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Some Recent Thoughts...
Juicy Tidbits Without the "Tech Speak"
A compilation of ramblings about everything from HubSpot CMS development to data architecture, integrations and all the tech stuff you never knew you needed to know.
memeify the blog!
Blogs Listing - UPDATE 2024 (Jordan)
3 Signs your HubSpot Partner isn’t Equipped to Handle RevOps
Not every partner can help you really optimize your tech stack and take charge of your RevOps - and that's okay. You just have to know how to choose the right partner. Here's what you should know:
The Tech Stack Diet: Cutting Back while Reducing Collateral Damage
Looking to cut back on your tech stack? Here's your tech stack diet guide.
Over time, the HubSpot platform has evolved with the launch of new Hubs and more in-depth reporting and analytics capabilities. As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
\n\n
The increasing complexities of the HubSpot platform, integration possibilities, custom reporting and analytics tools require a specialist that can really unpack data architecture and set an organization up for success. In a world of fancy presentations and big, elite agencies - few individuals have what it takes to dig into your data architecture, understand your tech stack and give you the ROI you’re looking for when it comes to each department inside your organization. From optimizing marketing spend to really organizing your sales pipeline to streamlining the handoff between sales and service - your HubSpot partner may not have what it takes to get you to where you want to go.
\n\n
![\"e8df23cc-9bfe-4776-ae54-22d67d47f15a-6442-000008859e923c5f\"](\"https://6534445.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/6534445/BLOG%20Images/e8df23cc-9bfe-4776-ae54-22d67d47f15a-6442-000008859e923c5f.png\")
According to a study from Digital Commerce 360, Marketers waste 21% of their marketing budgets because of bad data. With a tool as powerful as HubSpot, custom reports that leverage a properly planned data structure can eliminate a huge portion of waste marketing spend. But that’s only if your partner really knows HubSpot. I mean *REALLY* knows HubSpot.
\n
Big, elite agencies inside the HubSpot culture definitely know HubSpot, but the problem you’ll run into most often is that the people that know the most aren’t always the people working on organizing your data architecture and portal, they’re the ones selling or sitting back and collecting your retainers while shipping off your account to junior team members. It’s a model that works for marketing, but not for specialized analytics reporting for a scaling mid-sized or enterprise business.
\n\n
If you’re struggling to find an agency or technical, specialized partner that truly understands you and has what it takes to help your business scale into HubSpot and boost revenue and efficiency, you’re not alone.
\n\n
Here are some signs that your HubSpot Partner isn’t equipped to help you optimize RevOps:
\nYour meetings are more pomp and circumstance than data and business discussion
\n\n
You already know that more data, an optimized tech stack and integrated systems and software are the path you need to take to really optimize the revenue inside your organization - but if you have to sit through one more junior level ethos presentation, you’re ready to throw in the towel.
\n\n
There’s a time and place for getting to know who your agency is for sure, but modern, savvy revenue-focused executives need more than that. If you’re trying to move beyond the small talk to vet your agency and continue to hit roadblocks in trying to do so - this might be a red flag that your account executive, salesperson or consultant or the agency as a whole doesn’t truly understand your business goals.
\n\n
Your initial consultation should go beyond surface level. Ditch the small talk and start talking about which platforms and applications you’re using, the number of apps inside your company, your woes with sales and marketing handoff, and the like. We’re not here to sell you the fluff that comes with understanding Inbound Marketing. Your organization not only knows and understands all the concepts of a great marketing plan (that’s why you’re considering HubSpot to begin with), but you probably already have an entire team on staff to help make it happen. What we’re here for is to optimize what you’re already doing. To set up really comprehensive reporting, to better understand your pipeline and to help you deliver even better customer service by integrating data to keep marketing, sales and service - and your executive team all on the same page.
\n\n
Marketing and marketing analytics industries at large haven’t been around forever and just because your agency is filled with young talent doesn’t always mean they don’t know what’s going on. However, if you find yourself sitting in meetings with junior level employees banging your head against the wall because they aren’t taking the time to truly understand your needs from a data analytics perspective, they might not be the right agency for you.
\n\n
Their integration capabilities are outsourced or non-existent
\n\n
The rise of the technical partner is something that we’ve discussed ongoing for some time relative to the success of any business inside HubSpot, and it’s worth discussing over (and over) again. If you can’t integrate your biggest line of business applications with HubSpot, you will not get the kind of adoption and analytics for your organization that you need.
\n\n
In short? If you’re not willing to invest in an integration, don’t buy HubSpot.
\n\n
Maybe that sounds harsh, but for mid-sized or enterprise organizations with the budget to really integrate HubSpot into their business processes, it’s not an option. Maybe you initially signed up for HubSpot because of the cool marketing automation abilities, but if you’re a revenue-driven, growth-oriented organization? You have no choice but to take a deep dive into some of the Pro and Enterprise level features, pay for custom integrations and bridge the gap between the applications you use and the platform that will empower your departments and executive team to make the best possible revenue-led business decisions.
\n\n
A HubSpot Partner that doesn’t offer integrations in house or doesn’t offer them at all isn’t a good fit for a large-scale organization that’s trying to really build their business around the reporting and analytics that HubSpot offers. Why? Because your growth should be a central focus for them, and while you can grow without business application integrations - you can scale much more easily when you take the time to pass data back and forth between your applications. It just makes sense. It saves time, it gives you more accurate reporting and empowers analytics and reports for better business insight and decision-making.
\n\n
If you’re a mid-sized or enterprise organization, you’re going to need integrations at some point. By working with an integrations partner at the outset that focuses on this - or a marketing partner with a good amount of experience in dealing with a specialized partner that can handle your integration, you’re in a much better position than having to reactively seek out a new partner after you’ve already configured your HubSpot platform and reporting without that integration and data.
\n\n
Related: HubSpot Architects + HubSpot Developers = Perfect Custom HubSpot Integrations
\nYour tech stack isn't immediately addressed
\n\n
When it comes to how your HubSpot is implemented, your tech stack plays an integral role in determining the configuration of your reporting, custom objects and more. Without knowing how your data is currently moving inside and through the different departments and applications in your organization, it’s difficult to configure reporting and how your data should be set up to adequately report.
\n\n
Before any implementation or onboarding, or even (in our opinions) before you consider HubSpot as a platform at all, you should really have an expert look closely at your tech stack, what applications you use to manage your data and processes and where opportunities may exist to consolidate or reduce redundancies.
\n\n
A skilled implementation specialist won’t just be a technical resource to take orders from you and execute them, but a full on consultant to unpack and pick apart your processes and applications and get a more comprehensive idea of your overall needs and goals and how HubSpot can service them. A discussion of your data, the applications that you use internally and your workflows and processes is critical prior to the adoption of the HubSpot Platform. You might want to download a tech stack audit worksheet or similar tool to help you prepare for your initial conversations surrounding HubSpot as a platform and any partner that you’re considering integrating into your HubSpot experience.
\n\n
If your partner mentions getting on boarded on HubSpot before discussing integrations or tech stack updates, that could be a potential red flag. They may just be a marketing partner - and while there’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, you’ll want to make sure to integrate the technical element into the equation before you make your decision. If you don’t? You could end up hiring the wrong Partner, with the wrong HubSpot tiers or not leveraging the Platform to its full potential - or maybe at all if your implementation is delayed or not integrated deeply enough into your department processes. We’ve seen this far too often and a mishandled Hubspot implementation could cost you big time in your business decisions, revenue and even cause you to lose employees.
\n\n
Related: Saving the most on HubSpot starts with a technical partner
\n\n
Odds are good that you’re investing a significant budget into HubSpot because you believe in the power it has to transform not just your marketing and analytics, but your organization as a whole. The enhancements that HubSpot has made over its lifetime to date have been huge for helping midsized and enterprise organizations be more empowered over data management to make better business decisions.
\n\n
By partnering with the right people from the outset, you can shorten the length of time it takes your organization to go live with the software, reduce overall technology spend, optimize your processes and pass-off between marketing, sales and service and really hone in on the pieces of data that will help you make empowered, focused decisions for scaling.
\n\n
If you’re currently working with or vetting HubSpot partners or HubSpot as a platform itself, you need someone that understands your business, has enough experience with integrations and technology to help demystify how things will work together and get you started on the right foot.
\n\n
Be sure to vet your HubSpot partner closely and let them do a little digging and understand their strategy more before you make any other decisions regarding your HubSpot subscription and who will set up and maintain your portal. An ongoing relationship with a skilled architect is critical to your success.
\n
Over time, the HubSpot platform has evolved with the launch of new Hubs and more in-depth reporting and analytics capabilities. As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
\n","blog_post_schedule_task_uid":null,"blog_publish_to_social_media_task":"DONE_NOT_SENT","blog_publish_instant_email_task_uid":null,"blog_publish_instant_email_campaign_id":null,"blog_publish_instant_email_retry_count":null,"rss_body":"Over time, the HubSpot platform has evolved with the launch of new Hubs and more in-depth reporting and analytics capabilities. As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
\n\n
The increasing complexities of the HubSpot platform, integration possibilities, custom reporting and analytics tools require a specialist that can really unpack data architecture and set an organization up for success. In a world of fancy presentations and big, elite agencies - few individuals have what it takes to dig into your data architecture, understand your tech stack and give you the ROI you’re looking for when it comes to each department inside your organization. From optimizing marketing spend to really organizing your sales pipeline to streamlining the handoff between sales and service - your HubSpot partner may not have what it takes to get you to where you want to go.
