Members of the Sojourn Solutions team had the opportunity to attend Demandbase GO  in London on April 30, 2025. The event was a deep dive into the next evolution of Account-Based Marketing (ABM), the rise of agentic AI, and the reality of executing a go-to-market (GTM) strategy in today’s fragmented, buyer-centric world. Here are our key takeaways from the event: ABM is growing up - and getting smarter 80% of businesses say ABM has helped increase revenue. But as we heard throughout the day, ABM isn't just a set of tactics - it's becoming the backbone of modern GTM. The message was clear: ABM must be flexible, cross-functional, and data-driven . Key points: ABM has moved through four phases: from basic targeting to intent-driven, platform-enabled, and now toward integrated orchestration with open APIs and AI agents. Buying groups—not individual leads—are now the primary focus. Demandbase reported a 65% CTR and 2.6X deal size  when targeting entire buying committees. First-party data and integration across the stack (CRM, MAP, CDP, etc.) are essential to keep everything aligned and measurable. Agentic AI is coming fast - and it’s not optional AI took center stage, with a major shift in tone: it’s no longer about using AI tools - it’s about designing your GTM strategy around AI teammates . What we heard: Demandbase is rolling out a system of connected AI agents to help execute GTM tasks autonomously—starting with campaign optimization, insights generation, and buying group engagement. ForgeX highlighted that the biggest blocker to AI isn’t tech—it’s lack of expertise . Most teams are stuck in pilot mode and need support moving to orchestration. The future lies in “agentic execution”—AI that goes from objectives to tasks to outcomes, embedded across teams and platforms. A striking stat: 91% of companies are using AI in their ABM , but only 19% have a roadmap . Buying journeys are fragmented - and marketers must adapt Today’s B2B buying journey is nonlinear, self-directed, and increasingly digital. Sessions emphasized the need for a “Help your buyer buy”  mindset. What that looks like: Buyers now shortlist 2–3 vendors, not 5–6, and often delay human interaction until late in the cycle. Content needs to serve like your best salesperson: relevant, timely, and value-driven. Personalization at scale is critical—especially in creative and ad targeting. Metrics that matter now: Funnel velocity Engagement by buying group Account reach and territory health Early pipeline indicators like attention and active usage Ops and data are still the bottlenecks - but solvable ones Several sessions - and customer panels from Xero, Randstad, and The Access Group - spoke candidly about operational challenges. Themes included: The myth that ABM is “just a tech solution” instead of a GTM strategy . The importance of small wins and clear ICPs to get stakeholder buy-in. Integration is hard—but doesn’t require a monolith. Instead, bring the best from each tool, connect via API, and use AI to bridge the gaps. Pro tip : Don’t try to boil the ocean. Start small, prove value, and scale with shared goals between sales and marketing. What we’re taking back to our Clients As a team that works every day in Marketing Ops and GTM execution, here’s how we’re applying the learnings: ✅ Start with a clear ICP and buying group strategy - and communicate it relentlessly. ✅ Invest in AI - but not without a roadmap . Train your team, define objectives, and map real use cases. ✅ Treat ABM as a GTM operating system, not a campaign type. ✅ Build integration bridges, not silos. API-first thinking will help you scale. ✅ Make content work harder. Use AI to personalize and deliver value at every stage of the journey. Final thought: ABM isn’t dead - it’s being reborn If Demandbase GO showed us anything, it’s that ABM isn’t an island anymore. It’s becoming the unifying force  that brings sales, marketing, ops, and AI into one coordinated motion. As one speaker put it: “Agentic AI will be more disruptive than the internet.”  That’s a bold claim. But if what we saw at GO is any sign, they might just be right. Discover our Services

