Fresh research has found that 99% of organisations have experienced a security attack in the last 12 months, with 85% saying that new cybersecurity threats are taking advantage of gaps in their network

Xalient, the advisory and managed services provider, compiled data from 250 IT, network and security leaders in the UK, with results showing that organisations are struggling to keep up with the evolving threat landscape.

The findings, part of Xalient’s Why SASE is the Blueprint for Future-Proofing Your Network in 2025 and Beyond report, shows that 40% of organisations have difficulty in delivering consistent performance and enforcing policies after being forced to lock down so much of their network.

According to the report, 85% of UK organisations surveyed admitted that new threats are taking advantage of gaps in their network, while 42% agree that they struggle to detect threats and protect against ransomware.

Adding to this, 79% of organisations said that recruiting and retaining people with the specialist security skills needed to protect their organisation from growing threats is a key challenge and top of mind.

Xalient claims that these organisational challenges amongst others, are fuelling a growth in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) adoption. 

SASE is a framework that combines network and security services into a single solution, offering features like SD-WAN and cloud-based security tools, including secure web gateways, cloud access security brokers, firewall-as-a-service, and zero-trust network access.

This latest study found that the three main business drivers for moving to a SASE solution were the rising costs of traditional network architecture (14%), a desire to move away from the use of legacy VPNs (14%) and addressing performance issues with business-critical SaaS apps (14%). 

Xalient found that 50% of UK organisations had adopted a single-vendor SASE solution, while 42% had gone down the multi-vendor SASE route, with the top benefit of adopting SASE being the improved performance of business-critical SaaS apps (35%), followed by secure remote access (30%).

For those using a single vendor, the benefits included better integration (30%), easier deployment and management (29%), and cost savings (27%). However, they also face challenges like limited control (27%), difficulties in securing the right protection (29%), and the risk of vendor lock-in (25%).

Those using multi-vendor solutions reported improved security controls (31%), greater flexibility to choose the best vendors for specific needs (27%), and the possibility to achieve the same level of integration as single-vendor solutions (27%) as among the top benefits over using a single vendor.

However, 26% also raised concerns about unclear pricing, and 27% said they would likely need a partner to help manage complicated multi-vendor SASE setups.

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“It is great to see within this research that UK companies are seeing value from their SASE solution, whether they opted for a single vendor or multi-vendor solution,” said Stephen Amstutz, director of innovation at Xalient. 

“However, as SASE covers both network and security, it can be a challenge to select the right model for the organisation, and to balance both networking and security requirements, particularly for resource-stretched teams. 

“To help overcome this, a good MSP can ease the selection process and ensure that organisations implement and continue to manage the right SASE solution for their business.”