Secure access, minimize tech debt: a browser-based strategy for the SaaS-driven enterprise
There is a silent pressure on security in today’s businesses, and this comes from an unexpected source: the technological battery.
Technical debt is a problem of 2.41 billions of dollars in the United States. No wonder, therefore 87% of computer leaders classify the reduction in technological debt as the first five initiatives for their organization, according to a new business strategy group survey. Respondents cited security problems, climbing operating costs, etc.
How did organizations obtain such a deep application of application technological debt? What are the implications for security? And, more importantly: how can organizations start out?
A vicious circle of short -term corrective
Technological debt is, basically, the pain of applying yesterday’s technological decisions to today’s commercial needs.
Organizations are often faced with technology compromises. Most often, they find the best solutions for their complex problems, the balancing network, security and the priorities of the end user. Other times, they are under pressure to move quickly and forced by limited resources, leading to rapid fixes that complicate their technological battery.
This is how the technological debt accumulates, a well -intentioned decision at the same time. As companies are intensifying – whether due to growth, digital transformation or external disturbances – IT and security teams make pragmatic choices and adopt occasional solutions to follow.
But these bolted software quietly buy snowball and lush into an unmanageable web – ultimately emerging aloud in the form of a fractured computer infrastructure, incoherent user experiences, operational hot air balloon costs and unpredictable IT environments.
Without forgetting, they constitute a considerably increased surface of attack. In this case of Swiss cheese of overlapping systems, the organization can spend more time correcting holes and maintaining inherited scaffolding than innovation.
According to a Gartner survey of 162 large companies, carried out between August and October 2024, organizations used an average of 45 cybersecurity tools. It is a vicious circle of patch on patch.
Time is not the only cost. Enterprise Strategy Group found that 47% of IT managers indicate an increase in operational costs due to the support of inherited infrastructures. And 36% reported an increase in safety vulnerabilities as an increasing concern linked to obsolete systems.
Whatever the justification for yesterday’s technological decisions, they all have an impact on today’s business systems – growing complexity, maintenance charges and security vulnerabilities.
Technological debt has a SaaS problem
Most modern applications used in the company today are delivered in a SaaS model. For more than half of the survey respondents, the SaaS and Legacy web applications represented 61% of the use of combined applications – the majority of those classified as “critical” applications.
In the company, these critical applications require secure and modern access methods. However, to date, secure access has often had the detriment of convenience. Augacy and VPN access solutions have not been designed with the SaaS-First Company in mind, creating friction for users, increasing general costs for IT teams and providing visibility, control or threat detection limited once users are inside the application.
Monitoring these applications requires bolted solutions, which further increases technological debt. Unsurprisingly, the number of respondents indicating the desire to leave VDI solutions was 72% narcotic.
As SaaS adoption has accelerated, this inadequacy between access architecture and the delivery of applications has accelerated with it – making agility, increasing risks and complicating user experience at all levels. Technological debt is not only a nuisance; It is an anchor that leads to the safety and efficiency of the company.
Approach technological debt at the access point
As a main interface of knowledge workers, the browser is at the heart of access to the Saas, internal applications and digital workflows. Therefore, the most direct way to take up the challenge of the technological debt of the application is to reinvent the browser itself.
Browsers like Chrome and Edge, while very effective tools for consumers, have never been designed for business needs. It has a huge security gap: 62% of sensitive data from companies is accessible via consumer browsers, and 35% of data leaks arise from these same browsers.
These browsers require a complex tool for tools – prevention of data loss (DLP), web bridges, remote browser isolation (RBI), end -point agents, VPNs, etc. – to try to secure navigation activity and protect sensitive data. Over time, these layers have worsened, contributing to technological debt both in safety and access to applications by requiring management, troubleshooting and current upgrades.
The proliferation of AI tools is more complicated the challenge of technological debt. In these first days of the adoption of the AI, end users and companies in which they operate will undoubtedly choose several tools to process cases of niche without understanding the impact on data protection and user experience. And new competition will replace many of these tools almost as fast as they arise. Future technological decisions will have to address the management of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow and the new technological debt it creates.
The emergence of business browsers
However, a new type of browser has emerged: business browsers, which are designed exclusively for use in the workplace. Gartner recognized this new category of browsers in 2023. In April, Evgeny Mirolyubov, SR director analyst at Gartner, said: “SEBS joined the company safety commands in the native web browsing experience using a personalized browser or extension for existing browsers, instead of adding Bol-on controls to the termination point or the network.”
Business browsers redefine how organizations address access to applications. A business browser rationalizes the technological battery necessary to secure, manage, understand and allow access to applications and critical data.
With an increasing regulatory examination and the growing sophistication of threats such as phishing, malware based on browser and initiate threats, organizations must rethink access with avant-garde security. Business browsers offer visibility and control to the level of the session, allowing the proactive application and the rapid response of incidents.
These browsers have the power to reduce dependence on the tools inherited such as VDI, VPN, DLP, proxies and various agents of termination point – eliminating the layer on the layer of technological debt and allowing secure, efficient and scalable access.
Secure access without debt
For too long, organizations have been trapped in a loop where old decisions limit new possibilities. Years of inheritance access tools, fragmented safety controls, obsolete application architectures and heels observability and authentication systems have created a complex network of technical debts – which compromises performance, cybersecurity and scalability at a time when flawless, secure and optimized access by the cloud is more critical.
Finally, there is a ramp out of this loop. By reconsidering the browser, avant -garde companies do not only reduce debt – they strengthen resilience for the next generation of digital transformation.
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