By Shaun Babula
Over the past several years, many SMB IT leaders have been encouraged to pursue a “best-of-breed” approach to cybersecurity—selecting individual tools that claim to be best in class for each function and assembling them into a complete security program.
On paper, the strategy makes sense. In practice, it often creates challenges that are difficult for IT teams to manage. This became clear during a recent engagement with an IT Director whose organization had just separated from a parent company and needed to establish an independent cybersecurity environment from the ground up.
Starting from Scratch with Limited Resources
Once the organization broke away, the IT team could no longer rely on shared infrastructure, security tooling, or centralized monitoring. They were responsible for implementing their own cybersecurity controls quickly, while continuing to support day-to-day business operations. Like many SMBs, the IT team was small. There was no capacity to manage a sprawling collection of security tools, vendors, and dashboards. What they needed was a solution that provided broad coverage without increasing operational complexity. To find that solution, the IT Director evaluated five different cybersecurity providers.
Why Traditional Security Proposals Didn’t Fit
Each provider brought strong individual capabilities to the table. However, none were able to deliver a complete solution that aligned with the organization’s needs. Some providers offered solid endpoint protection but relied on additional vendors for monitoring and response. Others focused on detection but required expensive add-ons to address gaps in visibility or control. In several cases, pricing quickly escalated once essential services were included.
What the IT Director was seeing was a familiar pattern: capable tools that worked well on their own, but not well together.
For a small IT team, that meant more time spent managing vendors, correlating alerts, and filling gaps—often at a higher total cost.
The Value of a Unified Security Stack
What ultimately changed the decision was not a single feature or product, but how the services fit together.
Stratus ip’s CIRRUS Cybersecurity Stack offered an integrated, à la carte approach that allowed the organization to build a complete security program without unnecessary overlap or fragmentation. Each service was designed to complement the others, creating broader coverage without introducing additional complexity.
Instead of managing multiple providers and platforms, the IT team gained a cohesive security environment that was easier to deploy, monitor, and maintain. Just as importantly, the total cost of the CIRRUS stack came in lower than competing proposals that still failed to address all of the organization’s requirements.
In short, they received more coverage at a lower cost—without adding strain to their internal team.
Why This Approach Resonates with SMB IT Leaders
This experience reflects a broader shift happening across the SMB landscape. CIOs, CTOs, and IT Directors are increasingly questioning whether a fragmented, best-of-breed model truly serves their organizations.
For teams with limited resources, integration matters as much as functionality. Security tools must work together in a way that reduces noise, improves visibility, and supports faster decision-making. Cost predictability also plays a major role, especially when budgets are under scrutiny.
A unified cybersecurity stack helps address these challenges by simplifying management, reducing gaps, and aligning security operations with the realities of smaller IT teams.
Rethinking How Cybersecurity Is Built
Cybersecurity does not need to be overly complex to be effective. For organizations building or rebuilding their security programs—whether due to growth, restructuring, or increased risk—a modular, integrated approach can provide the flexibility and protection they need without unnecessary overhead.
Rather than assembling a patchwork of tools, IT leaders are finding value in security services that are designed to work together from the start.
Final Thoughts
If your organization is evaluating cybersecurity providers and finding that no single solution seems to fully address your needs—or that costs continue to rise as services are added—it may be time to reassess how your security stack is structured.
A unified approach can often deliver stronger protection, better visibility, and lower operational burden than a collection of disconnected tools.
Interested in exploring what a unified cybersecurity stack could look like for your organization?
👉 Book a consultation with us to discuss your cybersecurity needs.
