SD-WAN and SASE: Essential for Secure Innovation and Remote Work
Company leaders are feeling the pressure: Now is the time to modernize IT or risk losing the company’s competitive edge. Accelerated demands in digital transformation and remote work have forced companies to upgrade their legacy networks and security systems so they can adequately support online services, cloud innovation, and artificial intelligence.
Two technologies are key in making these foundational upgrades: Software-Defined Network as a Service (SD-WAN) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). The SASE market will exceed $13B by 2026, a figure unscathed by economic pressures, according to Dell’Oro Group.
These interrelated tools make it faster, easier, and more affordable for businesses to securely connect offices and remote users to the applications and information they need to get work done. Moreover, SASE solutions package SD-WAN with four key security capabilities for comprehensive protection across the network, the public internet, and cloud applications.
While SD-WAN and SASE are praised for revolutionizing IT infrastructures, deployments trigger a wake of changes compounding complexity without the right management strategies in place.
Two technologies are key in making these foundational upgrades: Software-Defined Network as a Service (SD-WAN) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). The SASE market will exceed $13B by 2026, a figure unscathed by economic pressures, according to Dell’Oro Group.
These interrelated tools make it faster, easier, and more affordable for businesses to securely connect offices and remote users to the applications and information they need to get work done. Moreover, SASE solutions package SD-WAN with four key security capabilities for comprehensive protection across the network, the public internet, and cloud applications.
While SD-WAN and SASE are praised for revolutionizing IT infrastructures, deployments trigger a wake of changes compounding complexity without the right management strategies in place.
SD-WAN Requirements: In-depth Intelligence about Apps, Workloads, and Assets
One of the key advantages of SD-WAN is its ability to allocate network resources to the applications most important to the business. By prioritizing bandwidth, SD-WAN ensures the most critical tools are always up and running, because they “get fed first.” This feature is known as application-based routing, and establishing traffic steering policies is a primary step in designing how any SD-WAN solution will function.
But here lies the critical prerequisite: You can’t establish traffic steering policies if you don’t first have a prioritized list of all your applications ranked from highly critical to discretionary. This is key for SD-WAN readiness, because it serves as the blueprint for solution design.
Satisfying SD-WAN Requirements with Prioritized Assets and Centralized Management
To compile a list of prioritized applications, users, and corporate locations, you need deep visibility into the network. Technologies make that easy. Software used for network workload analysis, expense management, and Shadow IT discovery can help build network maps and a centralized catalog of applications, services, and connected devices and users. This intelligence is essential in giving precedence to each asset, as it helps companies understand what tools are used most, least, and whether they are sanctioned or unsanctioned by the IT department.
Using that data science, now you can get to the art of solution design – creating a SD-WAN connectivity strategy that balances the requirements of cloud app performance with the best priced connectivity type, albeit highly reliable (yet more costly) MPLS links or less reliable (yet more cost-effective) broadband and 5G wireless connections.
Beyond solution design, solution implementations can create other unexpected demands.
Satisfying SD-WAN Requirements with Prioritized Assets and Centralized Management
To compile a list of prioritized applications, users, and corporate locations, you need deep visibility into the network. Technologies make that easy. Software used for network workload analysis, expense management, and Shadow IT discovery can help build network maps and a centralized catalog of applications, services, and connected devices and users. This intelligence is essential in giving precedence to each asset, as it helps companies understand what tools are used most, least, and whether they are sanctioned or unsanctioned by the IT department.
Using that data science, now you can get to the art of solution design – creating a SD-WAN connectivity strategy that balances the requirements of cloud app performance with the best priced connectivity type, albeit highly reliable (yet more costly) MPLS links or less reliable (yet more cost-effective) broadband and 5G wireless connections.
Beyond solution design, solution implementations can create other unexpected demands.
ISPs:
Arguably the most desirable benefit of SD-WAN is the cost savings of trading costly MPLS connections for affordable connectivity types. Dedicated internet, public internet services, or 5G fixed wireless aren’t just for temporary connections and backups anymore, and IT leaders are quick to tell you they are relying more on the public internet today than ever before.
But there’s a catch!
Trading MPLS for broadband comes with the challenge of managing more providers. In order to capitalize on broadband savings across a wide geographical area, companies must add more regional internet service providers (ISPs). This move can mean switching from a one-carrier solution to tens if not hundreds of ISPs — all of which must be managed. From placing and tracking service orders to handling multiple contracts (not to mention multiple network service portal) it all generates complexity.
