From Technical Debt to ROI: Decoding the Economic Power of SASE

In the legacy world, security was often imagined as a moat around a castle. But today, as employees are working from coffee shops, data is residing in the cloud, and applications are primarily SaaS-based, that castle is now empty. 

Despite this shift, many infrastructure and operations (I&O) and cybersecurity teams are still dealing with sprawling, costly, and ineffective network security infrastructure. Let’s take a look at some of the challenges that security and I&O teams face when it comes to decoupling from this legacy infrastructure and technology. 

The rising cost of technical and integration debt 

Regardless of the team, legacy infrastructure is creating an unsustainable amount of technical debt. Many organizations juggle dozens of disconnected security vendors, creating a massive integration debt problem, which translates to the hidden cost of trying to make incompatible tools work together. Furthermore, forcing remote employees to backhaul traffic to a physical office just to access cloud applications creates a latency tax that drains productivity. These legacy infrastructure issues are only compounded as organizations are adopting AI into their workforce at scale, as  the potential for security issues, such as the leakage of sensitive information, increases exponentially.

The pressure on I&O leaders to modernize these systems is immense as well. Currently, 80% of I&O leaders report that IT infrastructure has become central to delivering on core business goals, and the same number note that expectations from senior leaders have risen in just the last 12 months. In fact, 83% of these leaders feel expectations have intensified, yet only 18% are completely confident they have the people and budget to meet future requirements. Only 38% of I&O leaders believe their current infrastructure is fully equipped to handle these new demands, leaving many teams reactive and constrained by legacy systems.

It’s clear that something needs to change to overcome these legacy challenges.

How SASE turns security into an engine for growth 

I&O and security leaders alike advocate for the consolidation and simplification of their current infrastructure. Migrating to a secure access service edge (SASE) architecture is one of the most significant value drivers available to the modern enterprise, transforming security from a financial drain into a true business enabler.

SASE architectures converge networking and security, via security service edge (SSE) capabilities, into a single software stack. By consolidating vendors and eliminating legacy data centers, hardware, and physical equipment, organizations typically see a 20-40% reduction in their total cost of ownership (TCO). A Forrester Total Economic Impact study found that consolidated network security infrastructure generated 37% of the total business value of the deployment, resulting in $5.4 million in cost reductions over three years.

Beyond hard infrastructure savings, SASE eliminates the latency tax by moving security closer to the user at the edge with faster application performance that directly correlates to increased employee uptime. The same Forrester study revealed that improved network availability and performance drove $2.4 million in cost reductions, resulting in a 10% increase in uptime for core network services and an 80% reduction in help desk tickets.

At the same time, SASE can also help shift organizations from reactive to resilient risk management and help provide a unified data protection policy that follows the user everywhere they work. This is a best of both worlds option for security and I&O teams, unifying leaders who often haven’t always gotten along.

Accelerating your journey with Netskope Business Value Services 

Migrating to SASE is a strategic shift, and building the internal business case for this transformation can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be.

At Netskope, we don’t just sell solutions and services, we partner with your leadership to quantify the economic impact of transformation. If any of the challenges above hit home for your organization, you’re not alone. This is where the Netskope Business Value Services (BVS) team comes in to help you deliver a boardroom-ready financial analysis.

Powered by the Valueskope platform, Netskope BVS experts help you craft a tailored business case that aligns with your organization’s unique data and strategic goals. We can do this by providing:

• Comprehensive TCO analysis: We dive deep into your current tool sprawl to identify redundant licensing and hardware costs that can be eliminated.
• Value realization roadmaps: We map out exactly when and where your organization will see a return on investment, typically through a three to five year analysis.
• Risk quantification: Using industry-standard frameworks, we help you put a dollar value on the risk reduction provided by our Zero Trust Engine.
• Peer benchmarking: We show you how your security spend and efficiency compare to other leaders in your specific industry.

Our BVS team helps you change the narrative, giving your CISO and CFO a shared language to turn security spending into a strategic business investment. Visit our Netskope Business Value Services page to learn more.