Overcoming Tech Debt in MarTech

In order to keep up with the ever-changing digital landscape, many businesses invest in many technology tools that aim to improve the digital experience of their customers.

However, the sheer number of options and choices available can quickly lead to tech debt: the practice of accumulating technical debt by making hasty decisions that add complexity, fragility, and stress to a system.

However, with the right approach, it is possible to overcome tech debt and create a robust and effective MarTech stack. Here we’ll discuss the issues that cause tech debt, and how businesses can avoid them.

Businesses Don’t Have a 360-degree View of Clients

As the amount of data that businesses collect continues to grow, so does the challenge of getting a complete view of their customers. Too often, data is siloed within individual departments or applications, making it difficult to get a holistic view of the customer.

This can lead to poorer customer experiences and ultimately lost business.

Dataweavers offers a solution that helps businesses get a 360 degree view of their customers by integrating their digital ecosystem – which includes MarTech tools, data platforms, CRM, commerce or service tools. By bringing all of this data together in one place, businesses can finally get the complete picture of their customers.

This not only leads to better customer experiences, but also allows businesses to make more informed decisions about their marketing and sales strategies. With Dataweavers, businesses finally have the complete view of their customers that they need to be successful.

Inefficient and Costly Current Operations

Tech debt includes the cost of maintaining outdated or inefficient technology. It includes the money spent on licensing, support, and maintenance of old systems, as well as the opportunity cost of not investing in new technologies that could improve productivity or competitiveness.

Tech debt can be incurred when an organization doesn't keep up with software updates or fails to properly maintain its hardware and infrastructure. It can also arise from using poorly designed or coded software, which may need to be rewritten or replaced sooner than if it had been done correctly the first time. If also refers to the never-ending list of tasks that the development team just can’t seem to get on top of. The issues are accumulating faster than they’re being solved.

Many organizations are now struggling with high levels of tech debt, as they try to balance the need to invest in new technologies with the costs of maintaining existing systems. This can lead to a vicious cycle, where organizations end up spending more and more money to keep their systems running.

Dataweavers allows clients to reduce their tech debt (and TCO) by as much as 50% or more.

This can free up budget to invest in new technologies, which can improve productivity and competitiveness. In addition, Dataweavers' upgrade process is typically cash flow positive, meaning that clients don't have to find new budget to upgrade and improve their digital experience.

Not Identifying the Opportunity Cost of Poor Performing MarTech

As MarTech stack and digital experience platforms become more and more essential to business success, it's important that companies take the time to assess the opportunity cost of poor performing technology ecosystems.

When a company’s digital ecosystem isn't up to par, more people end up spending more time with more tools to do what they need to do.

There are a few key things to keep in mind when it comes to the opportunity cost of poor performing digital ecosystem.

• First, understand that any digital or technical decision is an investment - and like any investment, there is always some risk involved.
• Second, identify what your company's specific goals are for using each tool in your digital ecosystem.
• Finally, weigh the costs and benefits of each potential solution before making a decision.

Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to invest in digital experiences should come down to a cost-benefit analysis. If the benefits of using the tool/s outweigh the costs, then it's worth considering. However, if the opportunity cost of poor performing ecosystems is too high, then it's best to steer clear.

Inefficient Use of Hosting and Data

Tech debt creates inefficient use of hosting and data, which is resulting in companies paying 2-4x more than what they should be.
In order to avoid costly tech debt, it's important for companies to carefully consider how they're using hosting and data. Companies should avoid using more resources than necessary, and should instead focus on using the resources they have efficiently.

There are a number of ways to use data more efficiently, including:

• Reducing the size of data sets: This can be done by compressing data or deleting unneeded files.
• Minimizing the number of queries: Databases can be optimized so that fewer queries are needed to retrieve the same amount of data.
• Caching data: Caching data can help reduce the number of times data is accessed from a remote location, which can help improve performance.
• Optimizing code: Code can be optimized to run more efficiently, which can help reduce the amount of resources needed to run it.

By taking these steps, companies can avoid inefficient use of resources and save money on their hosting and data costs. In addition, they can avoid the need to take on costly tech debt in the future.

Overcoming Tech Debt

When it comes to MarTech and the all-encompassing digital ecosystem, the biggest challenge for development and marketing teams is tech debt. Quickly snowballing from one small fix to another – soon organisations have disconnected ecosystems with what feels like an infinite list of tasks that teams can’t get ahead of.

This can lead to inefficiencies and errors in the way information is processed, which can ultimately impact the bottom line.
If your business is struggling with tech debt, don't despair. There are ways to overcome it and get back on track. Contact Dataweavers today.

Find more MarTech resources at dataweavers.com/cmo/velocity

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