As organizations look to extend enterprise-class networks to remote and hybrid workers, vendors are touting as-a-service network models as the strategic fix to managing these increasingly complex cloud environments, according to Netskope Field CTO Gerry Plaza.

Secure access service edge (SASE), Gartner’s framework for a cloud-delivered convergence of networking and security, is “ideal” for the as-a-service consumption model, as it enables enterprises to rapidly deploy services without having to build infrastructure themselves, Plaza said.

The first step to SASE, he added, “is to take no particular step at all,” but to evaluate existing network infrastructure. Now more than ever, enterprises are reviewing their network and security infrastructure because of “the idea that users and our applications and our data are no longer centrally located.”

“I think a big thing that's happening right now is a validation of the current infrastructure stack that all customers have,” Plaza told SDxCentral. “They're looking across their environment for their infrastructure that's in place and asking if it’s the right thing for the scenarios and the use cases that their customers and their applications are currently living in.”

Cost reduction comes through efficiency and consolidation, which has become a driving force for enterprises to pursue network and security transformation as legacy infrastructure and tools become inefficient or altogether obsolete in a cloud-based world.

Netskope Digital and Information Officer Mike Anderson previously pointed out the industry has “been in an environment where mergers and acquisitions have been at an all time high,” which he said has led to tool redundancy for many organizations. “What you have is a lot of technical debt, you have a lot of complexity, and so there's a consolidation opportunity that people are looking at,” he said.

Enterprises can pursue consolidation through SASE first and foremost by looking across their landscape for overlapping tools that waste cost, Plaza explained. It’s the technical debt that “really drags a lot of companies down.”

“First start with your gaps and plug the gaps," he said. "Once you get your gaps plugged then you can start to take a look at the evolution of your existing infrastructure to consolidate and evolve those to the next-generation platforms so that you can continuously enhance and drive a journey toward removing your technical debt.”

Despite growing interest and demand for SASE services, many are late to the game in adoption. Plaza attributes this largely to an outdated way of thinking within enterprise teams.

“A reason why a lot of companies don't take the step or they're late to the game and taking a step is because of the people. You've got to change the people and mentality first, which is one of the most detrimental things to any company,” he said. “The landscape, the environment, the industry has changed and we no longer have the luxury of doing it the old way.”

Once people understand the value of moving in the SASE direction, transformation becomes a more ingrained process that pervades entire companies. And this mentality shift needs to start from the top, Plaza noted.

“You’ve got to have the CIO, the CISO, and the VPs of infrastructure come together with a combined goal. And that's really the driving factor behind SASE: ensuring that network and security are working together as a single unit,” he said. “With the CEO and CIOs working as the economic champions at the top, they need to ensure that they're forcing the same combined goals of delivering the business value to both sides of what we consider the the landscape of an organization.”