\n\n
According to a study from Digital Commerce 360, Marketers waste 21% of their marketing budgets because of bad data. With a tool as powerful as HubSpot, custom reports that leverage a properly planned data structure can eliminate a huge portion of waste marketing spend. But that’s only if your partner really knows HubSpot. I mean *REALLY* knows HubSpot.
\n
Big, elite agencies inside the HubSpot culture definitely know HubSpot, but the problem you’ll run into most often is that the people that know the most aren’t always the people working on organizing your data architecture and portal, they’re the ones selling or sitting back and collecting your retainers while shipping off your account to junior team members. It’s a model that works for marketing, but not for specialized analytics reporting for a scaling mid-sized or enterprise business.
\n\n
If you’re struggling to find an agency or technical, specialized partner that truly understands you and has what it takes to help your business scale into HubSpot and boost revenue and efficiency, you’re not alone.
\n\n
Here are some signs that your HubSpot Partner isn’t equipped to help you optimize RevOps:
\nYour meetings are more pomp and circumstance than data and business discussion
\n\n
You already know that more data, an optimized tech stack and integrated systems and software are the path you need to take to really optimize the revenue inside your organization - but if you have to sit through one more junior level ethos presentation, you’re ready to throw in the towel.
\n\n
There’s a time and place for getting to know who your agency is for sure, but modern, savvy revenue-focused executives need more than that. If you’re trying to move beyond the small talk to vet your agency and continue to hit roadblocks in trying to do so - this might be a red flag that your account executive, salesperson or consultant or the agency as a whole doesn’t truly understand your business goals.
\n\n
Your initial consultation should go beyond surface level. Ditch the small talk and start talking about which platforms and applications you’re using, the number of apps inside your company, your woes with sales and marketing handoff, and the like. We’re not here to sell you the fluff that comes with understanding Inbound Marketing. Your organization not only knows and understands all the concepts of a great marketing plan (that’s why you’re considering HubSpot to begin with), but you probably already have an entire team on staff to help make it happen. What we’re here for is to optimize what you’re already doing. To set up really comprehensive reporting, to better understand your pipeline and to help you deliver even better customer service by integrating data to keep marketing, sales and service - and your executive team all on the same page.
\n\n
Marketing and marketing analytics industries at large haven’t been around forever and just because your agency is filled with young talent doesn’t always mean they don’t know what’s going on. However, if you find yourself sitting in meetings with junior level employees banging your head against the wall because they aren’t taking the time to truly understand your needs from a data analytics perspective, they might not be the right agency for you.
\n\n
Their integration capabilities are outsourced or non-existent
\n\n
The rise of the technical partner is something that we’ve discussed ongoing for some time relative to the success of any business inside HubSpot, and it’s worth discussing over (and over) again. If you can’t integrate your biggest line of business applications with HubSpot, you will not get the kind of adoption and analytics for your organization that you need.
\n\n
In short? If you’re not willing to invest in an integration, don’t buy HubSpot.
\n\n
Maybe that sounds harsh, but for mid-sized or enterprise organizations with the budget to really integrate HubSpot into their business processes, it’s not an option. Maybe you initially signed up for HubSpot because of the cool marketing automation abilities, but if you’re a revenue-driven, growth-oriented organization? You have no choice but to take a deep dive into some of the Pro and Enterprise level features, pay for custom integrations and bridge the gap between the applications you use and the platform that will empower your departments and executive team to make the best possible revenue-led business decisions.
\n\n
A HubSpot Partner that doesn’t offer integrations in house or doesn’t offer them at all isn’t a good fit for a large-scale organization that’s trying to really build their business around the reporting and analytics that HubSpot offers. Why? Because your growth should be a central focus for them, and while you can grow without business application integrations - you can scale much more easily when you take the time to pass data back and forth between your applications. It just makes sense. It saves time, it gives you more accurate reporting and empowers analytics and reports for better business insight and decision-making.
\n\n
If you’re a mid-sized or enterprise organization, you’re going to need integrations at some point. By working with an integrations partner at the outset that focuses on this - or a marketing partner with a good amount of experience in dealing with a specialized partner that can handle your integration, you’re in a much better position than having to reactively seek out a new partner after you’ve already configured your HubSpot platform and reporting without that integration and data.
\n\n
Related: HubSpot Architects + HubSpot Developers = Perfect Custom HubSpot Integrations
\nYour tech stack isn't immediately addressed
\n\n
When it comes to how your HubSpot is implemented, your tech stack plays an integral role in determining the configuration of your reporting, custom objects and more. Without knowing how your data is currently moving inside and through the different departments and applications in your organization, it’s difficult to configure reporting and how your data should be set up to adequately report.
\n\n
Before any implementation or onboarding, or even (in our opinions) before you consider HubSpot as a platform at all, you should really have an expert look closely at your tech stack, what applications you use to manage your data and processes and where opportunities may exist to consolidate or reduce redundancies.
\n\n
A skilled implementation specialist won’t just be a technical resource to take orders from you and execute them, but a full on consultant to unpack and pick apart your processes and applications and get a more comprehensive idea of your overall needs and goals and how HubSpot can service them. A discussion of your data, the applications that you use internally and your workflows and processes is critical prior to the adoption of the HubSpot Platform. You might want to download a tech stack audit worksheet or similar tool to help you prepare for your initial conversations surrounding HubSpot as a platform and any partner that you’re considering integrating into your HubSpot experience.
\n\n
If your partner mentions getting on boarded on HubSpot before discussing integrations or tech stack updates, that could be a potential red flag. They may just be a marketing partner - and while there’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, you’ll want to make sure to integrate the technical element into the equation before you make your decision. If you don’t? You could end up hiring the wrong Partner, with the wrong HubSpot tiers or not leveraging the Platform to its full potential - or maybe at all if your implementation is delayed or not integrated deeply enough into your department processes. We’ve seen this far too often and a mishandled Hubspot implementation could cost you big time in your business decisions, revenue and even cause you to lose employees.
\n\n
Related: Saving the most on HubSpot starts with a technical partner
\n\n
Odds are good that you’re investing a significant budget into HubSpot because you believe in the power it has to transform not just your marketing and analytics, but your organization as a whole. The enhancements that HubSpot has made over its lifetime to date have been huge for helping midsized and enterprise organizations be more empowered over data management to make better business decisions.
\n\n
By partnering with the right people from the outset, you can shorten the length of time it takes your organization to go live with the software, reduce overall technology spend, optimize your processes and pass-off between marketing, sales and service and really hone in on the pieces of data that will help you make empowered, focused decisions for scaling.
\n\n
If you’re currently working with or vetting HubSpot partners or HubSpot as a platform itself, you need someone that understands your business, has enough experience with integrations and technology to help demystify how things will work together and get you started on the right foot.
\n\n
Be sure to vet your HubSpot partner closely and let them do a little digging and understand their strategy more before you make any other decisions regarding your HubSpot subscription and who will set up and maintain your portal. An ongoing relationship with a skilled architect is critical to your success.
\n
Over time, the HubSpot platform has evolved with the launch of new Hubs and more in-depth reporting and analytics capabilities. As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
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As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
\n\n
The increasing complexities of the HubSpot platform, integration possibilities, custom reporting and analytics tools require a specialist that can really unpack data architecture and set an organization up for success. In a world of fancy presentations and big, elite agencies - few individuals have what it takes to dig into your data architecture, understand your tech stack and give you the ROI you’re looking for when it comes to each department inside your organization. From optimizing marketing spend to really organizing your sales pipeline to streamlining the handoff between sales and service - your HubSpot partner may not have what it takes to get you to where you want to go.
\n\n
According to a study from Digital Commerce 360, Marketers waste 21% of their marketing budgets because of bad data. With a tool as powerful as HubSpot, custom reports that leverage a properly planned data structure can eliminate a huge portion of waste marketing spend. But that’s only if your partner really knows HubSpot. I mean *REALLY* knows HubSpot.
\n
Big, elite agencies inside the HubSpot culture definitely know HubSpot, but the problem you’ll run into most often is that the people that know the most aren’t always the people working on organizing your data architecture and portal, they’re the ones selling or sitting back and collecting your retainers while shipping off your account to junior team members. It’s a model that works for marketing, but not for specialized analytics reporting for a scaling mid-sized or enterprise business.
\n\n
If you’re struggling to find an agency or technical, specialized partner that truly understands you and has what it takes to help your business scale into HubSpot and boost revenue and efficiency, you’re not alone.
