Blueprint for SASE success: How to plan and implement your SASE strategy

In the space of just a few years, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) has gone from an emerging idea to a boardroom priority. And for good reason: Australian organisations are dealing with more remote work, more SaaS applications, and more security risks than ever before.

According to a recent Gartner report, Sovereign SASE is expected to gain significant traction in the coming years, with more than 60% of enterprises adopting a Sovereign SASE architecture by 2026.

Dell’Oro Group forecasts the global Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) market will climb to $17 billion by 2029, growing at a compound annual rate of 12%.

But what’s the catch? For starters, implementing SASE isn’t a “set and forget” project. Performed well, it simplifies security, improves user experience, and eliminates VPN bottlenecks.

But performed poorly, it creates complexity, confusion, and cost blowouts. So the real question is: what’s the blueprint for SASE success?

Why planning is crucial before you deploy

Let’s face it: SASE is not just another point solution. It represents a fundamental shift in network architecture and security posture, combining networking and security functions into a unified, cloud-delivered service. For many organisations, it replaces years of accumulated patchwork: firewalls, VPNs, proxies, and access controls.

The smartest CIOs and CISOs treat SASE as a transformation program, not a plug-and-play purchase. If anything, SASE is a business-wide transformation program, not a quick tech swap.

SASE Implementation: A step-by-step blueprint

Define goals & requirements

Every journey starts with a destination. Is your goal to improve user experience for hybrid workers? Reduce VPN costs? Strengthen Zero Trust enforcement? Define what success looks like early, and link it back to clear business outcomes.

Assess current infrastructure

Audit what you have today: firewalls, VPNs, SD-WAN, SaaS apps, branch networks, and user locations. Where are the gaps? It’s important to capture the gaps in visibility, latency and compliance. Australian businesses, for example, often struggle with latency for remote staff in regional areas, or compliance requirements around data sovereignty. Mapping these weak spots upfront avoids surprises later.

Gather business & security requirements

Not all use cases are created equal. Rank them by risk, performance, and ROI. Hybrid workforces may prioritise seamless SaaS access, while regulated industries such as finance or healthcare will focus on compliance. In Australia, APRA-regulated organisations must also ensure alignment with CPS 234 and data protection laws, an extra layer of complexity SASE can help address.

For distributed organisations, branch connectivity is another critical use case. Instead of relying on costly MPLS links or complex VPN setups, SASE provides secure, cloud-delivered access that keeps branch offices consistently connected without sacrificing performance.

And for industries that handle sensitive data, data sovereignty is front of mind. With local Points of Presence (PoPs) and the ability to enforce where traffic is inspected and stored, SASE helps organisations meet sovereignty requirements while still enabling global reach.

Consider vendor type: Single vs multi-Vendor SASE

The choice of vendor is one of the most important calls you’ll make. Let’s compare the approaches:

Single vendor: Unified management and faster rollout, but greater risk of vendor lock-in.

Multi-vendor: Best-of-breed functionality and flexibility, but more integration effort.

Therefore, look beyond the feature list. Does the vendor offer Australian Points of Presence (PoPs) to reduce latency? Do they support deep ZTNA, CASB features, open APIs, and clear SLAs? Do their pricing models align with your growth plans?

Integrate with SD-WAN & identity

SASE isn’t built in isolation. It overlays and extends SD-WAN, while leveraging your existing identity provider (IdP) or single sign-on (SSO) tools. The goal is policy consolidation: one console, one set of rules, applied consistently across web, SaaS, and private applications.

Test, refine, launch

A phased rollout is the safest path. Start with a small user group, refine the policies, and then expand gradually to branches and regions. One of the key milestones along this journey is the ability to retire your legacy VPN. VPNs were never designed for the scale of today’s hybrid workforce, and they often create bottlenecks, latency, and security blind spots. Decommissioning them not only simplifies operations, but also reduces costs and dramatically improves user experience.

By proving success in stages and carefully replacing outdated infrastructure, organisations can move to a SASE model with confidence, delivering faster, more secure, and more consistent access for every user, everywhere.

Measuring success & continuous optimisation

Notably, SASE is a continuous journey. It’s not a one-off project, so you need to measure success against key KPIs, including:

• Latency and performance (how much faster are apps?)
• Security outcomes (how many threats are blocked?)
• User experience (are help-desk tickets down?)
• Cost savings (VPN, MPLS, or hardware reductions).

Global research suggests companies that optimise their SASE deployments can cut network costs by up to 30%, while improving productivity for distributed teams.

Consider this final statistic: Organisations deploying a Unified SASE platform reported 20% to 50% reductions in both CapEx and OpEx costs. These savings came from consolidating licensing, simplifying lifecycle management, reducing policy maintenance, and cutting integration efforts, with specific areas like licensing savings at 15–25% and troubleshooting effort down by 20–30%.

Let Interactive simplify SASE implementation for you

Admittedly, SASE promises a more secure, streamlined, and scalable future, but the path to get there can be complex.

That’s why Interactive helps you navigate the journey with confidence. We work with over 2,000 Australian organisations to deliver end-to-end IT services, with expertise spanning network infrastructure, cloud, and managed security.

Our team can guide you through readiness assessments, vendor evaluations, phased deployments, and long-term optimisation, ensuring your SASE strategy is aligned to both today’s risks and tomorrow’s growth.

If you’re ready to turn the blueprint into action, talk to Interactive.