Every enterprise has an elephant in the room. It is not the kind of elephant you can point to in a budget line item or see sitting on a data center rack. It is the quiet combination of tools and infrastructure that grows bigger every year and demands constant attention. Most organizations do not even realize how much it is costing them, as the expense has become so normal. This is
the Two Stack Problem.

The first stack is easy to see. It is the one all security vendors constantly talk about. Over the years, it has grown through acquisitions and bolt-on features, evolving into a comprehensive mega-security platform. Think of it as the shipping container of products promising to solve every problem from phishing to cloud misconfigurations. Vendors are hungry to snap up smaller
companies and add their technology to the mix. The idea is appealing on the surface. Buy once, manage less, cover more ground.

But while attention is focused on this security stack, another stack is quietly siphoning resources. This is the connectivity stack. And it is the elephant in the enterprise.

The connectivity stack is the maze of technology that ensures people can actually reach their applications and data. It is the VPN concentrators that force every remote worker to tunnel into a data center. It is the fleet of proxies that redirect traffic, decrypt it, inspect it, and send it back out again. It is the virtual desktops that employees log into just to access business apps. Each of these technologies was introduced with good intentions. Together, they have become a sprawling, expensive web that drains money, time, and patience.

Think about what it takes to keep that stack alive. Network teams are constantly maintaining tunnels, certificates, PAC files, and routing rules. Help desks spend hours resolving tickets when VPNs drop or when a user in another region cannot connect to an application routed through a distant proxy. Security teams chase after policy mismatches between VPN rules and proxy rules. Finance signs off on hardware refreshes, license renewals, and cloud egress bills. The connectivity stack does not sit still. It requires constant feeding.

For employees, this stack creates friction at every turn. Logging into a VDI session just to open an internal tool feels archaic in the era of seamless SaaS. Waiting for traffic to be decrypted and inspected through a proxy slows down simple tasks like opening a document or sharing a file. Dropped VPN sessions interrupt collaboration and create frustration. The user experience is collateral damage in the battle to maintain control.

When you step back, it becomes clear. The Two Stack Problem is not just about managing two categories of technology. It’s about the hidden tax that these stacks impose. One stack gobbles up budget with overlapping licenses and features. The other drains resources by forcing traffic and people through outdated paths that no longer make sense in a cloud-first world. Together, they represent a giant cost center that keeps getting bigger.

The question every enterprise leader should be asking is this: What if these stacks were not separate? What if you did not need to manage one set of tools to connect people and another to protect them? What if you could collapse the two into a single, modern foundation that delivered both connectivity and security in one place?

Consolidating stacks is not just about efficiency. It is about reclaiming resources. Imagine what you could do with the budget freed up from retiring legacy VPN infrastructure, proxy farms, and VDI licenses. Consider the staff hours saved by not having to troubleshoot endless connectivity issues. Picture the productivity gain when employees no longer struggle with clunky logins or sluggish connections. Those resources could be redirected toward projects that actually strengthen the business.

The real opportunity lies in making the user experience better while making the organization stronger. A single stack that delivers secure access and modern security controls directly where people work removes the need for complex detours through data centers or virtual environments. It eliminates the constant back-and-forth between two sets of teams, each managing its own set of tools. It reduces the operational drag that has become so standard that no one questions it anymore.

Enterprises need to acknowledge the elephant in the room. The connectivity stack has been hiding in plain sight, consuming budgets and slowing people down. Combined with the ever-growing security stack, it creates an unsustainable model. Modern business requires a different approach. One foundation, one stack, that connects people and protects them simultaneously.

Eliminating the Two Stack Problem is not just an IT initiative. It is a business imperative. The organizations that recognize it and act will not just save money. They will free their teams to focus on innovation, resilience, and growth. They will give their users the experience they expect in a modern workplace. And they will finally send the elephant in the room packing.

Conceal was built to solve the Two Stack Problem. By delivering Zero Trust access and in-browser security in a single platform, we remove the hidden burden of connectivity and security sprawl. To see how we do it for yourself, schedule a demo today.