54% Indian Enterprises To Adopt SASE With SD-Branch & ZTNA: IDC

More than 54 per cent of large* organisations in India aim to install SD-Branch and ZTNA as part of a SASE adoption effort, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).

With the adoption of multi-cloud and multi-device environments, as well as remote work support, "we are moving beyond the limitations of basic working styles, and we face the risk of expanding attack surfaces.," says IDC.

With conventional network and security architectures in place, securing its remote employees has become difficult, especially with the proliferation of gadgets. With hackers pursuing multi-vector tactics to target organisations, it is critical to embrace the notion of network and security convergence, also known as secure access service edge (SASE), it said.

SASE is a hybrid of Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) and Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) that combines network and security capabilities to be offered on a single, unified cloud-native architecture, enabling security not only at the traffic flow but also by considering each asset as an identity,it added.

"Adoption of SASE-as-a-service model leads to exemplary business benefits. Enterprises can increase focus on technology innovations by outsourcing network and security management, reduce business and security risk of using multiple clouds, fasten innovation by accelerating cloud adoption, provide predictable application experience in line with the evolution of business strategy, reduce TCO of network and security operations, and much more," says Sakshi Grover, research manager, future of trust and work, IDC India.

According to the findings of the IDC, India Digital Transformation Survey, 2022, 77.8 per cent of enterprises in the BFSI vertical have already implemented solutions and policies enabling software-defined perimeter, 52.2 per cent are considering adopting and investing in SD-Branch components, and 54.4 per cent are planning to implement a zero-trust network architecture and invest in related security solutions.

"The implementation of SASE is driven by the increasing trend of remote work and cloud adoption, as it provides organizations with a unified solution for secure access and protection of applications and data located in the cloud. SASE merges conventional network security functions, such as firewalls and VPNs, with modern security technologies such as zero-trust security and Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs), to deliver a streamlined and efficient security solution," says Neha Gupta, Senior Research Manager at IDC India.

"The adoption of SASE is anticipated to escalate in the future as organizations strive to enhance their security posture in response to the changing threat landscape and technological advancements," she added.