\n\n
Here are some signs that your HubSpot Partner isn’t equipped to help you optimize RevOps:
\nYour meetings are more pomp and circumstance than data and business discussion
\n\n
You already know that more data, an optimized tech stack and integrated systems and software are the path you need to take to really optimize the revenue inside your organization - but if you have to sit through one more junior level ethos presentation, you’re ready to throw in the towel.
\n\n
There’s a time and place for getting to know who your agency is for sure, but modern, savvy revenue-focused executives need more than that. If you’re trying to move beyond the small talk to vet your agency and continue to hit roadblocks in trying to do so - this might be a red flag that your account executive, salesperson or consultant or the agency as a whole doesn’t truly understand your business goals.
\n\n
Your initial consultation should go beyond surface level. Ditch the small talk and start talking about which platforms and applications you’re using, the number of apps inside your company, your woes with sales and marketing handoff, and the like. We’re not here to sell you the fluff that comes with understanding Inbound Marketing. Your organization not only knows and understands all the concepts of a great marketing plan (that’s why you’re considering HubSpot to begin with), but you probably already have an entire team on staff to help make it happen. What we’re here for is to optimize what you’re already doing. To set up really comprehensive reporting, to better understand your pipeline and to help you deliver even better customer service by integrating data to keep marketing, sales and service - and your executive team all on the same page.
\n\n
Marketing and marketing analytics industries at large haven’t been around forever and just because your agency is filled with young talent doesn’t always mean they don’t know what’s going on. However, if you find yourself sitting in meetings with junior level employees banging your head against the wall because they aren’t taking the time to truly understand your needs from a data analytics perspective, they might not be the right agency for you.
\n\n
Their integration capabilities are outsourced or non-existent
\n\n
The rise of the technical partner is something that we’ve discussed ongoing for some time relative to the success of any business inside HubSpot, and it’s worth discussing over (and over) again. If you can’t integrate your biggest line of business applications with HubSpot, you will not get the kind of adoption and analytics for your organization that you need.
\n\n
In short? If you’re not willing to invest in an integration, don’t buy HubSpot.
\n\n
Maybe that sounds harsh, but for mid-sized or enterprise organizations with the budget to really integrate HubSpot into their business processes, it’s not an option. Maybe you initially signed up for HubSpot because of the cool marketing automation abilities, but if you’re a revenue-driven, growth-oriented organization? You have no choice but to take a deep dive into some of the Pro and Enterprise level features, pay for custom integrations and bridge the gap between the applications you use and the platform that will empower your departments and executive team to make the best possible revenue-led business decisions.
\n\n
A HubSpot Partner that doesn’t offer integrations in house or doesn’t offer them at all isn’t a good fit for a large-scale organization that’s trying to really build their business around the reporting and analytics that HubSpot offers. Why? Because your growth should be a central focus for them, and while you can grow without business application integrations - you can scale much more easily when you take the time to pass data back and forth between your applications. It just makes sense. It saves time, it gives you more accurate reporting and empowers analytics and reports for better business insight and decision-making.
\n\n
If you’re a mid-sized or enterprise organization, you’re going to need integrations at some point. By working with an integrations partner at the outset that focuses on this - or a marketing partner with a good amount of experience in dealing with a specialized partner that can handle your integration, you’re in a much better position than having to reactively seek out a new partner after you’ve already configured your HubSpot platform and reporting without that integration and data.
\n\n
Related: HubSpot Architects + HubSpot Developers = Perfect Custom HubSpot Integrations
\nYour tech stack isn't immediately addressed
\n\n
When it comes to how your HubSpot is implemented, your tech stack plays an integral role in determining the configuration of your reporting, custom objects and more. Without knowing how your data is currently moving inside and through the different departments and applications in your organization, it’s difficult to configure reporting and how your data should be set up to adequately report.
\n\n
Before any implementation or onboarding, or even (in our opinions) before you consider HubSpot as a platform at all, you should really have an expert look closely at your tech stack, what applications you use to manage your data and processes and where opportunities may exist to consolidate or reduce redundancies.
\n\n
A skilled implementation specialist won’t just be a technical resource to take orders from you and execute them, but a full on consultant to unpack and pick apart your processes and applications and get a more comprehensive idea of your overall needs and goals and how HubSpot can service them. A discussion of your data, the applications that you use internally and your workflows and processes is critical prior to the adoption of the HubSpot Platform. You might want to download a tech stack audit worksheet or similar tool to help you prepare for your initial conversations surrounding HubSpot as a platform and any partner that you’re considering integrating into your HubSpot experience.
\n\n
If your partner mentions getting on boarded on HubSpot before discussing integrations or tech stack updates, that could be a potential red flag. They may just be a marketing partner - and while there’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, you’ll want to make sure to integrate the technical element into the equation before you make your decision. If you don’t? You could end up hiring the wrong Partner, with the wrong HubSpot tiers or not leveraging the Platform to its full potential - or maybe at all if your implementation is delayed or not integrated deeply enough into your department processes. We’ve seen this far too often and a mishandled Hubspot implementation could cost you big time in your business decisions, revenue and even cause you to lose employees.
\n\n
Related: Saving the most on HubSpot starts with a technical partner
\n\n
Odds are good that you’re investing a significant budget into HubSpot because you believe in the power it has to transform not just your marketing and analytics, but your organization as a whole. The enhancements that HubSpot has made over its lifetime to date have been huge for helping midsized and enterprise organizations be more empowered over data management to make better business decisions.
\n\n
By partnering with the right people from the outset, you can shorten the length of time it takes your organization to go live with the software, reduce overall technology spend, optimize your processes and pass-off between marketing, sales and service and really hone in on the pieces of data that will help you make empowered, focused decisions for scaling.
\n\n
If you’re currently working with or vetting HubSpot partners or HubSpot as a platform itself, you need someone that understands your business, has enough experience with integrations and technology to help demystify how things will work together and get you started on the right foot.
\n\n
Be sure to vet your HubSpot partner closely and let them do a little digging and understand their strategy more before you make any other decisions regarding your HubSpot subscription and who will set up and maintain your portal. An ongoing relationship with a skilled architect is critical to your success.
\n
Over time, the HubSpot platform has evolved with the launch of new Hubs and more in-depth reporting and analytics capabilities. As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
\n\n
The increasing complexities of the HubSpot platform, integration possibilities, custom reporting and analytics tools require a specialist that can really unpack data architecture and set an organization up for success. In a world of fancy presentations and big, elite agencies - few individuals have what it takes to dig into your data architecture, understand your tech stack and give you the ROI you’re looking for when it comes to each department inside your organization. From optimizing marketing spend to really organizing your sales pipeline to streamlining the handoff between sales and service - your HubSpot partner may not have what it takes to get you to where you want to go.
\n\n
According to a study from Digital Commerce 360, Marketers waste 21% of their marketing budgets because of bad data. With a tool as powerful as HubSpot, custom reports that leverage a properly planned data structure can eliminate a huge portion of waste marketing spend. But that’s only if your partner really knows HubSpot. I mean *REALLY* knows HubSpot.
\n
Big, elite agencies inside the HubSpot culture definitely know HubSpot, but the problem you’ll run into most often is that the people that know the most aren’t always the people working on organizing your data architecture and portal, they’re the ones selling or sitting back and collecting your retainers while shipping off your account to junior team members. It’s a model that works for marketing, but not for specialized analytics reporting for a scaling mid-sized or enterprise business.
\n\n
If you’re struggling to find an agency or technical, specialized partner that truly understands you and has what it takes to help your business scale into HubSpot and boost revenue and efficiency, you’re not alone.
\n\n
Here are some signs that your HubSpot Partner isn’t equipped to help you optimize RevOps:
\nYour meetings are more pomp and circumstance than data and business discussion
\n\n
You already know that more data, an optimized tech stack and integrated systems and software are the path you need to take to really optimize the revenue inside your organization - but if you have to sit through one more junior level ethos presentation, you’re ready to throw in the towel.
\n\n
There’s a time and place for getting to know who your agency is for sure, but modern, savvy revenue-focused executives need more than that. If you’re trying to move beyond the small talk to vet your agency and continue to hit roadblocks in trying to do so - this might be a red flag that your account executive, salesperson or consultant or the agency as a whole doesn’t truly understand your business goals.
\n\n
Your initial consultation should go beyond surface level. Ditch the small talk and start talking about which platforms and applications you’re using, the number of apps inside your company, your woes with sales and marketing handoff, and the like. We’re not here to sell you the fluff that comes with understanding Inbound Marketing. Your organization not only knows and understands all the concepts of a great marketing plan (that’s why you’re considering HubSpot to begin with), but you probably already have an entire team on staff to help make it happen. What we’re here for is to optimize what you’re already doing. To set up really comprehensive reporting, to better understand your pipeline and to help you deliver even better customer service by integrating data to keep marketing, sales and service - and your executive team all on the same page.
\n\n
Marketing and marketing analytics industries at large haven’t been around forever and just because your agency is filled with young talent doesn’t always mean they don’t know what’s going on. However, if you find yourself sitting in meetings with junior level employees banging your head against the wall because they aren’t taking the time to truly understand your needs from a data analytics perspective, they might not be the right agency for you.
