Research shows that by 2024, at least 40 percent of enterprises will have explicit strategies to adopt SASE, up from less than one percent at year-end 2018 2. Even more resounding, “the SASE market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 116 per cent, attaining a market value of $5.1 billion by 2024,” according to the Dell’Oro Group.
Research by TMT Consulting, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, was commissioned by Verizon Business to understand business drivers, key decision-making criteria, deployment types, barriers and key learnings from executives involved in evaluating and deploying SASE/ZTNA in their organisation across Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The research revealed three primary ZTNA/SASE benefit groups: business, user, and security operations (SecOps). Key business benefits included strengthened cybersecurity capabilities, edge-to-edge, borderless protection, cost savings and improved support for virtual workers 3.
Why adopting SASE is your smartest move
The trend of moving applications to the cloud has significantly accelerated the uptake of SASE. We saw this explode following the pandemic, where the workforce was rapidly decentralised, pushing businesses to ensure their IT infrastructure was agile to accommodate multi-location use.
Several major benefits can emerge when adopting a SASE strategy, including reduced network costs, the support of cloud enterprise security versus on-premises security, and the ability to blend network and security functions as one.
Key considerations for businesses adopting a SASE management strategy to replace legacy-based networking solutions include:
- SASE incorporates a smarter, more automated SD WAN offering, with critical network security services provided by a secure web gateway and zero-trust network access.
- SASE offers the advantage of a simplified management and policy enforcement for all users and devices across a business network. For those working with teams including Verizon's Network Operations Centre and Security Operations Centre teams, SASE also enables better management for third parties.
- Edge-to-edge computing improves data security by reducing the amount of data transmitted and processed in the cloud or premise?, keeping sensitive data on user devices, and reducing the risk of data compromise.
- The overarching organisational benefit of SASE is better scalability and network security - that is, the ability to easily scale the network and properly protect enterprise use, as well as corporate data.
SASE: a breakdown of the five key aspects
The future of SASE looks bright, and the framework is here to stay. The five key SASE features that can contribute to a thriving enterprise when replacing legacy-based networking solutions are:
- Reduced systems complexity and integration headaches for increased agility, rapid and secure cloud adoption and innovative digital business relationships where data, apps and services can more easily and securely be shared with partners.
- Centralised, dynamic, role-based policies that streamline operating across network and security driven workflows.
- Delivery of more granular access for security decisions based on identity and application, rather than sole reliance on perimeter-focused security.
- Simplified IT infrastructure with reduced security-product sprawl and the related management overhead.
- Shift away from hardware point products to applications on a single, cloud-based, virtualised platform that reduces capex costs and IT resource demand while enhancing scalability and agility.
Collaborating with Verizon to ensure SASE is the right fit
Flexibility and customisation are important elements when creating and delivering SASE services. Verizon runs SASE workshops with our clients to gauge their current and preferred cybersecurity and cloud-application posture, which will help understand whether SASE is a good fit for them, now and in the future.
To find out how to fit SASE services into your organisational operations, contact us today.