When Norstella, a leader in the information services space, set out to unify platforms and data across its brands, it knew the stakes were high. Two complex HubSpot environments - MMIT and Panalgo - needed to become one. And they needed it fast. Enter Sojourn. The Challenge Norstella’s objective was clear: consolidate platforms to boost efficiency, enhance data quality, cut costs, and enable smarter cross-selling and analytics. But the devil was in the detail. Panalgo’s HubSpot instance was nuanced, and the risk of disruption was real. The migration had to be seamless, fast, and aligned with a wider Salesforce consolidation effort - all without breaking marketing operations or dragging legacy issues into the future. Oh, and it had to be done in just five weeks. The Approach We kicked things off with discovery workshops to get under the skin of both platforms. From there, we built a streamlined migration plan that prioritized speed and  sanity. We reused most assets and leveraged a Tool Migrator Map to cut down manual work. We worked shoulder-to-shoulder with marketing, sales ops, and compliance teams - quickly escalating blockers and making fast decisions. We removed outdated assets and redundant forms, implementing best practices across the board. Cutover was clean, communication was constant, and go-live happened early - with responsive support that kept everything ticking post-launch. The Results The migration was more than just successful - it was a showcase of how to do these projects right: 18% under budget Delivered early Streamlined workflows  and fewer forms Data consolidation that sets the brands up for long-term marketing success “I cannot underscore how pleased I was with Sojourn’s overall professionalism during this massive project... a portal migration skillfully executed, ahead of schedule, and under budget. Couldn’t be more satisfied.” - Eugene Won, Senior Marketing Automation Manager, Norstella Need help with a platform migration that actually works  for your business? Let’s talk. Discover our Services Download our FREE whitepaper

The story behind the success Citeline, part of the Norstella group, didn’t just want better Marketing Ops. They wanted faster, smarter, leaner systems that didn’t just tick boxes - but that actually worked . Like most enterprise marketing teams, they were facing legacy systems, disjointed data, manual processes, and that ever-growing inbox of “we’ll fix it next quarter” tasks. Together, we’ve helped Citeline and Evaluate (also part of Norstella) not only migrate and modernize their systems - but do it in record time and with tangible, bottom-line results. Eloqua migration in record time (and under budget) When Citeline and Evaluate needed to consolidate their Eloqua instances, most vendors would’ve quoted 4-6 months. Sojourn did it in under 8 weeks . Not just the migration - but discovery, solution design, build, testing, go-live, and hypercare. And yes, with full compliance, lead scoring, IP warming, and multi-brand logic included too. The impact: Saved approx. 640 business hours Delivered under budget Minimal disruption  to campaign flow Created a solid foundation for the broader Salesforce consolidation Improved campaign governance and marketing effectiveness “The team worked really well together... Sojourn delivered their usual excellence.” - Kevin Sowden, Marketing Ops Director, Citeline & Evaluate From bounced to brilliant: A masterclass in email deliverability Before the Eloqua migration, Citeline's emails were quietly suffering. Soft bounce rates hovered around 20% , inbox placement was meh, and actionable deliverability insights were hard to come by. Post-migration? Things clicked . With help from Sojourn and Validity’s Everest platform, email metrics jumped: 2024 Gains: 40% increase  in audience reach 2x improvement  in engagement Deliverability hit 83.84%  (up from 79%) Hard bounces dropped by 35% 2025 Update: Soft bounces down to just 5–6% Another 2x improvement  in engagement A growing track record of ROI to the business Smarter send strategies: Beating email fatigue without buying more tech Let’s face it: no one wants 6 emails in 3 days about webinars they didn’t register for. Citeline’s customers were feeling the fatigue. Engagement was falling, unsubscribes creeping up, and marketing performance getting blurry. Sojourn worked closely with the Citeline team to implement a smart fatigue prevention program - using Eloqua’s built-in capabilities instead of expensive third-party platforms. What changed? Dynamic send logic based on “Last Email Date” Tiered filters to manage cadence QA process to prevent email collisions Reporting to track and adjust in real-time The results? More than doubled engagement Saved $65K  by avoiding unnecessary MarTech spend “We can now confidently roll out our fatigue management process to other teams.” - Kevin Sowden From manual chaos to automated brilliance: 75% build time saved Citeline’s Customer Service team was drowning in manual emails - writing and sending 120 a day , one by one, via Salesforce. That’s not Marketing Ops. That’s email triage. Sojourn worked with Citeline to design and implement an automated welcome and nurture campaign that: Supports 100+ product variations Uses Instant Marketing (IM)  to outperform Eloqua’s native dynamic content Tailors content for net-new vs. returning customers Sets the foundation for onboarding, renewals, and dual-brand journeys The impact? 