A recent survey commissioned by Aryaka has unveiled significant challenges faced by professional services firms in adapting to cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) environments.
The Aryaka report, titled The State of Network Security in Business and Professional Services, highlights that 72% of respondents prioritise application and SaaS performance, while 66% struggle to secure SaaS and public cloud applications.
As firms in sectors such as legal, consulting, and human resources increasingly pivot towards digital-first operations, the complexities of decentralised cloud environments have introduced new attack surfaces. IT leaders reported that these intricate setups are harder to secure compared to traditional infrastructures.
This transition is exacerbated by resource constraints, leaving many IT teams grappling with the dual challenge of protecting applications while managing rapid scaling.
Among respondents 72% rated improving application and SaaS performance as the top strategic networking and security priority. 68% sought enhanced network and security observability, while 48% aimed to simplify operations to alleviate the burden on IT staff.
The findings indicate a clear focus on optimising user experience and operational agility. Participants voiced concerns over daily networking and security hurdles that hinder progress towards these strategic goals.
The top challenges identified include securing SaaS and public cloud apps (66%), managing remote user access and latency (58%), operating with limited internal IT staff (54%), and dealing with too many vendor contracts (46%).
Only 38% of leaders consider edge security as "mission-critical," despite the increasing reliance on SaaS and remote work.
To address these issues, a notable 44% of respondents plan to adopt Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions within the next year. These solutions aim to unify security and network policy enforcement, enhance user experiences across SaaS and cloud platforms, and reduce the operational load on internal IT teams.
Ken Rutsky, CMO of Aryaka, stated, “Professional services firms are under immense pressure to deliver seamless digital experiences while protecting a sophisticated and decentralised environment.” He emphasised the need for a unified approach that simplifies operations, boosts performance, and strengthens security from edge to cloud.
As professional services firms navigate the complexities of modern networking and security, adopting unified solutions like SASE may prove essential for overcoming the challenges posed by SaaS and cloud environments.
