Business Analysis Case Study 3: MarTech Stack Planning for Scale
Industry:
B2B SaaS – The client had outgrown its existing marketing technology stack, which had evolved reactively over time. As the marketing team scaled and campaigns became more complex, the lack of a strategic approach to tool selection and integration began to limit efficiency, visibility, and ROI.
Problem:
The company’s MarTech stack was fragmented and misaligned with its current and future growth goals. Key issues included:
- Redundant tools with overlapping functionality and underutilized features.
- High tech spend without clear ROI attribution.
- Poor integration between platforms, leading to data silos and manual work.
- A lack of visibility into how tools contributed to the broader customer journey and pipeline generation.
Solution:
We conducted a MarTech stack strategy and planning engagement, focused on aligning tools with business objectives, reducing inefficiencies, and defining a scalable future-state architecture. This business analysis work formed the foundation for both consolidation and future technology investment.
Execution:
- Stakeholder Discovery & Requirements Gathering – Conducted interviews across marketing, RevOps, and IT to understand team needs, pain points, and strategic goals.
- MarTech Stack Audit – Inventoried all tools in use, categorized them by function (e.g., automation, content, analytics, lead capture), and assessed usage and cost.
- Redundancy & ROI Analysis – Evaluated each tool’s business impact, feature overlap, and total cost of ownership to identify underperformers.
- Future-State Architecture Design – Created a scalable MarTech blueprint that outlined core platforms, integrations, and data flows.
- Gap Identification – Highlighted missing capabilities (e.g., advanced attribution, personalization, consent management) that would be critical for scale.
- Roadmap & Transition Planning – Delivered a phased implementation roadmap, including tool retirements, migration planning, and integration priorities.
Challenges & Roadblocks:
- Lack of Tool Ownership – No one was accountable for some platforms, making it difficult to evaluate usage and value.
- Shadow IT & Rogue Tools – Teams had independently adopted tools without centralized oversight.
- Integration Complexity – Some high-value tools lacked native connectors, requiring creative API or middleware solutions.
- SaaS Contract Timelines – Renewal cycles limited how quickly some tools could be replaced or consolidated.
Results:
- Identified $50K+ in annual savings through tool rationalization.
- Increased marketing team efficiency through better tool alignment and integration.
- Improved data visibility and campaign tracking across platforms.
- Created an adaptable MarTech architecture designed to scale with the business.
Dashboard:
Key Takeaways & Learnings:
- MarTech planning is about strategy, not just tools—aligning tech to business goals is where the real value lies.
- Business analysts help translate team needs into system design, ensuring every tool has a clear role and ROI.
- Tool consolidation reduces cost, complexity, and confusion, but must be paired with process alignment.
- A scalable stack starts with a scalable foundation—architecture, governance, and cross-functional planning.
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