Organisational Silos Derail SASE Adoption - Only 1% of Benelux Enterprises Unlock Full Value

18 November 2025

A new global report from Xalient highlights the critical role of SASE in strengthening enterprise security. The majority of 66%of organisations in the Benelux region are still in the early stages of SASE adoption, with only 1% fully optimised and mature.

Xalient has released its global research report, SASE Uncovered: The Realities of SASE Implementation in 2026. Despite the high demand for SASE, driven by businesses adapting to hybrid work and cloud migration, the research reveals that 96% of the organisations surveyed encounter challenges deploying SASE. While only 7% of global respondents report having fully mature SASE capabilities, organisations in the Benelux region are still in the early stages of adoption, with just 1% indicating that their deployment is optimised and mature.

The research, conducted by Opinion Matters, surveyed 700 IT Network and IT Security leaders at large organisations with over 2,000 employees in the UK, US, Canada, and the Benelux reion. It found that 80% of respondents express concern regarding cybersecurity threats, but breach or fear of breach is the least common driver for SASE adoption. To maximise business value, IT teams must consider the broader benefits of SASE.

Dave McGrail, Head of Business Consultancy at Xalient, states, “SASE should be a business imperative in today’s volatile threat landscape. Organisations that view SASE as a strategic journey and invest in ongoing education, stakeholder alignment, and agile architectures will be best positioned to achieve secure, resilient connectivity for the future.”

The Business Case for SASE

According to the research findings, the most commonly deployed SASE component in the Benelux region was public cloud connectivity (38%), with the top driver for SASE deployment being performance issues with business-critical apps (42%), followed by secure remote access for their hybrid or remote workforces at 38%. This is slightly higher than the global average, where 34% of respondents indicated that their main reason for implementation was to ensure secure remote access for hybrid or remote workforces.

The benefits of implementing SASE have far exceeded this, with organisations in the Benelux region citing improved business agility (27%), enabled secure remote access for hybrid/remote workforce (25%), and improved user experience and/or network performance (25%).

Barriers to Adoption Despite Security Benefits

Organisations benefit from SASE’s dynamic, cloud-native approach to cybersecurity, outperforming traditional on-premises solutions. Yet, significant barriers remain, with only 4% of global respondents reporting no adoption challenges.

In the Benelux region, 28% of respondents identified a lack of skilled and available resources as one of the key barriers to SASE adoption, alongside funding and resources being redirected for other priorities (27%). This was lower than the global average, whereby 38% of respondents were affected by funding being redirected away from planned projects.

“Our research makes it clear: deploying SASE is a strategic business necessity, but the true obstacles are organisational and lie with aligning people, priorities, and vision across the business. To maximise the return on SASE investments, organisations must drive adoption with clarity, collaboration, and a relentless focus on business value,” adds McGrail.

Partner Expertise is Proving Essential

While the Benelux region cited a lack of skills as a major barrier to SASE adoption, only 28% use a specialist SASE partner, a figure significantly lower than the global average of 35%. Further, 21% of Benelux businesses surveyed are self-implementing SASE, while 26% are using traditional or generalist (MSP) partners to implement their SASE solution.

Sixty-six per cent of respondents acknowledge their SASE deployment is still developing, with 27% planning to implement SD-WAN, a foundational SASE component, which may prompt greater collaboration with specialist partners as their SASE implementation matures. This aligns with the global trend, where 81% of respondents rely on external partners for implementation and over half depend on them for ongoing maintenance and support.

“Globally, we have seen a well-documented cybersecurity talent gap, making it harder for organisations to build and maintain in-house SASE capabilities. Partnering with specialists allows faster deployment and access to expertise that’s hard to recruit internally. As SASE deployment matures in the Benelux region, organisations are likely to turn to specialist managed service providers offering tailored SASE solutions to overcome the skills shortage in the region,” concludes Dave McGrail.

The research reveals that SASE is now essential for Benelux organisations seeking agility, security, and resilience in the face of mounting cyber threats and budget pressures. As organisations continue to adapt to an evolving digital landscape, prioritising robust, secure connectivity is key to addressing current challenges.

Download the Report

To view the Benelux specific findings, download the full report here.

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HIGHLIGHTS

53% Organizational Silos Derail SASE Adoption. Only 7% of Enterprises Unlock Full Value Amid Internal Roadblocks

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