SASE is not zero-sum. It is not about my favorite vendor vs. your favorite vendor. Keep in mind that technology is a tool. It is a mechanism that helps the business move forward securely. Since SASE lives at the intersection of network and security, when selecting a tool, there are going to be tradeoffs. You must be willing to see the larger picture here. Continuing down a path of point tools, for example, one for the WAN, one for CASB, one for DLP and one for network acceleration, is what got us here.
Maintaining this approach will not move us forward. It just sets us back. It is also maintenance intensive, complex, expensive and leads, ultimately, to poor security outcomes. The point here is, when selecting a SASE provider, both security and networking are not going to get everything they want. You have to be willing to compromise. And the more interesting part is, in my experience, engineers from both sides get stuck on something small and niche. For networking, it could be the whether or not the vendor supports all the legacy routing protocols. For the security engineer, it might be a particular feature of the CASB solution. To move forward, you need to lens out. Don’t get stuck on a feature that is not a requirement. Be willing to accept you won’t get every item on your checklist. Rather, focus on the bigger picture.
4. Focus on Experience
Always keep the user experience in mind. Adopt the mindset of a customer service agent. You are there to help the customer, which in your case is the end user, your fellow employees. When reviewing a product, be ruthless about performance, be focused on how your customer will feel when using the product and be their advocate. I’ve seen far too many solutions deployed without the input of the end user. Instead, the focus was on the technology and how it will help security or networking. Then, it was deployed.
The early feedback was, “this is difficult, this is slowing me down, I hate having to click on this tool every day.” If your customers have a negative experience, they will find ways around it. Or worse, they are going to ask their superiors for an exemption to turn off the tool. A recent client I spoke with has deployed a secure web gateway, which exhibited poor performance. The feedback was strongly negative. Right now, leadership just turns it off or uses a BYOD device when possible. This is a great example of a team not focused on the user experience. Security, to be successful, must also be usable. Or better yet, as frictionless as possible. Be the champion of your customers!
5. Learn Finance
This is a superpower. It is surprising how many in IT do not understand finance. Terms like net present value, depreciation, CapEx and OpEx. If packets power a network, finance is the river that runs the company. Taking the time to understand and be able to speak the language of finance for IT and, more importantly, security engineers is a great unlock. It places you in the seat to tell the story for why investing in this technology will lead to a positive business outcome. Walking up to a finance person and discussing how many security features a tool has will quickly end a meeting.
Walking up to a finance person and discussing the need for a tool in financial terms will lead to approval. Why is this critical for SASE? The journey to SASE requires tool consolidation. It could be a firewall, a VPN concentrator or an IPS device. You will need to understand how finance is treating them.
Where are they on the books? Is the device categorized as CapEx or OpEx? Is it depreciated? Understanding this will help in developing your roadmap to SASE not just from a technology standpoint but also from a financial standpoint. As SASE replaces these devices, you need to know the how but also the when. If your roadmap calls for the replacement of the CASB in year one of your plan, but the asset is still 18 months from full depreciation, your plan is unlikely to gain approval. Understand both the technology and the finance aspects when planning your journey to SASE!
How has your experience been on the road to SASE? Have the discussed skills helped? Share with us on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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