Notable benefits of SASE include technological convergence, scalability, improved IT efficiency, risk reduction, and enhanced remote access security.
However, reaping the benefits of SASE hinges on its strategic adoption by enterprises. The best practices of SASE adoption include establishing long-term goals, preparing for multi-cloud connectivity, focusing on secure branch networking, modernising applications, and tracking progress consistently. In short, SASE implementation calls for a strategical shift.
The good news is organisations can still implement its foundational elements swiftly and enhance them progressively. The essence of SASE lies in transformative change, and hence, it is not just revolutionary, but is evolutionary, as discussed in my previous blog.
Key challenges faced by organizations in their SASE implementation journey.
Carrying out SASE implementation relies heavily on how your IT and security teams are coordinated and your willingness or capacity to influence change alongside keeping up with the right harmony between your current and future network and security framework. There could be multiple challenges during the journey, some of the key ones are as below –
MSPs are the crucial partners in the SASE implementation journey.
While enterprises gradually explore the SASE framework and adopt, the enterprise I&O leadership must realise that managed SASE services are based on the convergence of managed security services, managed network services, and managed WAN services. For overseeing a unified SASE solution, these services should be provisioned by managing on-site assets and cloud-based services from a managed SASE service provider.
Given the evolution of SASE and the critical role of MSPs in its implementation and management, the ownership model has also seen a change.
“For effective SASE deployment, the decisions of enterprise leaders must be in perfect harmony.”
The CISOs and I&O Directors are the key decision makers and aim to improve security controls, achieve better agility and scalability, and build long-term resiliency. Enterprise Architects and CIOs are also important decision influencers as aligning tech investments with business objectives and charting a growth trajectory are their essential considerations. In such a scenario, MSPs assume greater responsibility of accommodating the needs of organisation stakeholders and delivering holistic, tailormade SASE solutions for optimal outcomes.
Multifaceted benefits of partnering with the right MSP in your SASE journey
SASE offers a range of benefits to organisations seeking a comprehensive and streamlined approach to network security and connectivity. Here are six key advantages of collaborating with a managed service provider for your SASE deployment and optimisation:
Ultimately, working with the right MSP helps in simplifying setup and management, offer specialised expertise, ensure cost savings, and provide flexible financial models. They ensure correct and up-to-date system configuration, address the challenge of finding skilled IT staff, and provide a seamless experience by integrating and tuning various technologies.
“A global provider can understand your scale, regulatory obligations, optimization, and holistic blueprint for the overall infrastructure, thus proposing the right implementation approach.”
With limitless potential, managed SASE service providers are poised to unlock value at scale and prove to be the mainstays of secured operations.
Looking forward
As we galvanise the future of technology-enabled work, SASE will be an essential component for future-thinking organisations. However, the path to implementation is fraught with challenges. In a recent survey conducted by Ecosystm2, almost 69% of the respondents noted that they expect their organisations to be affected by data breaches. It is thus paramount to choose the right MSP and forge a clearly thought-out partnership to optimise SASE.
In our next blog, we will delve deeper into most pertinent challenges on the path of SASE implementation and talk about the best practices to address them.
To learn more about how Tata Communications is helping enterprises achieve secure network transformation with SASE, click here.