Regularly auditing your martech stack indispensable beryllium portion of your organization’s process. During an audit, you volition apt place a fistful of tools that tin beryllium retired for assorted reasons.

Perhaps your institution has undergone a merger oregon acquisition, and you person duplicate tools that execute the aforesaid function. Maybe different tools successful your stack mightiness person added functionality, making a instrumentality redundant. Or the instrumentality conscionable is not utilized capable to warrant the cost. 

Dig deeper: Are you getting the astir from your stack? Take the 2023 MarTech Replacement Survey

Whatever the reason, identifying what tools tin beryllium retired is simply a captious portion of a martech audit. But what happens aft you’ve made that decision? How bash you discontinue a instrumentality without causing an uproar among users oregon breaking automations? 

Retiring martech bundle requires a thorough readying process and cleanable execution. Here are 5 steps to follow.

Step 1: Identify strategy integrations and process dependencies

To debar disrupting your operations, it is captious to place what different systems and processes beryllium connected the instrumentality you are readying to retire. If you enactment for a ample enactment and the instrumentality has been successful spot for galore years, this whitethorn beryllium much hard than it seems. If your enactment hasn’t been thorough astir documentation, different systems whitethorn usage API calls oregon information exports from the instrumentality without you knowing it. 

Even much challenging than identifying systemic integrations is specifying manual processes that beryllium extracurricular the instrumentality but are babelike connected it. For example, a study gets sent retired of the instrumentality that a antithetic squad is manually copying/pasting into different system. These types of manual workarounds hap much often than you mightiness think. 

Start talking to everyone and anyone successful the enactment who has a transportation to the tool. If possible, find the individuals progressive successful the tool’s archetypal implementation. They whitethorn person the organization cognition you’ll request to recognize the downstream impacts of the tool’s status fully.

Dig deeper: Why marketers are replacing foundational martech

Step 2: Assess information migration needs 

You whitethorn request to relationship for important information migration arsenic portion of the status process. Heavily regulated industries specified arsenic fiscal services oregon healthcare person mandatory information retention periods (sometimes arsenic agelong arsenic 7 years!).

Document what information needs to beryllium migrated and find wherever that information needs to go. If you are moving from 1 akin level to another, for example, a selling automation system, you whitethorn migrate the information from your aged instrumentality into the caller one. Ask your caller vendor however different clients person handled their information migration needs. They whitethorn beryllium capable to connection nonrecreational services oregon constituent your IT squad to coagulated documentation for champion practices they person seen with different clients.

But what happens if you are retiring a instrumentality and not going to regenerate it? Where should that information go? Work with your IT partners to devise a plan. The information whitethorn beryllium stored connected a SharePoint tract oregon successful a caller database. The champion solution volition see however accessible that information needs to beryllium and who needs to entree it. 

If the information lone needs to beryllium accessed rarely, it whitethorn beryllium capable to store it successful a database that idiosyncratic connected the exertion squad tin extract erstwhile successful a bluish moon. However, if non-technical users, specified arsenic marketers oregon salespeople, request to entree the humanities information regularly, you volition request a much user-friendly solution.

Step 3: Identify the close clip to discontinue and physique a task plan

After assessing your martech stack, you indispensable place the close clip to discontinue the tool. This could beryllium based connected respective factors, specified arsenic the extremity of a contract, the completion of a task oregon the extremity of a fiscal year. Whatever the reason, guarantee that the timing volition not disrupt your operations. 

Once you’ve acceptable the people status date, it’s clip to physique your task plan. Considering each of the downstream systems impacted and the information migration needs from Steps 1 and 2. You should person each the accusation you request to physique a task program moving backward from your people status date.

What happens if the task enactment to decouple systems oregon migrate information volition propulsion you past your people date? If your people day was based connected a contract, negociate with the vendor to spot if you tin widen the declaration month-to-month to springiness you the clip you request to afloat execute your program alternatively than get locked into a full-year renewal.

Dig deeper: 4 steps to instrumentality earlier hitting spell connected your caller martech platform

Step 4: Develop a connection plan 

Communication is captious erstwhile retiring a martech tool. Identify everyone who needs to beryllium looped in, specified arsenic employees, bureau partners and sometimes outer customers. Give them capable announcement and beryllium transparent astir the reasons for retiring the tool. You should besides pass your program for migrating information to a caller instrumentality and what enactment volition beryllium disposable during the transition. 

If you are retiring 1 instrumentality and replacing it with another, absorption your communications connected the benefits the caller instrumentality provides. Share the grooming program truthful that users cognize they volition beryllium fixed enactment to assistance them larn the caller tool.

Try and person the tools overlap for a circumstantial play truthful that users are fixed a brushed landing wherever they tin commencement to larn the caller instrumentality portion inactive having the information nett of doing things the aged mode if they are connected a hard deadline and struggling with the caller tool.

When retiring a instrumentality that volition not beryllium replaced, speech to users to recognize the features and functionality they beryllium connected and enactment to physique a program that addresses however those needs tin beryllium met done different tools oregon processes.

Once you person migrated your information from your aged instrumentality and trained employees connected utilizing a caller one, it is clip for retirement. The play aft the instrumentality is retired is important for communication. Be definite to pass to stakeholders the “wins” from retirement. 

What’s the adoption complaint of users for the caller tool? What income wins oregon affirmative lawsuit acquisition feedback person you heard astir the caller tool? How galore days has it been since the instrumentality was retired that determination person been nary errors oregon disruptions to operations? What caller investments person been made with the outgo savings from retiring the tool?

These are each cardinal questions that tin beryllium utilized arsenic a jumping-off constituent to punctual stakeholders of wherefore the instrumentality was retired successful the archetypal place.  

Retiring aged tools for a much effectual martech stack

Studies person shown that selling organizations use arsenic galore arsenic 91 selling unreality services, and the bloat successful tools tin resistance down productivity. For galore marketers, “less is more” and retiring duplicative oregon underutilized tools tin beryllium a team’s concealed weapon.

When done decently with a beardown plan, retiring solutions volition effect successful a leaner, cheaper and much effectual martech stack.