Enterprises are pushing digital transformation harder than ever, but agility comes with new risks. The global cybercrime economy is estimated at $10.5 trillion in 2025, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, and AI is amplifying the threat by powering adaptive, automated and targeted attacks.
For CIOs and CISOs, the challenge is not only the scale of the threat but also the erosion of trust in the vendor market. With hundreds of providers making overlapping claims, the critical question becomes: Who can enterprises trust to secure mission-critical operations?
Many organizations find that more tools don’t always mean better protection. Deploying dozens of security products often creates complexity instead of resilience, leaving openings that attackers exploit. This growing trust gap has led enterprises to call for independently validated, certified standards for the networking and security services they depend on.
The Call for Transparency
To address this challenge, Mplify’s Enterprise Leadership Council (ELC), which includes Accenture, Bloomberg, Burberry, Decathlon, Grab, Morgan Stanley, Santander, Siemens Healthineers, TD Bank, UPMC and Williams-Sonoma, issued a public manifesto calling for mandatory secure access service edge (SASE) certification. Their message is simple. It’s time to “certify what matters.”
It’s clear this is an urgent need. Gartner predicted that AI-powered cyberattacks will grow 23% annually, affecting three out of four enterprises by 2025. IDC forecasted that global security spending will reach $377 billion by 2028. Without certification, enterprises risk inconsistent performance, interoperability issues and inadequate protection in the face of escalating threats. Certification establishes a verifiable baseline that makes procurement faster and implementations more trustworthy.
Why Certification Matters
For enterprises, certification is more than compliance. It addresses daily challenges IT leaders face, such as the following:
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Assurance. Independent testing gives enterprises confidence in security and performance.
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Transparency. Shared standards create a level playing field for evaluating providers.
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Efficiency. Certification streamlines procurement and speeds decision-making.
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Readiness. Certified offerings are production-ready and fit seamlessly into modern delivery models, such as network as a service (NaaS).
Certification is the foundation for trust and a driver of resilience and innovation, providing clarity in an otherwise fragmented market.
Closing the Cybersecurity Gap
The manifesto highlights what many IT leaders already know. Fragmentation is the enemy of security. Integration gaps persist, and attackers exploit them.
At the same time, boards are demanding verifiable security postures, insurers are tightening cyber policy requirements, and regulators are mandating stricter compliance reporting. Proof matters, and certification delivers the validation enterprises need to demonstrate resilience and meet rising expectations.
Shaping the Future of Secure Connectivity
The SASE manifesto underscores a broader shift in which enterprises are no longer passive consumers of technology; they are shaping its direction. Through the ELC, global companies are pressing for standards that evolve with their needs, not just provider roadmaps.
For providers, certification represents both a challenge and an opportunity. It requires investment in testing and validation, but it also creates meaningful differentiation in a crowded market. Certification demonstrates transparency, builds customer trust and accelerates adoption of secure, standards-based offerings.
Looking Ahead
Enterprises cannot build resilience on promises alone, and certification is now a direct mandate from some of the world’s largest customers. The ELC has outlined three imperatives for providers in its manifesto:
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Obtain Mplify SASE certification.
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Promote certified solutions.
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Align offerings with enterprise needs by embedding certification into procurement and RFP processes.
This conversation will continue at Mplify’s Global NaaS Event (GNE), November 10 to November 14, where enterprise leaders will challenge providers to make certification the norm rather than the exception. Put simply, secure connectivity must be certified, or it cannot be trusted.
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