ISPs:
Arguably the most desirable benefit of SD-WAN is the cost savings of trading costly MPLS connections for affordable connectivity types. Dedicated internet, public internet services, or 5G fixed wireless aren’t just for temporary connections and backups anymore, and IT leaders are quick to tell you they are relying more on the public internet today than ever before.
But there’s a catch!
Trading MPLS for broadband comes with the challenge of managing more providers. In order to capitalize on broadband savings across a wide geographical area, companies must add more regional internet service providers (ISPs). This move can mean switching from a one-carrier solution to tens if not hundreds of ISPs — all of which must be managed. From placing and tracking service orders to handling multiple contracts (not to mention multiple network service portal) it all generates complexity.
Research firm Nemertes reports that nearly 46% of wide area network traffic is now devoted to reaching resources in the cloud, which reaffirms the importance of effective cloud service and expense management.
What’s at Risk? Costs Out of Control
IT modernization generates a sprawling landscape of tools and services and when not well managed, costs get out of control – including both hard and soft costs.
Without effectively managing the services surrounding SD-WAN and SASE, it’s nearly impossible to understand the cost of, or guarantee the performance of–much less the security of–the business’s technology investment. Without the right strategy, you cannot realize the value of your IT modernization effort.
SD-WAN & SASE: Effectively Managing All that They Entail
Centralized management approaches:
Data collection and cleanliness:
Accurate inventories of all IT assets and services (telecom, cloud, mobile devices) including detailed account information, service contracts, accounting and expense data, security requirements, and associated departments and users indexed by their title or role in the business
SD-WAN & SASE Cost Optimization:
The ability to leverage service usage data to validate SD-WAN telecom and security application costs so companies can identify underutilized resources, shed waste, consolidate redundant providers, and stop overpaying for IT services
Handling administration:
Working alongside network and security operations teams, dedicated asset management teams act as the caretaker of the tools and services the business needs
Strategic security improvements:
SD-WAN and SASE deployments typically start with network security initiatives, then branch out to cloud and endpoint security
Converged tools create converged teams:
When network, security, and financial data come together in a modernization initiative, leadership should also bring together like operational teams empowering them to manage the network, security, cloud, and endpoint devices as one interconnected ecosystem
Centralized management approaches:
Data collection and cleanliness:
Accurate inventories of all IT assets and services (telecom, cloud, mobile devices) including detailed account information, service contracts, accounting and expense data, security requirements, and associated departments and users indexed by their title or role in the business
SD-WAN & SASE Cost Optimization:
The ability to leverage service usage data to validate SD-WAN telecom and security application costs so companies can identify underutilized resources, shed waste, consolidate redundant providers, and stop overpaying for IT services
Handling administration:
Working alongside network and security operations teams, dedicated asset management teams act as the caretaker of the tools and services the business needs
Strategic security improvements:
SD-WAN and SASE deployments typically start with network security initiatives, then branch out to cloud and endpoint security
Converged tools create converged teams:
When network, security, and financial data come together in a modernization initiative, leadership should also bring together like operational teams empowering them to manage the network, security, cloud, and endpoint devices as one interconnected ecosystem
As the network and security come together and are joined by the cloud and mobile devices, it becomes more important to take a centralized approach to service management, addressing IT assets, expenses, and providers in one place. This is the only way to combat the complexity of SD-WAN and SASE.
Advanced technology solutions including both software and services can help alleviate the manual work of management. When teams aren’t prepared to take a do-it-yourself approach, outsourcing can take the workload off internal IT teams. IT expense and asset management services address network and telecom services, cloud infrastructure and SaaS applications, mobile devices, and more. They deliver benefits across several broad arenas:
IT and procurement leaders find the combined technical, operational, and strategic value of IT expense management solutions helpful.
Why Tangoe One with SD-WAN & SASE?
Tangoe helps companies of all sizes establish one platform where they can gain visibility and control across their telecom, cloud, and mobile services. With insights into the corporate ecosystem of providers, service usage data, and associated expenses, clients simplify the management of their IT environment while optimizing the cost of their technology investments.
This consolidated portal allows you to identify savings, maximize connectivity, and simplify the management of the end-to-end solution. As a result, you will save time and money.
Plus, Tangoe offers a 20% saving guarantee, and clients typically see triple-digit ROI in the first year.