75% reduction  in campaign build time 60 hours saved per month , minimum Instant scalability and better customer experiences The bigger picture: Connected, scalable, measurable These aren’t just isolated wins. Together, they paint a picture of what smart, agile Marketing Operations can look like when strategy meets execution. Sojourn didn’t just bring tools. We brought structure, clarity, and momentum to complex enterprise challenges. And Citeline’s team? They delivered every step of the way. Reimagine Marketing Operations. Redefine Success. We've been saying this for a while now, but we do more than you think.  Our clients see bigger impact when they tap into more of what we offer. Behind the scenes, we’re helping other companies streamline, scale, and seriously outperform - and this customer success story seriously highlights the impact we can have across your entire Marketing Operations. Discover our Services

Time travelers, assemble If your Marketing Operations strategy hasn’t had a serious overhaul since Stranger Things Season 1… we have a problem. Because while the tech has sprinted ahead - hello AI, intent data, predictive modeling - the strategy holding it all together is still wearing skinny jeans and quoting "best practices" from 2017. In the B2B space, we love a good platform. We adore automation. But strategy? Real strategy? That gets deprioritized in favor of fire-fighting, campaign-fixing, and playing whack-a-mole with data. The result? Bloated stacks, burned-out teams, and underwhelming impact. The Frankenstack problem: tech that outpaced the strategy Let’s be honest. Most Marketing Operations leaders didn’t build their tech stacks - they inherited them. And then inherited more. And then duct-taped on three integrations and called it a day. The average MarTech stack in 2025 is like a house that’s been renovated by seven different owners with very different tastes. AI platform here. Webinar tool there. Data warehouse duct-taped to a legacy CRM. And oh look, someone snuck in a freemium chatbot in 2021 that’s still live for some reason. But while the tools evolved, the strategy didn't. You’re still: Running quarterly batch campaigns Using MQLs as your primary success metric Routing leads manually based on form fills Reporting on clicks instead of contribution to pipeline The stack may look modern on the surface, but the playbook is aging fast. And the cracks are showing. Marketing Ops isn’t just tech support Once upon a time, MOPs teams were the nerds in the basement who fixed broken workflows and made sure the emails went out on time. Not anymore. Today’s MOPs leaders are expected to: Architect complex customer journeys Lead cross-functional data strategy Integrate AI and predictive tools Own attribution, privacy, compliance, AND performance metrics If you’re still positioning your team as platform admins instead of business strategists, you’re setting them (and yourself) up for irrelevance. Old strategy:  Deliver campaign support and keep the tools running. New strategy:  Drive revenue operations, customer insight, and business scalability. Big difference. One gets ignored. The other gets budget. MQLs still? Seriously? Here’s a fun experiment: Walk into your next leadership meeting and say the word "MQL" with a straight face. Watch the room shift. The truth is, MQLs are increasingly meaningless. Sales doesn’t trust them. Marketing doesn’t even fully believe in them anymore. Yet many orgs still cling to this outdated metric like it’s a lifeboat. Modern marketing ops strategy is moving toward: Qualified buying signals, not just form fills Account engagement over individual activity Sales velocity and conversion metrics Lifecycle stage performance If your team is still optimizing for volume over value, it’s time to retire the MQL and graduate to something more grown-up. You can’t automate chaos Automation is not a strategy. It's an amplifier. If your workflows are messy, your data is dirty, and your lead routing logic is a choose-your-own-adventure novel from hell, automation will simply turn that chaos into a real-time disaster. And now with AI entering the chat, the stakes are even higher. AI doesn’t magically clean data or align teams. It assumes the machine is already well-oiled. If your Marketing Operations foundation is creaky, AI will expose it faster than a toddler with a Sharpie and a white sofa. You need to: Revisit your data structure and taxonomies Map your customer journey end-to-end Audit workflows for redundancy and dead ends Then you can layer on intelligence. Not before. Attribution is still a mess - and you know