today’s businesses need to thrive, however, is hamstrung by slow and complex legacy networks and security systems that harbor dangerous vulnerabilities. So what’s the problem with legacy models, and how does SASE solve these issues?
Enterprises Are Targeting Agility and Efficiency to Thrive
As global volatility and uncertainty increases, enterprises need to be able to adapt rapidly to new challenges and fresh market opportunities.
At a macro level, for example, just look at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (which turned working patterns and customer demand upside down) and the Ukraine war (which disrupted supply chains and drove up inflation globally).
At an industry level, businesses might need to respond to a competitor that has a better-priced or more attractive offering, or new regulatory burdens, or consumers using products or services in unexpected ways that highlight new market opportunities.
Many firms are responding by making investments in automation, AI, and other technologies to help them become more efficient and more responsive to threats and opportunities.
However, the complexity and ungainliness of legacy networks are strangling these ambitions. Half of organizations believe their networks are not ready to support new technology initiatives, and 94% of organizations report that their networks limit their ability to run large data and AI projects, with scalability and performance as the top culprits.
Legacy Security Doesn’t Cut It Anymore
Legacy networks were designed to keep everything inside the perimeter of the enterprise network secure. This approach made sense when employees, applications and data could all be found within a few corporate locations, but those days are gone for most organizations.
The majority of enterprises have shifted at least some of their services, data and apps into the cloud, and many are now relying on potentially vulnerable APIs to share data with customers, partners and suppliers.
Nearly one in four (23%) employees work remotely for some or all of their job. Add in the rise of mobile and IoT devices, and the outcome is that enterprise networks don’t have a clear perimeter anymore — and a lot more vulnerabilities.
This not only makes traditional security approaches ineffective but also makes securely enabling any kind of change difficult, complex, and time-consuming.
Today’s Security Arena Is Tougher Too
Bad actors are taking full advantage of this situation — organizations experienced an average of 1,876 cyberattacks in Q3 2024, an increase of 75% over the same period in 2023.
AI is also providing cybercriminals with powerful new tools that make attacks quicker and more sophisticated, and that are more effective at finding the weak spots of traditional networking architectures and security solutions.
The consequences of these attacks can be staggering. In the U.S., the average cost of a data breach in 2024 was $9.36 million dollars, and 43% of organizations lost existing customers because of cyberattacks. Ineffective security also makes it more difficult for organizations to achieve essential regulatory compliance.
A new approach is needed — one that protects people, data, and apps wherever they are, and also creates a foundation for the flexibility that competitive businesses need to thrive. That’s where SASE can help.
SASE: A New Networking and Security Model
Secure access service edge (SASE) is a cloud architecture model that combines:
- Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), which centralizes and automates network management
- A suite of network security functions, including zero-trust network access (ZTNA), firewall as a service (FWaaS), secure web gateways (SWGs), and cloud access security brokers (CASBs)
This allows organizations to manage networking and security functions as part of a single centralized platform, and to provide secure access to cloud, applications, data, and the internet, wherever these resources and the people using them are located.
A zero-trust approach is a much more effective way of securing today’s enterprise networks, as it denies access to organizational resources by default and only provides users with access to the systems, applications, and information that their roles allow.
Users must be continuously authenticated, so it’s difficult for cyberattackers to remain undetected. It’s also harder for bad actors to move laterally through the network if they gain entry, dramatically reducing the impact of breaches.
Not only does this approach significantly strengthen an organization’s security posture, it also creates an environment where network and security infrastructure reacts faster and more flexibly to the demands of the business.
Users can connect seamlessly wherever they’re working, and new applications, XaaS services, and connected devices can be more easily employed without compromising network security.
Business changes — like opening new locations, rolling out new products and services, or adopting bandwidth-heavy technologies such as AI — can be supported quickly and without the excessive complexity that holds the business back from exploiting these opportunities.
The Benefits of SASE, at a Glance
- Centralized network and security visibility and management
- Simpler and less resource-intensive network and security operations
- Consistent security policies and more robust protection against cyberthreats
- Better network performance and superior support for applications that need low latency and high reliability
- A more responsive network infrastructure with greater scalability
Skills Are a Major Barrier
It’s no surprise, given these benefits, that 43% of organizations are making SASE adoption a top priority. Finding the right expertise to achieve this is a significant challenge, however, with 41% of organizations saying they struggle to find or retain cybersecurity skills, and 39% reporting that networking skills are a problem.
AI may be proving itself as a critical tool in the fight against bad actors, but one-third of global organizations have identified a lack of skills as the biggest barrier to AI usage.
No wonder, then, that organizations are turning to external partners for help, with 45% expecting to bridge the networking skills gap through greater use of third parties, and 37% seeking help with cybersecurity from their technology partners.
Managed service providers can take on the burden of effectively managing the network, keeping security up to date, and maintaining relevant skills. This allows enterprises to maintain a robust security posture and the most effective network performance, while freeing up internal staff to focus on other areas.
Resilience and Flexibility Are Critical in an Unstable World
If volatility is the new normal, then organizations must build an infrastructure that allows them to adjust rapidly to the unexpected if they’re to survive. SASE provides a foundation for enterprises to react just as quickly to new opportunities as to new threats — and to do so without compromising on business-critical security.