December 05, 2024 6m read

How SASE Helps Address IT Burnout and Reduce Operational Risks 

Sangita Patel
Sangita Patel
How SASE Helps Address_IT Burnout and Reduce Operational Risks

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In today’s fast-paced business environment, IT teams are under increasing pressure to keep networks running smoothly and securely. The burden of managing a growing number of endpoints, networks, and cloud services—combined with constant threats of cyberattacks—can lead to IT burnout. Burnout affects the well-being of IT professionals and increases the likelihood of human error, such as misconfigurations, missed patches, and slow response times to incidents. This problem can have severe consequences for organizations, causing system vulnerabilities and service disruptions. 

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solves many of these challenges. By consolidating networking and security functions into a unified, cloud-native platform, SASE helps reduce complexity, automate routine tasks, and provide comprehensive visibility. This enhances security and alleviates some of the burdens that contribute to IT burnout. 

The Burnout Problem in IT 

IT burnout stems from the relentless pace and complexity of modern IT environments. IT teams are expected to manage complex multi-cloud infrastructures, secure vast networks of mobile and remote workers, and respond to a constant barrage of cyber threats. These demands lead to long hours, high stress, and exhaustion. 

Common symptoms of burnout in IT include: 

  • Human errors include misconfigurations, missed security patches, and delays in addressing vulnerabilities. 
  • Alert fatigue, where the constant influx of security alerts overwhelms teams, leads to missed or ignored threats. 
  • Decreased productivity and engagement, as the pressure of maintaining operational continuity takes its toll on workers. 

Such fatigue can compromise security posture and lead to critical errors, exposing organizations to operational risks and cyberattacks. 

93% of IT Security Decision Makers are actively considering leaving their roles ​due to stress1.  

How SASE Alleviates IT Burnout 

SASE’s cloud-native architecture is designed to simplify and streamline IT teams’ complexities. By converging security and networking into a single platform, SASE reduces the number of tools, vendors, and processes that need to be managed. Here’s how it helps address some of the key contributors to burnout: 

  1. Consolidation of Tools and Processes 

In a traditional IT environment, security and networking functions are managed separately, often requiring multiple tools and platforms. Firewalls, VPNs, data loss prevention (DLP) systems, secure web gateways (SWG), cloud access security brokers (CASBs), and SD-WAN are all distinct components, each with its management console. This fragmentation adds to the workload of IT teams, as they must constantly switch between systems to monitor and manage security. 

SASE addresses this by consolidating these functions into a single platform, where networking and security are tightly integrated. This reduces the complexity of managing multiple tools, lowers the risk of misconfigurations, and streamlines processes. With everything in one place, IT teams have fewer consoles to monitor and can more easily apply consistent policies across the network. 

  1. Automated Security and Patch Management 

One of the major causes of burnout is the need for constant vigilance in applying patches and updates. In a typical environment, missing just one critical patch can open the door to cyberattacks. Yet, tracking and deploying patches across a diverse IT landscape is time-consuming and prone to human error. 

SASE platforms offer automated patch management and security updates as part of their cloud-native design. Since SASE includes security services such as CASB, DLP, and SWG, all delivered from the cloud, updates are the SASE vendor’s responsibility, reducing the manual workload on IT staff. This reduces the risk of missed patches and vulnerabilities, freeing IT teams to focus on higher-priority tasks. 

  1. Improved Visibility and Monitoring 

Visibility across a complex, distributed IT environment is essential for identifying and responding to threats in real-time. However, managing visibility across multiple tools and environments (on-premise, cloud, mobile) can be overwhelming. This fragmented approach not only increases the risk of security blind spots but also contributes to alert fatigue, where teams are overwhelmed by the sheer number of alerts from different systems. 

SASE offers a unified view of network traffic, users, and devices through a single management application. By centralizing visibility, IT teams can monitor traffic, identify threats, and respond more quickly, all within a single interface. This helps reduce alert fatigue by filtering out unnecessary alerts and focusing only on actionable incidents. 

  1. Zero Trust Architecture 

Zero Trust is a fundamental component of SASE, ensuring every user and device is verified before accessing resources. By automating identity verification and access control, SASE reduces the manual tasks IT teams need to perform to keep systems secure. This also helps prevent human errors related to access misconfigurations, a common cause of security breaches. 

  1. Reduced Vendor Management 

Managing multiple vendors and tools adds another layer of complexity to IT operations. Vendor management involves negotiating contracts, ensuring compatibility between solutions, and dealing with different support teams when things go wrong. This increases the load on IT teams, contributing to stress and burnout. 

SASE simplifies vendor management by consolidating security and networking services into a single solution. IT teams only need to deal with one vendor for support, updates, and integration, reducing overhead and streamlining operations. 

Why Cato SASE Cloud Provides the Best Solution 

Cato Networks offers one of the most comprehensive SASE solutions available today. The Cato SASE Cloud is built from the ground up to converge networking and security services into a single cloud-native platform. Unlike many other SASE offerings that patch together legacy solutions, Cato delivers a fully converged solution, reducing the complexity and overhead that often contribute to IT burnout. 

Cato’s global private backbone ensures optimized network performance, while its security stack includes a built-in FWaaS, SWG, and advanced threat protection—all updated automatically via the cloud. This minimizes the risk of missed patches and security gaps. Moreover, Cato’s centralized management console provides comprehensive visibility into network traffic, users, and threats, making it easier for IT teams to monitor and manage their infrastructure without the burden of switching between multiple tools. 

By simplifying operations and providing robust security across distributed environments, Cato SASE Cloud helps reduce IT burnout, improve efficiency, and enhance organizational security resilience. For businesses looking to streamline their network and security management while addressing the challenges of IT burnout, Cato’s solution stands out as the best in the market.​ 

SASE Deployment Made Simple with Cato | Download the white paper

The Long-Term Benefits of SASE 

By reducing complexity, automating routine tasks, and centralizing visibility, SASE allows IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives rather than constantly putting out fires. This shift from reactive to proactive management improves security and contributes to a healthier work environment for IT professionals. 

In the long term, organizations that adopt SASE will benefit from: 

  • Fewer security incidents resulting from misconfigurations or missed patches. 
  • Increased productivity as IT teams can devote more time to innovation and long-term planning. 
  • Reduced turnover in IT staff, as a less stressful work environment leads to better job satisfaction and retention. 

Conclusion 

IT burnout is a serious issue that can lead to costly mistakes and security breaches. The growing complexity of modern IT environments makes it difficult for teams to keep up with the demands placed upon them. SASE provides a way to alleviate this burden by simplifying operations, automating routine tasks, and improving visibility across the network. By addressing the root causes of burnout, SASE not only improves security but also helps create a more sustainable, productive work environment for IT professionals. 

1 https://privacy.blackfog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/BF_CISO_Research.pdf 

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Wondering where to begin your SASE journey?

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Sangita Patel

Sangita Patel

Sangita Patel is the Sr. Director of Global Product Marketing for Cato Networks. As a Silicon Valley veteran, Sangita has 15+ years experience in Product & Solutions Marketing for startups, like Nile, and established companies, like Cisco Systems. Sangita holds an M.B.A from the Haas School of Business at UC-Berkeley and a B.S.E.E from the University of Michigan.

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