SASE integrates network and security capabilities to improve application, end-user, and administrative experiences. It also allows organizations to improve security posture and support a remote and mobile workforce.
Data privacy and security are key factors when choosing a SASE solution. Look for a cloud-native SASE that complies with relevant laws and regulations and protects user privacy with transparent data processing practices.
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Flexibility
To reap the full benefits of SASE, look for a solution that incorporates unified traffic engineering with software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and security functions like CASB, firewall-as-a-service, and zero trust network access (ZTNA). This will enable you to optimize application performance, prevent costly downtime, and keep your organization’s operations running smoothly. With a global network of points of presence and low latency everywhere, SASE solutions offer the flexibility to support business needs as they grow. They also allow organizations to avoid the cost and complexity of deploying hardware on-site. Unlike traditional firewalls, which focus on secure perimeters, SASE solutions focus on users and devices, giving security and access control close to the user without compromising privacy or performance. This approach helps to ensure that only authorized users can access company resources, reducing risk and the attack surface. It can also be challenging to enforce consistent security policies across distributed locations and remote workers, but SASE solutions make managing corporate policies easy with a single interface. This provides consistency that reduces the risk of misconfigurations and security gaps, which attackers can exploit.
Real-time Visibility
In a network as complex and distributed as SASE, it’s essential to have real-time visibility into your application performance. This helps you identify issues that slow applications and reduces the time to resolve them. This is especially important when dealing with security incidents and optimizing your SASE architecture to improve performance. SASE can help by leveraging a software-defined vast area network (SD-WAN) that dynamically routes traffic across the most efficient paths. This provides better performance and lower latency for business-critical applications.
Additionally, SASE often incorporates security services like firewalls as a service, secure web gateways, data loss prevention, and threat detection. These services are delivered from the cloud, offering consistent protection regardless of network edge locations. Effective monitoring acts as your vigilant sentry and is the foundation for optimization. By analyzing your monitoring insights, you can take proactive steps to fine-tune your SASE architecture and ensure peak performance and security. This includes identifying performance bottlenecks, fortifying security measures, and improving remote and mobile user experience. Doing so can create a seamless and immersive business experience for everyone.
Detailed Logging
Using network monitoring, you can assess the performance of your SASE architecture and identify issues. With this, your architecture could be protected from security breaches and costly performance bottlenecks.
Full logging capabilities ensure your teams can quickly pinpoint the source of an issue and mitigate it before users even realize their experience is degrading. Furthermore, because SASE runs in the cloud, changes can be implemented quickly, minimizing the risk of hardware failure or security breaches. SASE integrates networking and security services into a unified cloud-based platform with a zero-trust security model that reduces deployment and management complexities. It uses a global network of points of presence (PoPs) to lower latency, manage bandwidth congestion, and eliminate network bottlenecks for secure remote access. As a result, organizations can realize streamlined IT operations efficiencies and cost savings. This includes a move away from expensive on-premise hardware and software to a subscription-based model that aligns costs with usage. This enables IT to reinvest resources into other security measures like advanced threat detection systems, personnel training, and more.
Scalability
Elevating user experience without compromising security requires a modern network that can monitor and optimize user performance. A SASE architecture combines SD-WAN with modern security tools such as cloud access security brokers (CASB) and zero trust networking access (ZTNA). SASE networks are inherently cloud-native, which makes them highly flexible, scalable, and accessible. They also leverage a global fabric of points of presence (PoPs) that reduce latency across the globe. This makes them ideal for remote and mobile users and offers the scalability to address growing user demands. The scalability of SASE also allows organizations to scale resources up or down as needed and eliminates the need for on-premise hardware infrastructure. In addition, it enables organizations to leverage strategic integrations to streamline IT operations and improve business efficiency. However, implementing a SASE architecture can be complex due to its multifaceted functionality. Effectively securing remote and mobile users, monitoring SASE performance and availability, and addressing security incidents can be challenging for IT teams without the right tools.
Cost-Effectiveness
Despite the many benefits of SASE, the initial investment can be a hurdle for some teams. It is essential to understand that the ROI of SASE varies by organization and use case. Teams should identify their primary ROI metric and two additional supporting ROI items relevant to their business. The key to a cost-effective SASE architecture is to monitor and optimize it. Effective monitoring enables organizations to identify performance bottlenecks and make the necessary adjustments. The result is an automated, data-driven process of continuous improvement that ensures peak performance and security. In addition, SASE reduces hardware costs by delivering internet access through global points of presence (PoPs) instead of the corporate network. This reduces latency and provides users with a similar experience, regardless of location. It allows enterprises to right-size circuit bandwidth and realize significant savings with service providers. This can dramatically lower the overall cost of operations. Lastly, SASE eliminates the need to maintain and support multiple hardware devices, significantly reducing capital expenses (CapEx).