\n\n
Their integration capabilities are outsourced or non-existent
\n\n
The rise of the technical partner is something that we’ve discussed ongoing for some time relative to the success of any business inside HubSpot, and it’s worth discussing over (and over) again. If you can’t integrate your biggest line of business applications with HubSpot, you will not get the kind of adoption and analytics for your organization that you need.
\n\n
In short? If you’re not willing to invest in an integration, don’t buy HubSpot.
\n\n
Maybe that sounds harsh, but for mid-sized or enterprise organizations with the budget to really integrate HubSpot into their business processes, it’s not an option. Maybe you initially signed up for HubSpot because of the cool marketing automation abilities, but if you’re a revenue-driven, growth-oriented organization? You have no choice but to take a deep dive into some of the Pro and Enterprise level features, pay for custom integrations and bridge the gap between the applications you use and the platform that will empower your departments and executive team to make the best possible revenue-led business decisions.
\n\n
A HubSpot Partner that doesn’t offer integrations in house or doesn’t offer them at all isn’t a good fit for a large-scale organization that’s trying to really build their business around the reporting and analytics that HubSpot offers. Why? Because your growth should be a central focus for them, and while you can grow without business application integrations - you can scale much more easily when you take the time to pass data back and forth between your applications. It just makes sense. It saves time, it gives you more accurate reporting and empowers analytics and reports for better business insight and decision-making.
\n\n
If you’re a mid-sized or enterprise organization, you’re going to need integrations at some point. By working with an integrations partner at the outset that focuses on this - or a marketing partner with a good amount of experience in dealing with a specialized partner that can handle your integration, you’re in a much better position than having to reactively seek out a new partner after you’ve already configured your HubSpot platform and reporting without that integration and data.
\n\n
Related: HubSpot Architects + HubSpot Developers = Perfect Custom HubSpot Integrations
\nYour tech stack isn't immediately addressed
\n\n
When it comes to how your HubSpot is implemented, your tech stack plays an integral role in determining the configuration of your reporting, custom objects and more. Without knowing how your data is currently moving inside and through the different departments and applications in your organization, it’s difficult to configure reporting and how your data should be set up to adequately report.
\n\n
Before any implementation or onboarding, or even (in our opinions) before you consider HubSpot as a platform at all, you should really have an expert look closely at your tech stack, what applications you use to manage your data and processes and where opportunities may exist to consolidate or reduce redundancies.
\n\n
A skilled implementation specialist won’t just be a technical resource to take orders from you and execute them, but a full on consultant to unpack and pick apart your processes and applications and get a more comprehensive idea of your overall needs and goals and how HubSpot can service them. A discussion of your data, the applications that you use internally and your workflows and processes is critical prior to the adoption of the HubSpot Platform. You might want to download a tech stack audit worksheet or similar tool to help you prepare for your initial conversations surrounding HubSpot as a platform and any partner that you’re considering integrating into your HubSpot experience.
\n\n
If your partner mentions getting on boarded on HubSpot before discussing integrations or tech stack updates, that could be a potential red flag. They may just be a marketing partner - and while there’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, you’ll want to make sure to integrate the technical element into the equation before you make your decision. If you don’t? You could end up hiring the wrong Partner, with the wrong HubSpot tiers or not leveraging the Platform to its full potential - or maybe at all if your implementation is delayed or not integrated deeply enough into your department processes. We’ve seen this far too often and a mishandled Hubspot implementation could cost you big time in your business decisions, revenue and even cause you to lose employees.
\n\n
Related: Saving the most on HubSpot starts with a technical partner
\n\n
Odds are good that you’re investing a significant budget into HubSpot because you believe in the power it has to transform not just your marketing and analytics, but your organization as a whole. The enhancements that HubSpot has made over its lifetime to date have been huge for helping midsized and enterprise organizations be more empowered over data management to make better business decisions.
\n\n
By partnering with the right people from the outset, you can shorten the length of time it takes your organization to go live with the software, reduce overall technology spend, optimize your processes and pass-off between marketing, sales and service and really hone in on the pieces of data that will help you make empowered, focused decisions for scaling.
\n\n
If you’re currently working with or vetting HubSpot partners or HubSpot as a platform itself, you need someone that understands your business, has enough experience with integrations and technology to help demystify how things will work together and get you started on the right foot.
\n\n
Be sure to vet your HubSpot partner closely and let them do a little digging and understand their strategy more before you make any other decisions regarding your HubSpot subscription and who will set up and maintain your portal. An ongoing relationship with a skilled architect is critical to your success.
\n
Over time, the HubSpot platform has evolved with the launch of new Hubs and more in-depth reporting and analytics capabilities. As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
","postFeaturedImageIfEnabled":"https://6534445.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/6534445/BLOG%20Images/e8df23cc-9bfe-4776-ae54-22d67d47f15a-6442-000008859e923c5f.png","postListContent":"Over time, the HubSpot platform has evolved with the launch of new Hubs and more in-depth reporting and analytics capabilities. As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
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\n\n
The increasing complexities of the HubSpot platform, integration possibilities, custom reporting and analytics tools require a specialist that can really unpack data architecture and set an organization up for success. In a world of fancy presentations and big, elite agencies - few individuals have what it takes to dig into your data architecture, understand your tech stack and give you the ROI you’re looking for when it comes to each department inside your organization. From optimizing marketing spend to really organizing your sales pipeline to streamlining the handoff between sales and service - your HubSpot partner may not have what it takes to get you to where you want to go.
\n\n
According to a study from Digital Commerce 360, Marketers waste 21% of their marketing budgets because of bad data. With a tool as powerful as HubSpot, custom reports that leverage a properly planned data structure can eliminate a huge portion of waste marketing spend. But that’s only if your partner really knows HubSpot. I mean *REALLY* knows HubSpot.
\n
Big, elite agencies inside the HubSpot culture definitely know HubSpot, but the problem you’ll run into most often is that the people that know the most aren’t always the people working on organizing your data architecture and portal, they’re the ones selling or sitting back and collecting your retainers while shipping off your account to junior team members. It’s a model that works for marketing, but not for specialized analytics reporting for a scaling mid-sized or enterprise business.
\n\n
If you’re struggling to find an agency or technical, specialized partner that truly understands you and has what it takes to help your business scale into HubSpot and boost revenue and efficiency, you’re not alone.
\n\n
Here are some signs that your HubSpot Partner isn’t equipped to help you optimize RevOps:
\nYour meetings are more pomp and circumstance than data and business discussion
\n\n
You already know that more data, an optimized tech stack and integrated systems and software are the path you need to take to really optimize the revenue inside your organization - but if you have to sit through one more junior level ethos presentation, you’re ready to throw in the towel.
\n\n
There’s a time and place for getting to know who your agency is for sure, but modern, savvy revenue-focused executives need more than that. If you’re trying to move beyond the small talk to vet your agency and continue to hit roadblocks in trying to do so - this might be a red flag that your account executive, salesperson or consultant or the agency as a whole doesn’t truly understand your business goals.
\n\n
Your initial consultation should go beyond surface level. Ditch the small talk and start talking about which platforms and applications you’re using, the number of apps inside your company, your woes with sales and marketing handoff, and the like. We’re not here to sell you the fluff that comes with understanding Inbound Marketing. Your organization not only knows and understands all the concepts of a great marketing plan (that’s why you’re considering HubSpot to begin with), but you probably already have an entire team on staff to help make it happen. What we’re here for is to optimize what you’re already doing. To set up really comprehensive reporting, to better understand your pipeline and to help you deliver even better customer service by integrating data to keep marketing, sales and service - and your executive team all on the same page.
\n\n
Marketing and marketing analytics industries at large haven’t been around forever and just because your agency is filled with young talent doesn’t always mean they don’t know what’s going on. However, if you find yourself sitting in meetings with junior level employees banging your head against the wall because they aren’t taking the time to truly understand your needs from a data analytics perspective, they might not be the right agency for you.
\n\n
Their integration capabilities are outsourced or non-existent
\n\n
The rise of the technical partner is something that we’ve discussed ongoing for some time relative to the success of any business inside HubSpot, and it’s worth discussing over (and over) again. If you can’t integrate your biggest line of business applications with HubSpot, you will not get the kind of adoption and analytics for your organization that you need.
\n\n
In short? If you’re not willing to invest in an integration, don’t buy HubSpot.
\n\n
Maybe that sounds harsh, but for mid-sized or enterprise organizations with the budget to really integrate HubSpot into their business processes, it’s not an option. Maybe you initially signed up for HubSpot because of the cool marketing automation abilities, but if you’re a revenue-driven, growth-oriented organization? You have no choice but to take a deep dive into some of the Pro and Enterprise level features, pay for custom integrations and bridge the gap between the applications you use and the platform that will empower your departments and executive team to make the best possible revenue-led business decisions.
