Giving someone a route into the network is not the same as giving them the right access to an application. A secure access program should answer two connected questions: who should have access, and how should that access be enforced when they connect?
Start with entitlement and ownership.
Entra ID Governance supports identity lifecycle processes, access requests, and reviews. Identify the application owner, approved roles, sponsors for external users, and removal triggers. Time-bound access and periodic reviews reduce the chance that old assignments become permanent privileges.
Identity governance and network access enforcement are complementary, not interchangeable. Governance determines and reviews entitlement; connection policies evaluate access under configured conditions. Neither replaces the application's own authorization checks.
Use private access for the application, not the whole network.
Entra Private Access provides Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) for supported private resources. Global Secure Access brings Private Access and Internet Access together as identity-centered secure access capabilities. Plan application discovery, traffic requirements, connectors, client deployment, and Conditional Access policies as one design.
ZTNA can reduce reliance on broad virtual private network (VPN) access by limiting connectivity to the resources a user needs. Replace eligible VPN use cases in stages. Legacy protocols, unsupported devices, service connections, and site-to-site networking may require different designs or retained connectivity.
Apply deliberate controls to internet access.
Entra Internet Access provides secure web gateway (SWG) capabilities for supported internet and cloud-service traffic. Define which traffic is routed through the service, which policies apply, and who owns exceptions. Evaluate filtering and inspection capabilities against workload support, privacy requirements, and licensing.
A SWG does not automatically make every destination or data transfer safe. Coordinate access rules with data protection and endpoint controls, and verify that allowed traffic still meets business requirements. Test business-critical sites and authentication flows before enforcing broad restrictions.
Prove the complete user journey.
Choose a representative application and pilot group. Test authorized and denied access, device requirements, guest users, remote working, and changes in entitlement. Include connector failure, client issues, emergency access, and rollback so the design can be supported outside ideal conditions.
Measure successful application access, excess connectivity removed, exception volume, and support effort. Confirm that joiner, mover, and leaver processes actually change the effective access users receive, rather than only updating a directory record.
Roll out by application and risk.
Use the pilot to sequence migration and assign policy, application, and support owners. Review access and exceptions after deployment. Entra Suite can bring identity governance and secure access capabilities together under a licensing offer, but prerequisites and entitlements still need validation.
Global Secure Access addresses security service edge capabilities. It is not a replacement for every networking function or a complete secure access service edge architecture by itself. Keep connectivity, routing, availability, and recovery responsibilities explicit.
Further reading
Global Secure Access overview
Entra ID Governance overview
Treat identity modernization as a lifecycle