Businesses are nether expanding unit to optimize expenses and find ways to bash much with less. Tech stacks, which person grown from a tiny information of the fund a decennary agone to a important portion of the pie, are often the archetypal to spell nether scrutiny. 

As marketers, we request to get much retired of our existent tech stack, whether done consolidation oregon much strategical usage of existing tools. Finding areas for betterment isn’t new, truthful wherefore each the fuss now? 

Why your tech stack ROI is worse than it should be

In the past 3 years, my institution has conducted implicit 500 calls with HubSpot customers astir their level setup, walk and optimization. We’ve identified immoderate of the astir communal martech stack issues — from underutilized capabilities to redundant spending.

The result? The mean institution is wasting 35% of their budget connected unreality and SaaS tools.

Reason 1: You don’t cognize what you don’t know 

Unfortunately, this overlap is unintentional and whitethorn stem from a merchandise purchased to lick a circumstantial occupation astatine a definite point. If you’re not an adept successful your company’s tech stack, you won’t cognize however to usage existing tools to boost results oregon maximize caller functionality that could regenerate apps you nary longer need.

Unfamiliarity with stack capabilities leads to redundant tools and inefficient workflows. To support up, you indispensable continually work merchandise updates, beta launches and much to larn however your tech stack functionality is expanding. 

In aboriginal March, HubSpot announced a caller tool that leverages AI functionality wrong their platform, utile for portal research, marketplace research, penning transcript and more. This brings unneurotic further contented instauration and probe tools you mightiness lone find with different vendors.

Dig deeper: Marketers making little usage of martech’s expanding capabilities 

Reason 2: It seems excessively costly to upgrade

Upgrading to a much functional mentation of your stack tin look expensive, but the sticker terms is seldom acceptable successful stone, particularly for endeavor deals. It’s worthy exploring options oregon negotiating a amended woody with your vendor. (You mightiness beryllium paying for features you’ll ne'er person immoderate usage for.) 

Remember providers often connection bigger discounts to upgrade your relationship than to renew it astatine the existent level. If you tin place ways to make ROI connected that upgrade, it could wage for itself and past some. 

For example, successful the income endeavor mentation of HubSpot, your portal gains automatic enrollment into sequences and squad roles. This standardization of accusation for the income team, positive the quality to pass 1-to-1 with leads who whitethorn person ghosted oregon gone silent, could mean immense clip savings and much maturation opportunities. 

Reason 3: Disorganized buying processes and “grandfathered-in” systems

This crushed is often underrated, but it’s important. At larger organizations (and adjacent smaller ones), it’s casual to suffer way of each the systems you’re paying for, particularly erstwhile determination isn’t a consistent, organized process for buying caller software. 

And erstwhile caller leaders travel into the picture, they mightiness not cognize the afloat grade of what tools are being used, oregon why, truthful unnecessary costs are little apparent.

Dig deeper: 3 steps to gathering an effectual martech stack

How to get much worth retired of your tech stack

1. Negotiate your bundle contracts

This should beryllium a no-brainer, but determination are radical much skilled astatine this than others, truthful companies often permission wealth connected the table. Many bundle companies are consenting to negociate to support you arsenic a lawsuit and grow your usage wrong their platform. 

Consider working with a partner to assistance you navigate the dialog process and guarantee you get the champion woody possible. Partners volition person the expertise and relationships to unafraid amended deals.

2. Invest successful squad training

Knowledge disappears with turnover. Newer squad members whitethorn not person the aforesaid grasp of a strategy that erstwhile leaders did and, therefore, won’t usage it to its fullest extent. This is wherever grooming and improvement tin help. Individualized grooming whitethorn besides uncover gaps you weren’t adjacent alert of. 

Dig deeper: In this system CMOs request to walk much connected training, not tech

3. Consolidate tools

With the accelerating complaint of mergers and acquisitions, larger platforms are buying smaller ones to grow their offerings quickly. Many of the larger tools connected the marketplace (such arsenic HubSpot) present connection functionality that does an “okay” occupation of different things erstwhile relegated to circumstantial software.

While not ever arsenic blase arsenic starring competitors, a unified strategy adds convenience and outgo savings. For instance, HubSpot Marketing Pro and Marketing Enterprise marque it imaginable to docket and station societal media wrong the platform. 

Does it connection each the afloat functionality you’d get successful a Sprout Social oregon a HootSuite? No. But it mightiness bash capable to prevention wealth by discontinuing different instrumentality .

Do an audit of your existent tech stack, looking for areas wherever you tin chopped aged oregon poorly functioning tools and destruct redundant services.

Dig deeper: My stack is bigger than your stack, truthful what?

4. Cut seats, not conscionable tools

Most SaaS companies complaint per “seat” oregon user, truthful costs summation with each further worker connected it — adjacent if they’re not utilizing it. Look done your platforms and spot wherever you tin downsize the fig of users you have.

This seems obvious, but companies of each sizes consistently place it. Many mistakenly springiness seats to employees who don’t request entree to the platform’s paid features, driving up costs unnecessarily. They whitethorn beryllium acceptable with X fig of paid users, and the remainder of the employees accessing the strategy tin bash truthful utilizing a view-only escaped seat. 

Taking a person look astatine who needs entree to your SaaS tools and platforms tin importantly trim the seats you indispensable wage for. This tin effect successful important outgo savings without sacrificing functionality oregon performance.

5. Bring successful outer resources

While bringing a advisor oregon outer assets reduces in-house hiring and grooming costs for selling and income software, the advantages often spell beyond outgo savings. 

By leveraging outer expertise, you tin pat into their heavy cognition of tools and platforms, reducing the hazard that you underutilize tools. These folks often person caller perspectives and tin assistance upskill your existing team, providing grooming and processes to guarantee you’re continually leveraging your investments efficiently.

Lastly, outer resources tin assistance with continuity and accusation transfer. This includes the cognition you don’t privation to suffer from worker turnover truthful that you tin guarantee consistency successful your exertion strategy, adjacent arsenic your institution restructures oregon changes.

Dig deeper: 5 tips to boost idiosyncratic adoption of caller martech tools