it Another sign your strategy is outdated? You’re still treating attribution like it’s a finance report. “This click gets 40% credit!” “That webinar was first touch!” “Let’s add another UTM and hope it makes sense later!” Attribution in 2024 needs to be directional, not perfect. Your strategy should aim to: Combine qualitative insight with quantitative data Focus on contribution to pipeline and revenue Align attribution to business goals, not vanity metrics Stop fighting over credit and start looking at influence. (Also, if your attribution report takes more than 10 minutes to explain to a VP, you’ve already lost.) Reporting for the sake of reporting isn’t strategy You know the ones: Weekly dashboards nobody reads Engagement scores that correlate to nothing Time-to-MQL metrics that impress exactly no one Outdated strategies rely on reporting to justify  effort. Modern strategies use reporting to optimize  impact. That means: KPIs aligned with business outcomes, not activities Clear data narratives to support strategic decisions The ability to stop doing things that aren’t working If your reporting hasn’t changed since before GDPR, it’s probably time for a rethink. Your team is capable of more - if you let them Here’s the best-kept secret in B2B: Your MOPs team is one of the smartest, most under-leveraged groups in the company. But if your strategy only allows them to: Pull lists Fix errors Patch integrations …they will stay in the basement, quietly dying inside. Modern MOPs strategy should: Empower them to own process and data architecture Bring them into planning conversations Give them space to experiment, test, and fail You don’t need more headcount. You need a strategy that unleashes the headcount you already have. Leadership hasn't caught up - and it's hurting you Here’s the elephant in the boardroom: a lot of senior leaders still think of MOPs as "that techy thing marketing does." And while you’re trying to modernize workflows and implement predictive lead scoring, your CMO is still asking for a monthly email volume report. Outdated MOPs strategies usually trace back to one thing: Leadership that hasn’t been educated on the strategic value of ops. Your job as a MOPs leader isn’t just to run the systems. It’s to: Translate complexity into business value Advocate for operational maturity Tie marketing infrastructure to revenue outcomes If your strategy doesn’t include upward communication, you’re going to keep hitting the same walls. You’re not behind because you’re bad. You’re behind because you’ve been busy. Let’s be clear - if your MOPs strategy is out of date, it’s probably not because you’re lazy or clueless. It’s because you’ve been: Fixing broken campaigns Training new team members Adapting to org changes Dealing with a never-ending queue of “urgent” requests Strategy got shoved to the bottom of the list. And that’s understandable. But now it needs to move to the top. Because without it, you’re just adding more weight to a system that’s already straining. Key takeaways: Let’s get you out of 2017 ✅ Audit your current MOPs strategy.  What are you still doing that made sense six years ago but doesn’t now? ✅ Shift from platform thinking to system thinking.  It’s not about Eloqua or Salesforce. It’s about how everything works together to drive revenue. ✅ Replace MQLs with more mature metrics.  Think engagement scores, sales velocity, pipeline acceleration, and influence. ✅ Empower your team to operate strategically.  That means fewer ticket requests, more ownership. ✅ Educate leadership.  Don’t just report up. Translate up. ✅ Rebuild reporting frameworks.  Focus on insight, not output. ✅ Future-proof your stack.  Clean up integrations, rationalize tools, and simplify wherever possible. ✅ Make space for strategic thinking.  Book time. Block it out. Treat it like it matters. Because it does. Final thought: The world moved on. So should your strategy. Marketing Operations has come of age. The expectations are higher. The tools are more powerful. The pressure is real. But the opportunity? It’s never been bigger. If your strategy is stuck in 2017, it’s time to let it go. The teams that modernize now won’t just keep up. They’ll lead. And if you need a fresh perspective on where to start? We’ve got one. Let's talk. Discover our Services

