The COVID-19 pandemic, changing customer expectations, and rapid digitalization necessitated organizations to future-proof their martech stack. To understand what more organizations need to future-proof their martech stack, Treasure Data surveyedOpens a new window over 400 decision-makers at organizations with 500 or more employees. The survey looked at current changes, outcomes, and the composition of their martech stacks.
It also asked a few questions like:
- What do companies expect to accomplish from their martech stacks?
- What are the challenges that prevent them from future-proofing their existing stack?
- What do they consider fundamental stack components?
It was discovered that most organizations consider tools and technologies such as account based marketing (ABM) platforms, mobile marketing, and customer journey analytics fundamental to their stack. Further, about 68% consider a customer data platform (CDP) fundamental, and 63% consider content marketing fundamental.
Technologies considered fundamental to martech stack
Source: The Best Martech Stack reportOpens a new window
With many companies using CDPs and the platforms having important cases, they have become table stakes for the martech stack. Some of the top use cases of CDP include unifying data and maintaining customer profiles (50%), enabling website personalization (47%), and building and maintaining targetable audience segments (45%). The ability of a CDP to perform will go a long way in how well a company can future-proof its stack.
See More: Creating a Martech Stack That Supports Agile Marketing
Potential Outcomes and Use Cases of Martech Stack
What do organizations expect to achieve from their current tools and tech? The survey found that organizations have lofty expectations. They expect significant improvements in their KPIs like time spent ensuring data quality, marketing effectiveness, and operational efficiency.
Level of expected improvement in KPIs if an ideal martech is in place
Source: The Best Martech Stack reportOpens a new window
So, how do companies evaluate the tools and platforms they use? The top consideration was found to be security (58%), followed by cost (38%), scalability (38%), and the capability to integrate with other systems (37%). Further, about 54% prefer a combination of the best of breed and integrated suites when purchasing new software.
Barriers To Future-Proofing Martech Stack
When working with various tools and technologies, organizations face several challenges. Combining them with challenges that come from outside the technology creates a barrier to future-proofing their martech stack. So, what are the top pain points companies face with their current stack? About 39% cited redundancy; they said they need to consolidate multiple redundant tools. About 31% said the ability to roll out new campaigns was too slow, and 30% said integration with adjacent tools was hard.
Going beyond the challenges with the technology itself, companies face operational challenges. For example, according to 46% of respondents, complexity in integrating the technologies is a problem. About 38% said that budget was an issue, 31% said lack of data security and privacy features was a challenge, and 28% said too many tools to choose from was a challenge.
Companies With ideal Martech Stack Do Things Differently
The survey also found that not all organizations have challenges with their martech stack. In fact, 27% of the respondents said their stack was ideal and met their needs, and about 56% said it was adequate. Only 17% said their current stack was insufficient. So, what can we learn from the organizations that said their martech stack is ideal?
The first main difference between the ones who cite ideal and adequate relates to the stack itself. The “ideal†group is more likely to use a wide range of marketing technology in their stack. They are also more likely to use a CDP. Using the right mix of tools and tech, this group can get the most out of its stack.
The second difference is related to the pain points. The main challenges that are vexing for the “insufficient†group become less important as businesses get more comfortable with their stack. Further, not only does the ideal group use a wide range of tools, but it also uses them to a greater extent.
A third major difference is related to their preferences regarding the combination of best of breed and integrated suites against the individual options alone. When it comes to the combination, the ideal group shows a stronger preference compared to the adequate and insufficient groups. Conversely, the insufficient group shows more inclination toward purely integrated suites. This suggests that as businesses become more mature with their stack, they move toward a hybrid blend.
See More: Marketers Are Leaning on CDPs To Adapt To New Privacy and Data Policies: New Study by Tealium
Future-Proofing Martech Stack Involves Marketing and IT Collaboration
Two departments play a primary role in incorporating marketing tools and technology — marketing and IT. The responsibility has increased since businesses went remote or hybrid over the last 1.5 years and as customer behavior has transformed. As such, it becomes imperative that both these departments work hand-in-hand to ensure they work together. Yet, there is much friction between them.
So, how can these two departments reduce their friction and better achieve their goals? There are a couple of actions they can take:
Understand how each department feels about the current stack
Both departments may differ in their opinion about the effectiveness and pain points of the stack. At the same time, there may be some common opinions as well. Here is a quick glimpse into how both perceive the martech stack pain points.
Current martech stack pain points
Source: The Best Martech Stack reportOpens a new window
As seen above, there may be a difference in what each team feels is the most irritating pain point. Hence, understanding how each department feels is crucial to come together and work out their differences.
Be united in achieving a common goal
For the major part, while IT is more concerned with the functioning of the stack, marketing is more focused on how it works. However, despite the differences, they can come together to achieve common organizational goals. For example, some of the marketing goals that are common to both are attracting new customers, retaining existing customers, and identifying at-risk customers. Hence, both departments can work together to identify the tools and platforms that help them achieve these goals. Additionally, they can identify tools and tech such as machine learning that can help them achieve their goals better.
The Key Takeaway
From the research, it is clear that future-proofing the martech stack involves a few things: A few tools and technologies that are fundamental to future-proofing the stack. At the same time, it is also necessary that the stack is optimized to achieve the intended goals. Further, an ideal stack would also emphasize more on having a combination of best of breed and integrated suites. Lastly, the marketing and IT teams should come together to address each other’s pain points and achieve the desired outcomes.
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