Why SASE Is the Key to a Secure Hybrid Workforce

The rise in hybrid work models has fundamentally transformed the way organizations approach network security and connectivity, making secure access service edge (SASE) increasingly important to any business’s success.

A recent Forbes survey reported 84% of companies now have a hybrid workforce and consider it to be a key part of their talent strategy, allowing for greater flexibility in hiring and more diversity.

As organizations shift to accommodate this growing trend, they must be prepared for the security, scalability, performance and compliance challenges hybrid work brings with it.

These challenges make SASE crucial to any organization hoping to maintain a competitive edge; not only does SASE address these issues, it provides a modern, cloud-centric approach to network and security architecture that aligns with the distributed nature of hybrid work environments.

SASE combines sophisticated SD-WAN technology with a cloud-delivered security stack — secure service edge (SSE) — to provide end-to-end connectivity, security, visibility and insight to organizations. This covers your users’ traffic from endpoint to endpoint, from the local network all the way into the cloud, until it reaches the public Internet, SaaS apps or private applications.

This means your organization gains visibility across all devices, networks and apps, including your Internet of Things (IoT) devices. And with the analytics SASE can help you gather, you’ll be able to detect issues easily and quickly pinpoint the root causes.

When a potential threat is detected, SASE also allows for AI and network automation tools that can trigger security policy enforcement.

Additionally, implementing SASE can alleviate your organization's IT workload in the following ways:

• Eliminate physical firewalls at branches: Since the security stack moves to the cloud and is consumed as Software as a Service, you have no inventory and hardware upgrades to fret over.
• Leverage multiple ISPs: SD-WAN enables you to use multiple ISPs at the same time, reducing business downtime due to circuit issues.
• No more manual site-to-site VPN configuration: SD-WAN builds VPNs on demand, and thanks to automation, enables self-healing WAN, providing a consistent user experience for any user.

Historically, security teams have not always worked closely with networking teams. In the old days, the networking team’s job was to build the highway. As long as traffic was going 100 miles per hour with no traffic jams, they were doing their job.

The security team’s job, on the other hand, was to create security checkpoints to make sure traffic was going where they were allowed to go and that there was no illegal cargo in their vehicles.

The two teams’ separate responsibilities, skill sets and technologies could sometimes lead to friction — even more as the silos between the two teams became ingrained in organizational structures and processes.

SASE uses zero-trust network access (ZTNA) architecture to build the highways point-to-point between a user and an app on-demand, once the user’s access has been authorized. Before they reach the highway, their vehicle is checked by security measures. And once the user is finished, the highway is torn down, reducing the attack surface.

Every organization’s needs are different. The type of SASE deployment you use will depend on the size of your business, the IT infrastructural complexity, your regulatory requirements and your strategic priorities.

Unified SASE: In this deployment model, all edge networking and security functions are delivered as a service from a single provider. This includes capabilities such as SD-WAN and ZTNA. Unified SASE allows organizations to leverage the scalability, flexibility and cost efficiencies of the cloud while improving security and simplifying management.

Hybrid SASE: Hybrid SASE deployments combine cloud-delivered security services with on-premises networking capabilities. Organizations with specific regulatory compliance requirements, legacy systems or a distributed network architecture may find this model more suitable for its balance between agility and control.

Lite-branch SASE: Also known as the “Coffeeshop model,” organizations thinking of reducing their networking footprint and reducing expensive internet circuits may opt for this approach. Once a branch is connected to a SASE cloud — which is provided by a third-party vendor — all users get application access and security check.

SSE only SASE: For organizations that have no SD-WAN needs, they may choose to implement SSE only. It leverages ZTNA and helps secure access to the web, cloud services and private applications. Capabilities include access control, threat protection, data security, security monitoring and acceptable-use control enforced by network-based and API-based integration. SSE is delivered as a cloud-based service.

Finding the right provider for your SASE deployment is critical.

From assessment of your organization’s unique needs to implementation or even management, CDW can help you on your SASE journey.

The first step is an advisory workshop. CDW will work with you to understand your business and technical requirements and provide you with a vendor comparison, so you know you’re picking the best SASE vendor for your needs.

CDW will be there every step of the way, helping you to configure, pilot and roll-out your new SASE solution, provide best practices and walk you through adopting newly released features for your current SASE solution. If you need to alleviate your IT staff’s workload, CDW can take over the day-to-day operations or co-manage a SASE solution with you.

Our world-class partnerships ensure you’ll always get the right SASE solution for the best price.