Let’s be honest: AI is the shiny object of the moment in Marketing Operations. Every vendor is “AI-powered,” every deck mentions machine learning, and every CMO wants to know why you’re not using AI to do something clever with lead scoring or content. But here’s the problem: most companies are trying to implement AI before they’ve done the basics. They haven’t mapped their processes. Their data is messy. No one knows who owns what. And yet… they’re plugging in AI like it’s going to fix everything. That’s not how it works. And in most cases, it just makes things worse. You can’t automate a mess One of the first things we ask when someone says they want to “bring AI into marketing ops” is: what process are you trying to automate or improve? Half the time, there’s no clear answer. Or worse, the answer is something vague like “personalisation at scale.” If you don’t know your own workflows - what they are, who owns them, what the pain points are - you’re not ready for AI. You’re barely ready for automation. AI should come after  you’ve done the hard thinking: What tasks are repeatable but resource-heavy? Where are humans adding minimal value? Where does speed or scale matter most? Otherwise, all you’re doing is building a Rube Goldberg machine that outputs bad decisions faster. Your MarTech stack is probably already bloated Most B2B companies are already drowning in tools. ESPs, CRMs, MAPs, CDPs, attribution platforms, analytics tools, and now - AI this, AI that, and AI in things that don’t need AI. Adding another tool (especially one branded as “smart”) without reviewing what’s already in place is a fast way to waste money and confuse everyone. So before you chase that new AI plug-in or “intelligent assistant,” ask: Do we already have a tool that does this? Will this add clarity or complexity? Who’s going to maintain it, own the output, and improve it? If you don’t have a solid answer to those, AI is just another acronym in a sales deck. Bad data in = garbage AI out There’s a painful truth most vendors won’t tell you: AI doesn’t magically clean your data. If your segmentation is dodgy, your scoring models are misaligned, or your CRM has a dozen fields for “Job Title” - AI will still give you answers. But they’ll be based on garbage. Fast garbage. Polished garbage. But still garbage. In fact, AI often hides the mess - by making things look smarter than they are. That’s dangerous. Before adding AI, clean house: Fix your taxonomy and tagging. Audit your fields and data sources. Standardize naming conventions. Eliminate duplicates and dead records. The smartest thing you can do with AI is feed it well. AI isn’t a strategy. It’s a tactic. You wouldn’t tell your CFO, “Our strategy this year is Excel.” So don’t say your marketing strategy is “AI.” It’s a tool. It’s a layer. It’s a way of executing faster or smarter - but only after  you know what you’re doing and why. Too many AI projects fail because nobody asked: what’s the actual goal here? Is it reducing manual campaign builds? Improving conversion through smarter segmentation? Forecasting pipeline more accurately? Start with the outcome. Then find the best way to get there. AI may or may not be part of the answer. The teams getting it right? They’re doing their homework. There are  companies using AI well. They’re automating repetitive tasks, surfacing insights, scoring leads more intelligently, and spotting performance patterns before a human would. But they all have something in common: They mapped their workflows. They cleaned their data. They aligned teams on goals. They knew what they wanted AI to do , not just what they wanted it to sound like  on a slide. In other words, they did the unsexy stuff before plugging anything in. 🚫 TL;DR: If you wouldn’t let an intern rewire your entire MarTech stack, don’t let AI do it either - unless you’ve done the research, defined the problems, and prepared the ground. Want AI to make a difference in your Marketing Operations? Step one is strategy. Not software. Discover our Services Download our FREE whitepaper

The death of "Dear Firstname" There was a time when simply remembering a lead’s name in an email felt revolutionary. Today? If your "personalization" is just dropping a first name into a generic email template, you're not nurturing leads - you're nurturing your unsubscribe  rate. Modern lead nurture is no longer about sending more emails, or throwing more webinars into the void. It's about building experiences that actually matter  - tailored, data-driven conversations that make prospects feel seen, understood, and valued before  they ever sign a contract. And the stakes? They're only getting higher. Let’s dig into why smart data  and sharp personalization  are the future of lead nurture - and why those still stuck in the old ways are about to get left behind. The new reality of lead nurture Traditional lead nurturing followed a pretty lazy playbook: Capture a lead (probably with a half-hearted content download) Drip a few emails over 30 days Cross your fingers and hope for a demo request It was mechanical. Predictable. And frankly, it worked - when buyers had fewer choices and longer attention