\n\n
A HubSpot Partner that doesn’t offer integrations in house or doesn’t offer them at all isn’t a good fit for a large-scale organization that’s trying to really build their business around the reporting and analytics that HubSpot offers. Why? Because your growth should be a central focus for them, and while you can grow without business application integrations - you can scale much more easily when you take the time to pass data back and forth between your applications. It just makes sense. It saves time, it gives you more accurate reporting and empowers analytics and reports for better business insight and decision-making.
\n\n
If you’re a mid-sized or enterprise organization, you’re going to need integrations at some point. By working with an integrations partner at the outset that focuses on this - or a marketing partner with a good amount of experience in dealing with a specialized partner that can handle your integration, you’re in a much better position than having to reactively seek out a new partner after you’ve already configured your HubSpot platform and reporting without that integration and data.
\n\n
Related: HubSpot Architects + HubSpot Developers = Perfect Custom HubSpot Integrations
\nYour tech stack isn't immediately addressed
\n\n
When it comes to how your HubSpot is implemented, your tech stack plays an integral role in determining the configuration of your reporting, custom objects and more. Without knowing how your data is currently moving inside and through the different departments and applications in your organization, it’s difficult to configure reporting and how your data should be set up to adequately report.
\n\n
Before any implementation or onboarding, or even (in our opinions) before you consider HubSpot as a platform at all, you should really have an expert look closely at your tech stack, what applications you use to manage your data and processes and where opportunities may exist to consolidate or reduce redundancies.
\n\n
A skilled implementation specialist won’t just be a technical resource to take orders from you and execute them, but a full on consultant to unpack and pick apart your processes and applications and get a more comprehensive idea of your overall needs and goals and how HubSpot can service them. A discussion of your data, the applications that you use internally and your workflows and processes is critical prior to the adoption of the HubSpot Platform. You might want to download a tech stack audit worksheet or similar tool to help you prepare for your initial conversations surrounding HubSpot as a platform and any partner that you’re considering integrating into your HubSpot experience.
\n\n
If your partner mentions getting on boarded on HubSpot before discussing integrations or tech stack updates, that could be a potential red flag. They may just be a marketing partner - and while there’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, you’ll want to make sure to integrate the technical element into the equation before you make your decision. If you don’t? You could end up hiring the wrong Partner, with the wrong HubSpot tiers or not leveraging the Platform to its full potential - or maybe at all if your implementation is delayed or not integrated deeply enough into your department processes. We’ve seen this far too often and a mishandled Hubspot implementation could cost you big time in your business decisions, revenue and even cause you to lose employees.
\n\n
Related: Saving the most on HubSpot starts with a technical partner
\n\n
Odds are good that you’re investing a significant budget into HubSpot because you believe in the power it has to transform not just your marketing and analytics, but your organization as a whole. The enhancements that HubSpot has made over its lifetime to date have been huge for helping midsized and enterprise organizations be more empowered over data management to make better business decisions.
\n\n
By partnering with the right people from the outset, you can shorten the length of time it takes your organization to go live with the software, reduce overall technology spend, optimize your processes and pass-off between marketing, sales and service and really hone in on the pieces of data that will help you make empowered, focused decisions for scaling.
\n\n
If you’re currently working with or vetting HubSpot partners or HubSpot as a platform itself, you need someone that understands your business, has enough experience with integrations and technology to help demystify how things will work together and get you started on the right foot.
\n\n
Be sure to vet your HubSpot partner closely and let them do a little digging and understand their strategy more before you make any other decisions regarding your HubSpot subscription and who will set up and maintain your portal. An ongoing relationship with a skilled architect is critical to your success.
\n
Over time, the HubSpot platform has evolved with the launch of new Hubs and more in-depth reporting and analytics capabilities. As a result, HubSpot partners have engaged technical resources to become more involved in making HubSpot a truly viable platform in the mid-market and enterprise space.
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Tech Stack Diet: Cutting Back while Reducing Collateral Damage ","id":133854205738,"includeDefaultCustomCss":null,"isCaptchaRequired":true,"isCrawlableByBots":false,"isDraft":false,"isInstanceLayoutPage":false,"isInstantEmailEnabled":false,"isPublished":true,"isSocialPublishingEnabled":false,"keywords":[],"label":"The Tech Stack Diet: Cutting Back while Reducing Collateral Damage ","language":"en","lastEditSessionId":null,"lastEditUpdateId":null,"layoutSections":{},"legacyBlogTabid":null,"legacyId":null,"legacyPostGuid":null,"linkRelCanonicalUrl":null,"listTemplate":"","liveDomain":"deckerdevs.com","mab":false,"mabExperimentId":null,"mabMaster":false,"mabVariant":false,"meta":{"use_featured_image":true,"post_body":"Managing a growing tech stack as a new CMO or Marketing Director or even in a consulting role can be, well, complicated to say the least. It’s your job to optimize their marketing technology and budget, get more return out of their investments, bridge the gap between sales and marketing and really hone in their messaging, voice and strategy. No pressure. You already know what it’ll take to get this done: Hard conversations, getting as deep into the granular details of existing sales and marketing structures as possible and inevitably - pulling apart that tech stack and sometimes even ruffling feathers in other departments or with the rest of the executive team.
\n\n![\"tech](\"https://6534445.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/6534445/tech%20stack%20diet.jpg\")
Increasingly, employees and managers inside departments are seeking approval for applications that help make their job easier. While these applications may be inexpensive on their own, they can quickly add up and disrupt workflow, sometimes hiding access to important data for other aligned departments and overlapping features with existing technology inside the organization that isn’t widely adopted.
A bloated tech stack is an issue plaguing so many organizations and those tasked with cutting back the fat often catch the wrath of the employees, management and executives that brought in the application to begin with. In a complicated dance of compromise, here are our best tips for cutting back your tech stack while reducing collateral damage:
Log your calories.
\nAccording to ChiefMarTec.com, The average small business with 500 employees or less has 172 applications. Midmarket? 255 applications, on average. Enterprise organizations? 664 applications. The best way to cut fat is always to consume consciously and just like your calorie counting diet tracker, you need a document that establishes the long list of applications used inside your organization. A simple spreadsheet will do. Once you create it, you’ll want to add the following columns:
\n- \n
- name of the application \n
- the department that uses it \n
- who is in charge of the billing \n
- what role it plays in business processes \n
- number of users \n
- number of app integrations \n
- apps that you own that it integrates with already \n
- number of integrations you’re using \n
- renewal date / contract period \n
- total application cost \n
Through this exercise you’ll have a better understanding of the total budget spend throughout your organization on business applications, which may have overlapping features and learn how widely adopted they are throughout the organization.It is important not to cut applications based on budget spend alone, but to do a comprehensive analysis of the company’s overall application spend and see where consolidation may be available.
\n
Do some research.
\n
Picking the best diet for you requires that you rabbit hole into macro and micronutrients and create a plan and lifestyle around it - this is a great parallel for trimming down your tech stack, as well. By conducting individual interviews with the users of each application, you can gain a better understanding for how deeply this application is ingrained into the day to day lives of your employees.
Questions that you may want to ask:
\n- \n
- How often do you use this application? \n
- Which functions are most important to you? \n
- If you could gain the functionality that you have with this application through another application, would you consider
adopting another application? \n - Are you relying on the apps analytics? \n
- Are the analytics available to you sufficient? \n
- Would it be better to centralize your analytics instead? \n
- What features would you like to see that aren’t included in this app? \n
- What are the biggest workflow redundancies you’re experiencing in your role? \n
- What challenges still exist for you to most effectively execute in your role? \n
By asking questions not just about the application itself and understanding the big picture of the struggles of each individual role inside your organization, you can explore how other applications, integrations or process improvements can optimize while also potentially cutting expenses for underutilized or feature-redundant applications.
Analyze the value of what you’re consuming.
\n
It isn’t the amount of food you consume that causes the extra fat to accumulate, it’s the lacking nutrients in some of the food you’re consuming. So often analysts go into an organization’s technology stack looking to cut as much spend as possible, but we find that quality over quantity is the best approach here.
After you conduct your interviews, you can dig deeply into the ROI and use that you’re seeing from the applications used in each department. You can create test user accounts and dig into the features, create a short list of applications that may be up for renewal that you want to either negotiate down or eliminate entirely.
This is where the hard conversations will come in. Nothing worth having comes easy and there’s plenty of chance here to ruffle feathers and upset people that are responsible for bringing in those applications or who may be adverse to adopting new applications, even if they integrate better or provide the same functionality.
\n
In any difficult conversation, logic and facts are the most important, even though hierarchies and organizational politics have their own role. Present your data logically and unemotionally. While you may not always win, you can always be certain that if you’ve done your diligence in showing which applications are showing ROI and which are unnecessary when you stick to the facts.
Don’t miss hidden calories.
\n
You log all your meals, but might’ve forgotten that gas station candy bar. For the long term success of your technology, you need to catch all the missing pieces. Shadow IT is something that many don’t take into account when they’re performing technology audits, and it’s a very important consideration. Employees persistently pay for technology on their own and submit for reimbursement inside their organizations in the form of an expense report, yet these applications are rarely measured inside an organization’s tech stack.
