Adopting a service mesh, such as Kuma, can significantly simplify and enhance the management of microservices by providing features like mTLS, service discovery, resiliency, and observability without altering the service code or requiring downtime. While transitioning to a service mesh might initially seem to increase complexity, resource usage, and costs, the long-term benefits include streamlined network communication, improved security, and reduced engineering efforts in managing infrastructure. Kuma's user-friendly interface and powerful policy configuration capabilities, such as targetRef-based policies, allow organizations to quickly implement and manage network policies, like retries or traffic filtering, without extensive development or redeployment. Additionally, Kuma offers flexibility by supporting both microservices and classic deployments, enabling organizations to modernize their infrastructure at their own pace and addressing vulnerabilities like the Log4Shell CVE without service interruptions.