SASE: Rethink network & security architectures for modern work

How people work has evolved. Organizations must take into account how people work today when planning investments in infrastructure, architectures, time required to deliver new digital services, etc. By adapting to changes businesses will create a positive impact on the indicators of business success. Businesses need to rethink network and security architectures in order to meet the requirements of the modern working landscape.

See also: Your business is changing. Can your IT keep up? 

3 ways the work landscape has changed

1. Increased adoption of SaaS applications

According to Gartner, there has been a 34% increase in spending on SaaS applications between the years 2020 and 2022, globally. SaaS applications are being increasingly used for both personal and professional use. People have come to expect customer-grade experience from such applications. They expect fast access, irrespective of the application being used or their current physical location.

2. An increase in remote working

A survey conducted in June 2022 revealed that 70% of employees would like to continue working from home, for two days a week, even after Covid-19 is no longer a concern. The pandemic forced many organizations to introduce work from home as an option for employees and test its effectiveness. Remote working was already on the rise even before the pandemic and will be here to stay. The same survey also identified that difficulty with collaboration is one of the key reasons for the loss of productivity among remote workers. Hence, it should come as no surprise that many organizations are planning to invest significantly in providing a better mobile experience to employees for work applications and data.

3. More serious security threats

The average total cost of a data breach is USD 3.8 million. Most data breaches are carried out maliciously by bad actors and are not the result of human error or system glitches. Over the past year, cybercriminals have gotten more innovative, ambitious, and aggressive. Businesses need to update their security systems and architectures to keep up with bad actors. This can help prevent financial loss, and retain employee and customer trust.

What’s needed from modern security architectures?

Organizations need to put into place network and security architectures that are capable of supporting secure, fast, and consistent access to various cloud applications by all types of workers, including those working remotely. The hub and spoke architecture that most businesses have in place were designed for a time when applications were being used on-premise or by workers at a branch. Employees connected to these applications from secured terminals via WANs. These legacy security systems aren’t capable of meeting the requirements of how people work today.

In this whitepaper, Citrix explains the need for SASE (secure access service edge) systems. Download to learn more about SASE, common challenges businesses face, the benefits of a SASE, and how Citrix can help.