While individual costs for applications may not be extreme, when small subscription costs for multiple applications multiply across hundreds of employees, they can have a significant impact on a business’ budget and application count. That doesn’t even take into account the potential issue for data privacy and security issues with employee-owned application subscriptions.
Take the time to do an audit of these subscriptions separately and determine where there may be trending needs and whether or not it may make sense to roll out this application companywide or which existing application inside the organization may suit this user’s needs just as well without the added expense.
Create a plan and stick to it.
\n
Take time to establish a strategy surrounding consolidating your technology application list without losing functionality. After analysis, execution will always net you the greatest results. What do you do with a diet plan? You execute it.
The features you need to save you money with one application may sometimes be obtained by upgrading your subscription with another software application. Having a beat on where your subscriptions are at, leveraging exactly what you’re paying for and consolidating where possible is the perfect starting point to reducing your technology spend and optimizing your budget, and potentially ultimately positively impacting data access, efficiency and productivity across your organization as a whole.
While this is a massive undertaking for any individual, especially a brand new CMO that may be new and transitioning from another role, it’s incredibly rewarding. By taking your time, diligently interviewing users, and establishing overall spend and number of applications, you can quickly help your executive team see where a lot of your budget is being spent and how best to optimize it. Always approach any tech stack audit with the company’s long term goals and vision in mind and choose compromise with technology that supports your users and their productivity.
If you encounter issues as you’re digging into your tech stack, and not quite sure where and how to optimize your analytics, or bridge the gap between your applications - a technical partner can help exponentially here.
","post_summary":"
Managing a growing tech stack as a new CMO or Marketing Director or even in a consulting role can be, well, complicated to say the least. It’s your job to optimize their marketing technology and budget, get more return out of their investments, bridge the gap between sales and marketing and really hone in their messaging, voice and strategy. No pressure. You already know what it’ll take to get this done: Hard conversations, getting as deep into the granular details of existing sales and marketing structures as possible and inevitably - pulling apart that tech stack and sometimes even ruffling feathers in other departments or with the rest of the executive team.
\n","blog_post_schedule_task_uid":null,"blog_publish_to_social_media_task":"DONE_NOT_SENT","blog_publish_instant_email_task_uid":null,"blog_publish_instant_email_campaign_id":null,"blog_publish_instant_email_retry_count":null,"rss_body":"Managing a growing tech stack as a new CMO or Marketing Director or even in a consulting role can be, well, complicated to say the least. It’s your job to optimize their marketing technology and budget, get more return out of their investments, bridge the gap between sales and marketing and really hone in their messaging, voice and strategy. No pressure. You already know what it’ll take to get this done: Hard conversations, getting as deep into the granular details of existing sales and marketing structures as possible and inevitably - pulling apart that tech stack and sometimes even ruffling feathers in other departments or with the rest of the executive team.
\n\n
Increasingly, employees and managers inside departments are seeking approval for applications that help make their job easier. While these applications may be inexpensive on their own, they can quickly add up and disrupt workflow, sometimes hiding access to important data for other aligned departments and overlapping features with existing technology inside the organization that isn’t widely adopted.
A bloated tech stack is an issue plaguing so many organizations and those tasked with cutting back the fat often catch the wrath of the employees, management and executives that brought in the application to begin with. In a complicated dance of compromise, here are our best tips for cutting back your tech stack while reducing collateral damage:
Log your calories.
\nAccording to ChiefMarTec.com, The average small business with 500 employees or less has 172 applications. Midmarket? 255 applications, on average. Enterprise organizations? 664 applications. The best way to cut fat is always to consume consciously and just like your calorie counting diet tracker, you need a document that establishes the long list of applications used inside your organization. A simple spreadsheet will do. Once you create it, you’ll want to add the following columns:
\n- \n
- name of the application \n
- the department that uses it \n
- who is in charge of the billing \n
- what role it plays in business processes \n
- number of users \n
- number of app integrations \n
- apps that you own that it integrates with already \n
- number of integrations you’re using \n
- renewal date / contract period \n
- total application cost \n
Through this exercise you’ll have a better understanding of the total budget spend throughout your organization on business applications, which may have overlapping features and learn how widely adopted they are throughout the organization.It is important not to cut applications based on budget spend alone, but to do a comprehensive analysis of the company’s overall application spend and see where consolidation may be available.
\n
Do some research.
\n
Picking the best diet for you requires that you rabbit hole into macro and micronutrients and create a plan and lifestyle around it - this is a great parallel for trimming down your tech stack, as well. By conducting individual interviews with the users of each application, you can gain a better understanding for how deeply this application is ingrained into the day to day lives of your employees.
Questions that you may want to ask:
\n- \n
- How often do you use this application? \n
- Which functions are most important to you? \n
- If you could gain the functionality that you have with this application through another application, would you consider
adopting another application? \n - Are you relying on the apps analytics? \n
- Are the analytics available to you sufficient? \n
- Would it be better to centralize your analytics instead? \n
- What features would you like to see that aren’t included in this app? \n
- What are the biggest workflow redundancies you’re experiencing in your role? \n
- What challenges still exist for you to most effectively execute in your role? \n
By asking questions not just about the application itself and understanding the big picture of the struggles of each individual role inside your organization, you can explore how other applications, integrations or process improvements can optimize while also potentially cutting expenses for underutilized or feature-redundant applications.
Analyze the value of what you’re consuming.
\n
It isn’t the amount of food you consume that causes the extra fat to accumulate, it’s the lacking nutrients in some of the food you’re consuming. So often analysts go into an organization’s technology stack looking to cut as much spend as possible, but we find that quality over quantity is the best approach here.
After you conduct your interviews, you can dig deeply into the ROI and use that you’re seeing from the applications used in each department. You can create test user accounts and dig into the features, create a short list of applications that may be up for renewal that you want to either negotiate down or eliminate entirely.
This is where the hard conversations will come in. Nothing worth having comes easy and there’s plenty of chance here to ruffle feathers and upset people that are responsible for bringing in those applications or who may be adverse to adopting new applications, even if they integrate better or provide the same functionality.
\n
In any difficult conversation, logic and facts are the most important, even though hierarchies and organizational politics have their own role. Present your data logically and unemotionally. While you may not always win, you can always be certain that if you’ve done your diligence in showing which applications are showing ROI and which are unnecessary when you stick to the facts.
Don’t miss hidden calories.
\n
You log all your meals, but might’ve forgotten that gas station candy bar. For the long term success of your technology, you need to catch all the missing pieces. Shadow IT is something that many don’t take into account when they’re performing technology audits, and it’s a very important consideration. Employees persistently pay for technology on their own and submit for reimbursement inside their organizations in the form of an expense report, yet these applications are rarely measured inside an organization’s tech stack.
While individual costs for applications may not be extreme, when small subscription costs for multiple applications multiply across hundreds of employees, they can have a significant impact on a business’ budget and application count. That doesn’t even take into account the potential issue for data privacy and security issues with employee-owned application subscriptions.
Take the time to do an audit of these subscriptions separately and determine where there may be trending needs and whether or not it may make sense to roll out this application companywide or which existing application inside the organization may suit this user’s needs just as well without the added expense.
Create a plan and stick to it.
\n
Take time to establish a strategy surrounding consolidating your technology application list without losing functionality. After analysis, execution will always net you the greatest results. What do you do with a diet plan? You execute it.
The features you need to save you money with one application may sometimes be obtained by upgrading your subscription with another software application. Having a beat on where your subscriptions are at, leveraging exactly what you’re paying for and consolidating where possible is the perfect starting point to reducing your technology spend and optimizing your budget, and potentially ultimately positively impacting data access, efficiency and productivity across your organization as a whole.
While this is a massive undertaking for any individual, especially a brand new CMO that may be new and transitioning from another role, it’s incredibly rewarding. By taking your time, diligently interviewing users, and establishing overall spend and number of applications, you can quickly help your executive team see where a lot of your budget is being spent and how best to optimize it. Always approach any tech stack audit with the company’s long term goals and vision in mind and choose compromise with technology that supports your users and their productivity.
If you encounter issues as you’re digging into your tech stack, and not quite sure where and how to optimize your analytics, or bridge the gap between your applications - a technical partner can help exponentially here.
","rss_summary":"
Managing a growing tech stack as a new CMO or Marketing Director or even in a consulting role can be, well, complicated to say the least. It’s your job to optimize their marketing technology and budget, get more return out of their investments, bridge the gap between sales and marketing and really hone in their messaging, voice and strategy. No pressure. You already know what it’ll take to get this done: Hard conversations, getting as deep into the granular details of existing sales and marketing structures as possible and inevitably - pulling apart that tech stack and sometimes even ruffling feathers in other departments or with the rest of the executive team.
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It’s your job to optimize their marketing technology and budget, get more return out of their investments, bridge the gap between sales and marketing and really hone in their messaging, voice and strategy. No pressure. You already know what it’ll take to get this done: Hard conversations, getting as deep into the granular details of existing sales and marketing structures as possible and inevitably - pulling apart that tech stack and sometimes even ruffling feathers in other departments or with the rest of the executive team.