spans . Today, buyers move fast. They expect relevance, immediacy, and proof  that you get them - or they move on . Nurture is no longer a funnel of touchpoints. It’s a dynamic, responsive relationship  that needs to evolve based on each lead’s behavior, preferences, and journey stage. In short: If your nurture doesn't flex, you don't convert. Why personalization is non-negotiable Personalization today is not about slapping someone's job title into a subject line and calling it a day. It's about context : What are their biggest pain points today ? What role do they play in buying decisions? How have they engaged with your brand so far? What content resonates with their specific industry, role, or maturity level? Here's the cold reality: Leads expect a "you get me" experience from the first click - or they'll find someone else who delivers it. Personalized nurture isn't just "nice to have." It’s a conversion accelerator  - and a trust builder  in a world where trust is in short supply. In fact, studies show personalized nurture emails drive up to 6x higher transaction rates  compared to generic ones. But it only works if you’re not faking it. (People can smell fake personalization the way you can smell a desperate sales call.) Data: The fuel behind real personalization You can't personalize without data. Period. Data isn't a "bonus feature" - it's the engine  behind a functioning nurture program. But here’s the kicker: Not all data is equal. You don't need 400 fields of CRM data nobody trusts. You need smart, actionable data  that tells a real story about your leads. The must-have  data buckets: Firmographics:  Company size, industry, geography Demographics:  Role, seniority, department Behavioral signals:  Website visits, content downloads, webinar attendance, email clicks, social engagement Intent data:  Are they actively researching your category? Engagement patterns:  How often, when, and through which channels they interact And crucially: Permissioned data . We’re living in a GDPR/CCPA-first world. If you're collecting and using data without consent, you're not just playing dirty - you're setting yourself up for a fine and  a PR disaster. Smart marketers know: Data-driven personalization isn't creepy. It's respectful , relevant , and rooted in choice . Discover our Podcast - The MOPs Brief Common mistakes that kill lead nurture programs Even with the best tools and intentions, plenty of companies still get nurture horribly wrong. Here’s how: 1. Over-automating and under-thinking Yes, automation saves time. No, it doesn’t replace strategy. If your nurture tracks feel like a cold drip of vaguely connected content, you’re just automating irrelevance. 2. Ignoring the middle of the funnel Top-of-funnel gets all the love: blog posts, webinars, reports. Bottom-of-funnel gets sales calls. But that big, squishy middle - where buyers decide if they trust you  - is often ignored. Nurture is about owning the messy middle, with smart, timely nudges that help prospects self-educate and gain confidence. 3. Personalizing badly Sloppy merges, outdated data, mistaking interest for intent ("you downloaded a whitepaper, marry me?") - bad personalization is worse than none at all. 4. Failing to align nurture with real buyer journeys Many nurture flows are still linear: Step 1, Step 2, Step 3. Real buyers zigzag. Smart nurture adapts - letting content, timing, and channel flex based on behavior, not assumptions. Building a high-performance nurture engine Okay, so what actually works in 2025? The best lead nurture strategies today share a few key traits: ✦ Audience-first design Start with a brutally honest look at your audience’s needs, problems, and context. Build nurture tracks for them  - not for your sales targets. ✦ Dynamic segmentation Move beyond static lists. Use real-time behavior and data signals to shift people between nurture streams dynamically. ✦ Multi-channel orchestration Email alone won’t cut it. Blend email, retargeting ads, social touchpoints, chatbots, webinars, and even SMS (carefully) to create a cohesive experience. ✦ Progressive profiling Don’t ask for everything up front. Use smart forms and gated content strategies to gradually  learn more about leads as they engage. ✦ Content that sells without selling Focus on value-forward  content: Industry insights How-to guides Smart comparisons Customer success stories Bold thought leadership The goal? Make it easier for leads to sell themselves  internally before your sales team ever shows up. The future of nurture: predictive, proactive, personal We’re already moving into a world where lead nurture is: Predictive  (AI models anticipating buyer behavior) Proactive  (outreach triggered by micro-signals, not marketing calendars) Hyper-personal  (experiences crafted for a lead of one, not a segment of hundreds) Brands that invest in smart data infrastructure and ethical personalization now will be the ones closing deals while competitors are still arguing over nurture workflows. Because in the end, lead nurture isn’t just a "marketing task." It’s your first real relationship with a future customer. And like any relationship - if you phone it in, don’t be surprised when they stop answering. Final word: 🚫 Generic nurture is dead. ✅ Personalized, data-powered nurture is the new baseline. The question is: Are you evolving fast enough to keep up? Discover our Services

