Can NaaS mitigate network skills gaps?

Network-as-a-service offerings give enterprise organizations access to leading-edge technologies while lowering upfront capital investments, but for some IT teams, the real value of NaaS may be found in the networking and security skills that come with the service.

NaaS can help address the shortage of networking and security talent by offloading some management tasks to the service provider, according to Shamus McGillicuddy, vice president of research for network infrastructure and operations at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). McGillicuddy recently shared findings from EMA’s July 2024 report, Network as a Service: Understanding the Cloud Consumption Model in Networking, and along with several other potential benefits, he said that NaaS can mitigate skills gaps for some enterprise organizations.

EMA surveyed 250 IT, cybersecurity, and other employees of enterprise organizations and discovered that many IT organizations are struggling to find expertise in areas such as network security, cloud networks, network automation, and monitoring and troubleshooting. For this report, EMA defined NaaS as: “A network infrastructure solution that offers a cloud consumption model (pay as you go) in which the NaaS provider can manage all aspects of network engineering and operations, from design and build to monitoring and troubleshooting.”

By outsourcing some of their network operations to a NaaS provider, IT organizations can free up their existing network personnel to focus on more strategic initiatives, according to EMA.

“Only 32% of respondents said that we have enough networking talent to support any task or project that comes out. Most of them are just identifying high-priority projects, and there is a lot of things that are being left undone,” McGillicuddy said. And if an IT organization engaged with a NaaS provider, it likely wouldn’t reduce network headcount, he explained, but rather it would redirect the networking staff to work on projects such as optimizing end-user experience, enabling AI initiatives, supporting cloud transformation efforts, and implementing network automation projects.

EMA survey respondents identified the biggest skills gaps in their network infrastructure and operations teams today as:

• Network security (policy management, etc.): cited by 44.0%
• Network monitoring, troubleshooting, and ongoing optimization: 37.6%
• Cloud networking (AWS. Azure, etc.): 35.6%
• Network automation (Python scripting, commercial automation tools: 34.8%
• WAN engineering (SD-WAN, routing, etc.): 30.8%
• Data center network engineering (EVPN-VXLAN, SDN overlays): 29.2%
• DNS, DHCP, IP address management: 20.4%
• Wi-Fi engineering: 11.2%
• None of the above: 2.0%

“Network security is the biggest issue today. Many organizations lack people who know how to design network security policies and manage firewalls and other network security devices,” the report reads.

Aside from mitigating skills gaps, EMA found that respondents believe NaaS can provide several other benefits, including quick access to new technologies, improved performance and SLAs, flexibility and scalability, and enhanced security. Still roadblocks to NaaS success remain.

EMA found that respondents would baulk at the following before embracing a NaaS solution:

• Higher total cost of over time (OpEx vs. CapEx): cited by 37.6%
• Lack of visibility into service quality: 35.2%
• Security concerns: 32.6%
• Regulatory compliance issues: 26.0%
• Fear of losing control over change management: 25.6%
• Lack of solutions that meet our business requirements: 21.2%
• Existing relationships with incumbent networking vendors: 20.8%
• Our network engineering team differentiates our business: 20.0%
• Confusion over how NaaS works: 19.2%
• Culture preferences in IT: 17.2%
• None of the above: 2.0%

Specific industries will have more concerns over security and sharing data with third-party providers than others, according to McGillicuddy, but there is also an expectation that security would be bundled into a NaaS offering. For instance, nearly 40% of respondents said they expect a NaaS offering to include integrated managed security services that cover network access control, firewalls, threat protection, security event management, and more.

“[Respondents] expect that NaaS is going to give them rapid access to cutting-edge technology. It’s going to help them close their skills gaps, and it’s going to improve overall network performance by holding NaaS providers to their SLAs,” McGillicuddy said.

Read more about NaaS:

• NaaS buyer’s guide: Who is selling network as a service and what do you get?
• Nile boosts NaaS offering with AI, customizable services
• Verizon debuts NaaS cloud management for unified multicloud
• Aruba introduces a simplified NaaS offering
• Redefining NaaS: It’s the internet
• Cisco NaaS study: IT pros are interested but wary