\n\n
Increasingly, employees and managers inside departments are seeking approval for applications that help make their job easier. While these applications may be inexpensive on their own, they can quickly add up and disrupt workflow, sometimes hiding access to important data for other aligned departments and overlapping features with existing technology inside the organization that isn’t widely adopted.
A bloated tech stack is an issue plaguing so many organizations and those tasked with cutting back the fat often catch the wrath of the employees, management and executives that brought in the application to begin with. In a complicated dance of compromise, here are our best tips for cutting back your tech stack while reducing collateral damage:
Log your calories.
\nAccording to ChiefMarTec.com, The average small business with 500 employees or less has 172 applications. Midmarket? 255 applications, on average. Enterprise organizations? 664 applications. The best way to cut fat is always to consume consciously and just like your calorie counting diet tracker, you need a document that establishes the long list of applications used inside your organization. A simple spreadsheet will do. Once you create it, you’ll want to add the following columns:
\n- \n
- name of the application \n
- the department that uses it \n
- who is in charge of the billing \n
- what role it plays in business processes \n
- number of users \n
- number of app integrations \n
- apps that you own that it integrates with already \n
- number of integrations you’re using \n
- renewal date / contract period \n
- total application cost \n
Through this exercise you’ll have a better understanding of the total budget spend throughout your organization on business applications, which may have overlapping features and learn how widely adopted they are throughout the organization.It is important not to cut applications based on budget spend alone, but to do a comprehensive analysis of the company’s overall application spend and see where consolidation may be available.
\n
Do some research.
\n
Picking the best diet for you requires that you rabbit hole into macro and micronutrients and create a plan and lifestyle around it - this is a great parallel for trimming down your tech stack, as well. By conducting individual interviews with the users of each application, you can gain a better understanding for how deeply this application is ingrained into the day to day lives of your employees.
Questions that you may want to ask:
\n- \n
- How often do you use this application? \n
- Which functions are most important to you? \n
- If you could gain the functionality that you have with this application through another application, would you consider
adopting another application? \n - Are you relying on the apps analytics? \n
- Are the analytics available to you sufficient? \n
- Would it be better to centralize your analytics instead? \n
- What features would you like to see that aren’t included in this app? \n
- What are the biggest workflow redundancies you’re experiencing in your role? \n
- What challenges still exist for you to most effectively execute in your role? \n
By asking questions not just about the application itself and understanding the big picture of the struggles of each individual role inside your organization, you can explore how other applications, integrations or process improvements can optimize while also potentially cutting expenses for underutilized or feature-redundant applications.
Analyze the value of what you’re consuming.
\n
It isn’t the amount of food you consume that causes the extra fat to accumulate, it’s the lacking nutrients in some of the food you’re consuming. So often analysts go into an organization’s technology stack looking to cut as much spend as possible, but we find that quality over quantity is the best approach here.
After you conduct your interviews, you can dig deeply into the ROI and use that you’re seeing from the applications used in each department. You can create test user accounts and dig into the features, create a short list of applications that may be up for renewal that you want to either negotiate down or eliminate entirely.
This is where the hard conversations will come in. Nothing worth having comes easy and there’s plenty of chance here to ruffle feathers and upset people that are responsible for bringing in those applications or who may be adverse to adopting new applications, even if they integrate better or provide the same functionality.
\n
In any difficult conversation, logic and facts are the most important, even though hierarchies and organizational politics have their own role. Present your data logically and unemotionally. While you may not always win, you can always be certain that if you’ve done your diligence in showing which applications are showing ROI and which are unnecessary when you stick to the facts.
Don’t miss hidden calories.
\n
You log all your meals, but might’ve forgotten that gas station candy bar. For the long term success of your technology, you need to catch all the missing pieces. Shadow IT is something that many don’t take into account when they’re performing technology audits, and it’s a very important consideration. Employees persistently pay for technology on their own and submit for reimbursement inside their organizations in the form of an expense report, yet these applications are rarely measured inside an organization’s tech stack.
While individual costs for applications may not be extreme, when small subscription costs for multiple applications multiply across hundreds of employees, they can have a significant impact on a business’ budget and application count. That doesn’t even take into account the potential issue for data privacy and security issues with employee-owned application subscriptions.
Take the time to do an audit of these subscriptions separately and determine where there may be trending needs and whether or not it may make sense to roll out this application companywide or which existing application inside the organization may suit this user’s needs just as well without the added expense.
Create a plan and stick to it.
\n
Take time to establish a strategy surrounding consolidating your technology application list without losing functionality. After analysis, execution will always net you the greatest results. What do you do with a diet plan? You execute it.
The features you need to save you money with one application may sometimes be obtained by upgrading your subscription with another software application. Having a beat on where your subscriptions are at, leveraging exactly what you’re paying for and consolidating where possible is the perfect starting point to reducing your technology spend and optimizing your budget, and potentially ultimately positively impacting data access, efficiency and productivity across your organization as a whole.
While this is a massive undertaking for any individual, especially a brand new CMO that may be new and transitioning from another role, it’s incredibly rewarding. By taking your time, diligently interviewing users, and establishing overall spend and number of applications, you can quickly help your executive team see where a lot of your budget is being spent and how best to optimize it. Always approach any tech stack audit with the company’s long term goals and vision in mind and choose compromise with technology that supports your users and their productivity.
If you encounter issues as you’re digging into your tech stack, and not quite sure where and how to optimize your analytics, or bridge the gap between your applications - a technical partner can help exponentially here.
","postBodyRss":"
Managing a growing tech stack as a new CMO or Marketing Director or even in a consulting role can be, well, complicated to say the least. It’s your job to optimize their marketing technology and budget, get more return out of their investments, bridge the gap between sales and marketing and really hone in their messaging, voice and strategy. No pressure. You already know what it’ll take to get this done: Hard conversations, getting as deep into the granular details of existing sales and marketing structures as possible and inevitably - pulling apart that tech stack and sometimes even ruffling feathers in other departments or with the rest of the executive team.
\n\n
Increasingly, employees and managers inside departments are seeking approval for applications that help make their job easier. While these applications may be inexpensive on their own, they can quickly add up and disrupt workflow, sometimes hiding access to important data for other aligned departments and overlapping features with existing technology inside the organization that isn’t widely adopted.
A bloated tech stack is an issue plaguing so many organizations and those tasked with cutting back the fat often catch the wrath of the employees, management and executives that brought in the application to begin with. In a complicated dance of compromise, here are our best tips for cutting back your tech stack while reducing collateral damage:
Log your calories.
\nAccording to ChiefMarTec.com, The average small business with 500 employees or less has 172 applications. Midmarket? 255 applications, on average. Enterprise organizations? 664 applications. The best way to cut fat is always to consume consciously and just like your calorie counting diet tracker, you need a document that establishes the long list of applications used inside your organization. A simple spreadsheet will do. Once you create it, you’ll want to add the following columns:
\n- \n
- name of the application \n
- the department that uses it \n
- who is in charge of the billing \n
- what role it plays in business processes \n
- number of users \n
- number of app integrations \n
- apps that you own that it integrates with already \n
- number of integrations you’re using \n
- renewal date / contract period \n
- total application cost \n
Through this exercise you’ll have a better understanding of the total budget spend throughout your organization on business applications, which may have overlapping features and learn how widely adopted they are throughout the organization.It is important not to cut applications based on budget spend alone, but to do a comprehensive analysis of the company’s overall application spend and see where consolidation may be available.
\n
Do some research.
\n
Picking the best diet for you requires that you rabbit hole into macro and micronutrients and create a plan and lifestyle around it - this is a great parallel for trimming down your tech stack, as well. By conducting individual interviews with the users of each application, you can gain a better understanding for how deeply this application is ingrained into the day to day lives of your employees.
Questions that you may want to ask:
\n- \n
- How often do you use this application? \n
- Which functions are most important to you? \n
- If you could gain the functionality that you have with this application through another application, would you consider
adopting another application? \n - Are you relying on the apps analytics? \n
- Are the analytics available to you sufficient? \n
- Would it be better to centralize your analytics instead? \n
- What features would you like to see that aren’t included in this app? \n
- What are the biggest workflow redundancies you’re experiencing in your role? \n
- What challenges still exist for you to most effectively execute in your role? \n
By asking questions not just about the application itself and understanding the big picture of the struggles of each individual role inside your organization, you can explore how other applications, integrations or process improvements can optimize while also potentially cutting expenses for underutilized or feature-redundant applications.
Analyze the value of what you’re consuming.
\n
It isn’t the amount of food you consume that causes the extra fat to accumulate, it’s the lacking nutrients in some of the food you’re consuming. So often analysts go into an organization’s technology stack looking to cut as much spend as possible, but we find that quality over quantity is the best approach here.
After you conduct your interviews, you can dig deeply into the ROI and use that you’re seeing from the applications used in each department. You can create test user accounts and dig into the features, create a short list of applications that may be up for renewal that you want to either negotiate down or eliminate entirely.