Let's talk about the closet nobody wants to open Somewhere inside your organization is a marketing technology stack that’s bigger, messier, and more haunted than anyone wants to admit. At a glance, everything looks fine. The campaigns run. The dashboards load. The tech list fits neatly on a PowerPoint slide. But start asking questions - real questions - about what’s in use, who owns it, what it costs, and what value it’s delivering? You’ll quickly discover ghost platforms, forgotten integrations, overlapping tools, and systems nobody’s logged into since pre-pandemic days. The truth is simple: Every MarTech stack has skeletons. MarTech audits are how you find them before they find you. The only real question is: when should you audit? (Spoiler: It’s probably earlier than you think.) Why MarTech audits are non-negotiable The average enterprise now has over 90 MarTech tools  in play at any given time. Even mid-sized companies routinely juggle 40-50 platforms. Each one came with a business case. Each one promised to save time, drive engagement, boost ROI, or “streamline the buyer journey.” Fast forward a year or two: Teams change Strategies shift New tools get layered in Old tools get neglected Budget oversight gets fuzzy Integrations break silently in the background Without a regular, structured audit, your MarTech stack quietly mutates  from a strategic asset into a bloated liability. An un-audited MarTech stack is like a neglected garden: It doesn't just stop growing - it grows wild . The unmistakable signs you're overdue for a MarTech audit You don't need a crystal ball to know when it’s time. Just look for these very real (and very common) symptoms: ✦ Platform sprawl Nobody can answer - with confidence - how many MarTech tools you have, what they all do, and who owns them. ✦ Ghost platforms You discover platforms still being paid for that nobody claims to use. (Bonus points if IT finds them when they’re auditing VPN access logs.) ✦ Duplicate functionality Multiple teams are using different tools to solve the same problem (e.g., three different event management platforms, two CRMs, four survey tools). ✦ Integration chaos "Connected" systems aren’t syncing properly anymore — leading to dirty data, broken workflows, and dashboard numbers nobody trusts. ✦ Shadow IT Departments buy and use their own tools without any oversight. Congratulations: your marketing stack now includes whatever Steve in Demand Gen put on his corporate card. ✦ Rising costs, falling value Budget reviews show MarTech spend creeping upward, but campaign performance isn't moving with it. ✦ Technical debt headaches Your ops team spends more time fixing and patching systems than innovating or optimizing. When is the right time to undertake a MarTech audit? Here’s the honest answer: If you have to ask, it’s time. But there are also some key trigger points where an audit isn't just useful - it’s critical: ✦ Major strategic shifts New GTM strategy? New ICP focus? Expanding internationally? Your tech stack was built for the old playbook. You need to recalibrate. ✦ Leadership changes New CMO, new Head of RevOps, or even a new CFO? You can bet one of their first questions will be: "What are we actually paying for - and is it working?" ✦ Mergers and acquisitions Combining two MarTech stacks is like blending two IKEA furniture sets blindfolded. You must  audit before consolidating. ✦ Budget freezes or cuts If Marketing’s been told to tighten belts, you need to know which platforms deliver real value and which ones are just nice-to-haves. ✦ Tech stack maturity milestones Every 18-24 months, it’s healthy to audit - even if nothing is "wrong" - just to prevent rot from setting in. Discover our Podcast - The MOPs Brief What a strong MarTech audit looks like A real audit goes beyond  asking, "What tools do we have?" It digs deep into performance, fit, cost, risk, and ownership . At minimum, a MarTech audit should assess: Tool inventory:  What’s in use, who uses it, when was it last actively engaged Overlap analysis:  Are multiple tools solving the same problems? Cost