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Why do you need a SASE RFP?
Shopping for a SASE solution isn’t as easy as it sounds… SASE is an enterprise networking and security framework that is relatively new to the enterprise IT market (introduced by Gartner in 2019.) And less than 3 years young, SASE is often prone to misunderstanding and vendor “marketecture.” Meaning: If you don’t ask the right questions during your sales and vendor evaluation process, you may be locked into a solution that doesn’t align with your current and future business and technology needs.
A Quick Note about Cato’s RFP Template
Do a quick Google search and you’ll find millions of general RFP templates. That being said, Cato’s RFP template only covers the functional requirements of a future SASE deployment. There are no generic RFP requirements in our template, like getting the vendor details of your vendor companies.
So, What Must a SASE RFP Template Include?
Cato Networks has created a comprehensive, 13-page SASE RFP template, which contains all business and functional requirements for a full SASE deployment. Just download the template, fill in the relevant sections to your enterprise, and allow your short-listed vendors to fill in the remainder. While you may see some sections that are not relevant to your particular organization or use case, that’s all right. It’s available for your reference, and to help you plan any future projects.
A Sneak Peek at Cato’s RFP Template
If you’d like a preview of Cato Networks’ SASE RFP template, we’re providing you with a high-level outline. Take a look at this “quick-guide”, and then download the full SASE RFP template to put it into practice.
SASE RFI/RFP Made Easy | Get the Template1. Business and IT overview
You’ll describe your business and IT. Make sure to include enough details for vendors to understand your environment so they can tailor their answers to your specific needs and answer why their solution is valuable to your use case.
2. Solution Architecture
Understand your proposed vendors architecture, what the architecture includes, what it does and where it is placed (branch, device, cloud.) Comprehending vendor architecture will allow you to better determine how a vendor scales, how they address failures, deliver resiliency, etc.
3. Solution Capabilities
Deep dive into your proposed vendor functionalities. The idea is to select all selections relevant to your proposed SASE deployment, and have the vendor fill them out.
- SD-WAN
Receive a thorough exploration of a proposed vendor’s SD-WAN offering, covering link management, traffic routing and QoS, voice and latency-sensitive traffic, throughput and edge devices, monitoring and reporting, site provisioning, gradual deployment / co-existence with legacy MPLS networks.
- Security
Understand traffic encryption, threat prevention, threat detection, branch, cloud and mobile security, identity and user awareness, policy management and enforcement, as well as security management analytics and reporting.
- Cloud
Determine vendor components needed to connect a cloud datacenter to the network, amongst other areas.
- Mobile (SDP / ZTNA)
Understand how vendors connect a mobile user to the network, their available mobile solutions for connecting mobile users to WAN and cloud, and other key areas.
- Global
Explore your vendor’s global traffic optimization, describe how they optime network support to mobile users, and more.
4. Support and Services
Evaluate service offering and managed services. This is the perfect time to ask and understand whether your proposed vendor uses “follow-the-sun” support models and decide whether you want a self-managed, fully managed, or co-managed service.
- Support and Professional services
Understand if vendors abide by “follow-the-sun,” support, their hours of support and more.
- Managed Services
Get a sense of vendor managed services in several key areas.
Next Steps: Get the Full SASE RFP / RFI Template
Whether you’re new to SASE or a seasoned expert, successful SASE vendor selection starts with asking the right questions. When you know the correct questions to ask, it’s easy to understand if a SASE offering can meet the needs of your organization both now and in the future. Download Cato Network’s full SASE RFP / RFI Made Easy Template, to begin your SASE success story.