This is where the hard conversations will come in. Nothing worth having comes easy and there’s plenty of chance here to ruffle feathers and upset people that are responsible for bringing in those applications or who may be adverse to adopting new applications, even if they integrate better or provide the same functionality.
\n
In any difficult conversation, logic and facts are the most important, even though hierarchies and organizational politics have their own role. Present your data logically and unemotionally. While you may not always win, you can always be certain that if you’ve done your diligence in showing which applications are showing ROI and which are unnecessary when you stick to the facts.
Don’t miss hidden calories.
\n
You log all your meals, but might’ve forgotten that gas station candy bar. For the long term success of your technology, you need to catch all the missing pieces. Shadow IT is something that many don’t take into account when they’re performing technology audits, and it’s a very important consideration. Employees persistently pay for technology on their own and submit for reimbursement inside their organizations in the form of an expense report, yet these applications are rarely measured inside an organization’s tech stack.
While individual costs for applications may not be extreme, when small subscription costs for multiple applications multiply across hundreds of employees, they can have a significant impact on a business’ budget and application count. That doesn’t even take into account the potential issue for data privacy and security issues with employee-owned application subscriptions.
Take the time to do an audit of these subscriptions separately and determine where there may be trending needs and whether or not it may make sense to roll out this application companywide or which existing application inside the organization may suit this user’s needs just as well without the added expense.
Create a plan and stick to it.
\n
Take time to establish a strategy surrounding consolidating your technology application list without losing functionality. After analysis, execution will always net you the greatest results. What do you do with a diet plan? You execute it.
The features you need to save you money with one application may sometimes be obtained by upgrading your subscription with another software application. Having a beat on where your subscriptions are at, leveraging exactly what you’re paying for and consolidating where possible is the perfect starting point to reducing your technology spend and optimizing your budget, and potentially ultimately positively impacting data access, efficiency and productivity across your organization as a whole.
While this is a massive undertaking for any individual, especially a brand new CMO that may be new and transitioning from another role, it’s incredibly rewarding. By taking your time, diligently interviewing users, and establishing overall spend and number of applications, you can quickly help your executive team see where a lot of your budget is being spent and how best to optimize it. Always approach any tech stack audit with the company’s long term goals and vision in mind and choose compromise with technology that supports your users and their productivity.
If you encounter issues as you’re digging into your tech stack, and not quite sure where and how to optimize your analytics, or bridge the gap between your applications - a technical partner can help exponentially here.
","postEmailContent":"
Managing a growing tech stack as a new CMO or Marketing Director or even in a consulting role can be, well, complicated to say the least. It’s your job to optimize their marketing technology and budget, get more return out of their investments, bridge the gap between sales and marketing and really hone in their messaging, voice and strategy. No pressure. You already know what it’ll take to get this done: Hard conversations, getting as deep into the granular details of existing sales and marketing structures as possible and inevitably - pulling apart that tech stack and sometimes even ruffling feathers in other departments or with the rest of the executive team.
","postFeaturedImageIfEnabled":"https://6534445.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/6534445/tech%20stack%20diet.jpg","postListContent":"Managing a growing tech stack as a new CMO or Marketing Director or even in a consulting role can be, well, complicated to say the least. It’s your job to optimize their marketing technology and budget, get more return out of their investments, bridge the gap between sales and marketing and really hone in their messaging, voice and strategy. No pressure. You already know what it’ll take to get this done: Hard conversations, getting as deep into the granular details of existing sales and marketing structures as possible and inevitably - pulling apart that tech stack and sometimes even ruffling feathers in other departments or with the rest of the executive team.
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\n\n
Increasingly, employees and managers inside departments are seeking approval for applications that help make their job easier. While these applications may be inexpensive on their own, they can quickly add up and disrupt workflow, sometimes hiding access to important data for other aligned departments and overlapping features with existing technology inside the organization that isn’t widely adopted.
A bloated tech stack is an issue plaguing so many organizations and those tasked with cutting back the fat often catch the wrath of the employees, management and executives that brought in the application to begin with. In a complicated dance of compromise, here are our best tips for cutting back your tech stack while reducing collateral damage:
Log your calories.
\nAccording to ChiefMarTec.com, The average small business with 500 employees or less has 172 applications. Midmarket? 255 applications, on average. Enterprise organizations? 664 applications. The best way to cut fat is always to consume consciously and just like your calorie counting diet tracker, you need a document that establishes the long list of applications used inside your organization. A simple spreadsheet will do. Once you create it, you’ll want to add the following columns:
\n- \n
- name of the application \n
- the department that uses it \n
- who is in charge of the billing \n
- what role it plays in business processes \n
- number of users \n
- number of app integrations \n
- apps that you own that it integrates with already \n
- number of integrations you’re using \n
- renewal date / contract period \n
- total application cost \n
Through this exercise you’ll have a better understanding of the total budget spend throughout your organization on business applications, which may have overlapping features and learn how widely adopted they are throughout the organization.It is important not to cut applications based on budget spend alone, but to do a comprehensive analysis of the company’s overall application spend and see where consolidation may be available.
\n
Do some research.
\n
Picking the best diet for you requires that you rabbit hole into macro and micronutrients and create a plan and lifestyle around it - this is a great parallel for trimming down your tech stack, as well. By conducting individual interviews with the users of each application, you can gain a better understanding for how deeply this application is ingrained into the day to day lives of your employees.
Questions that you may want to ask:
\n- \n
- How often do you use this application? \n
- Which functions are most important to you? \n
- If you could gain the functionality that you have with this application through another application, would you consider
adopting another application? \n - Are you relying on the apps analytics? \n
- Are the analytics available to you sufficient? \n
- Would it be better to centralize your analytics instead? \n
- What features would you like to see that aren’t included in this app? \n
- What are the biggest workflow redundancies you’re experiencing in your role? \n
- What challenges still exist for you to most effectively execute in your role? \n
By asking questions not just about the application itself and understanding the big picture of the struggles of each individual role inside your organization, you can explore how other applications, integrations or process improvements can optimize while also potentially cutting expenses for underutilized or feature-redundant applications.
Analyze the value of what you’re consuming.
\n
It isn’t the amount of food you consume that causes the extra fat to accumulate, it’s the lacking nutrients in some of the food you’re consuming. So often analysts go into an organization’s technology stack looking to cut as much spend as possible, but we find that quality over quantity is the best approach here.
After you conduct your interviews, you can dig deeply into the ROI and use that you’re seeing from the applications used in each department. You can create test user accounts and dig into the features, create a short list of applications that may be up for renewal that you want to either negotiate down or eliminate entirely.
This is where the hard conversations will come in. Nothing worth having comes easy and there’s plenty of chance here to ruffle feathers and upset people that are responsible for bringing in those applications or who may be adverse to adopting new applications, even if they integrate better or provide the same functionality.
\n
In any difficult conversation, logic and facts are the most important, even though hierarchies and organizational politics have their own role. Present your data logically and unemotionally. While you may not always win, you can always be certain that if you’ve done your diligence in showing which applications are showing ROI and which are unnecessary when you stick to the facts.
Don’t miss hidden calories.
\n
You log all your meals, but might’ve forgotten that gas station candy bar. For the long term success of your technology, you need to catch all the missing pieces. Shadow IT is something that many don’t take into account when they’re performing technology audits, and it’s a very important consideration. Employees persistently pay for technology on their own and submit for reimbursement inside their organizations in the form of an expense report, yet these applications are rarely measured inside an organization’s tech stack.
While individual costs for applications may not be extreme, when small subscription costs for multiple applications multiply across hundreds of employees, they can have a significant impact on a business’ budget and application count. That doesn’t even take into account the potential issue for data privacy and security issues with employee-owned application subscriptions.
Take the time to do an audit of these subscriptions separately and determine where there may be trending needs and whether or not it may make sense to roll out this application companywide or which existing application inside the organization may suit this user’s needs just as well without the added expense.
Create a plan and stick to it.
\n
Take time to establish a strategy surrounding consolidating your technology application list without losing functionality. After analysis, execution will always net you the greatest results. What do you do with a diet plan? You execute it.
The features you need to save you money with one application may sometimes be obtained by upgrading your subscription with another software application. Having a beat on where your subscriptions are at, leveraging exactly what you’re paying for and consolidating where possible is the perfect starting point to reducing your technology spend and optimizing your budget, and potentially ultimately positively impacting data access, efficiency and productivity across your organization as a whole.
While this is a massive undertaking for any individual, especially a brand new CMO that may be new and transitioning from another role, it’s incredibly rewarding. By taking your time, diligently interviewing users, and establishing overall spend and number of applications, you can quickly help your executive team see where a lot of your budget is being spent and how best to optimize it. Always approach any tech stack audit with the company’s long term goals and vision in mind and choose compromise with technology that supports your users and their productivity.
If you encounter issues as you’re digging into your tech stack, and not quite sure where and how to optimize your analytics, or bridge the gap between your applications - a technical partner can help exponentially here.
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