15-Minute User-First SASE Playbook: Part 1 & Part 2

Part 1: Strategy and Architecture

In just 15 minutes, we cut through SASE buzzwords to tackle a challenge many organizations face today: security controls that introduce friction for users without meaningfully reducing risk. This session outlines a practical, user‑first approach to SASE — one built on converging networking and security into a single, cloud‑delivered architecture with consistent policy and high performance at its core.

You’ll learn how to design “user-first” SASE that provides invisible protection for fast, reliable app access that frustrates attackers — not users.

You will also learn:

• The key capabilities of a SASE architecture and how they work together 
• How to optimize user experience while improving security 
• How to measure and communicate progress towards zero trust

Part 2: Execution and Optimization

In part 2, we shift from design to execution and optimization, focusing on the operational realities of running SASE on Day 2 and beyond. This session explores how operations teams can gain end‑to‑end visibility across the entire internet path — including traffic over networks they don’t own — to quickly pinpoint where experience breaks down. You’ll learn how to proactively identify and resolve performance issues, reduce mean time to resolution, and keep users productive by fixing problems, ranging from home Wi‑Fi to SaaS disruptions, before tickets are opened. This approach turns SASE into a measurable driver of performance, reliability, and security outcomes.

You will also learn:

• The benefits of an easy transition from traditional VPN to cloud-based ZTNA 
• How to accelerate ‘mean time to innocence’ when troubleshooting app performance issues 
• How to gain policy assurance by seeing how users are impacted by rule changes — before putting them into place

Sandy Hawke, Sr. Product Mktg Mgr, Zero Trust Access / SASE
Sandy is responsible for developing and amplifying Cisco’s zero trust strategy and story and brings nearly 30 years of cybersecurity experience to bear.  From managing customer firewalls for the UUNET SOC in the early days of the Internet (the 1990s) to serving as the communications lead for IBM’s CISO, she has been a keen observer to the evolution of the cyber security industry and is passionate about how zero trust adoption can improve security outcomes.