Question

A global enterprise reports poor performance for Microsoft 365 (SaaS) traffic. All branch traffic is currently backhauled over MPLS to a central data center, where it egresses to the internet through a single centralized proxy. Users complain of high latency accessing Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. The network team wants to redesign connectivity following Cisco and Microsoft best practices for SaaS access. Which approach should they adopt?

Accepted Answer

Enable local internet breakout at the branch using SD-WAN with application-aware policies that identify and forward Microsoft 365 optimize-category traffic directly to the nearest Microsoft front door

Answer

Provision a dedicated Azure ExpressRoute private peering circuit at each branch to carry all Microsoft 365 traffic

Answer

Continue backhauling all traffic to the data center but upgrade the centralized proxy to inspect and cache all Microsoft 365 sessions

Answer

Build IPsec tunnels from every branch to a single cloud on-ramp region and route all SaaS traffic through that hub regardless of user location