vs. value:  Is the platform driving revenue, improving efficiency, or just burning budget? Integration health:  Are data flows clean and stable between platforms? Adoption rates:  If only 10% of your licenses are active, you have a problem. Compliance and risk exposure:  Especially around data privacy, consent management, and security standards Strategic alignment:  Does the tech still match the marketing and sales goals for the next 12-24 months? Common MarTech audit discoveries (and why they hurt) Nobody escapes a MarTech audit entirely clean.Expect to find some (or all) of the following: Finding Why it matters Ghost platforms still billing $10K+ a year Death by 1,000 cuts to your budget Data leakage between poorly integrated systems Compliance risks and dirty data Critical workflows built on unsupported tools Operational fragility Teams clinging to legacy platforms "because they know it" Cultural resistance to change Redundant capabilities Wasted licensing fees and split focus The goal of an audit isn't just to clean house - it’s to create clarity, focus, and efficiency  moving forward. Why people avoid  MarTech audits (and why that's dangerous) Let's be real: MarTech audits feel tedious. They threaten sacred cows. They force uncomfortable conversations about ownership, accountability, and strategic clarity. But avoiding them doesn’t save you from those problems. It just delays  the pain until it's bigger, more expensive, and less fixable. Smart companies don’t audit because something broke. They audit because they know waiting until something breaks is the slowest (and most expensive) way to lose . The bottom line You can either proactively audit your MarTech stack - with intention, structure, and a strategic lens - or you can wait until: A new CFO starts asking hard questions A data breach exposes your compliance gaps Marketing underperformance triggers a stack-wide investigation Your team burns out trying to keep a broken system limping along Audit before the audit audits you. Because in the world of modern marketing, your tech stack isn’t just an enabler - it is  the infrastructure of your entire revenue engine. If you don't know exactly what's in it, what it’s costing, and what value it’s creating?You’re flying blind - and turbulence is inevitable. Final thoughts MarTech audits aren't sexy. They won't win awards. They won’t trend on LinkedIn. But they will potentially, quietly, save you millions ( our last client MarTech audit highlighted $1.1m of savings ), sharpen your strategy, and give your teams the tools they actually need to win. And honestly? That’s the kind of success story that actually matters. Discover our Services

If ignoring it worked, we’d all be millionaires Let’s be honest: Nobody wakes up excited to do a MarTech audit. No one’s brewing their morning coffee thinking, "You know what would really spice up my day? An exhaustive review of underused CRM plug-ins and integration flows." In fact, given the choice between a MarTech audit and, say, assembling flat-pack furniture with no instructions - most marketing teams would happily grab the Allen key. And yet... ignoring your MarTech stack is a little like ignoring a weird rattle in your car engine: You can pretend it’s “probably fine” - right up until you’re stranded on the side of the highway in a rainstorm. MarTech audits aren’t fun. They’re just necessary. And the longer you put one off, the worse it gets. The real reasons people avoid MarTech audits We’re not here to judge. We get it. Here’s why audits land permanently on the “someday” list: ✦ Fear of finding skeletons Deep down, everyone knows  the stack is messier than it should be. Auditing means shining a flashlight into dark corners - and who’s emotionally ready to discover 12 forgotten platforms, 3 expired licenses, and a workflow that’s been broken since 2022? It’s the adult version of being afraid to check your bank account after a big weekend. If you don't look, it's not real... right? ✦ Political minefields MarTech ownership is often fuzzy. Start poking around and you risk stepping on toes: Who approved that six-figure ABM platform nobody uses? Why is SalesOps paying for a tool Marketing also pays for? Whose “critical tool” actually delivers no measurable ROI? An audit doesn’t just uncover software problems. It uncovers people problems. And sometimes, it’s easier to keep smiling and nodding. ✦ Analysis paralysis Stacks are complicated. Even if you want  to audit, it feels overwhelming. Where do you even start? How do you assess integration health? What if the person who set it up is no longer with the company (and left behind exactly zero documentation)? There’s a perception that tackling the audit will take too much time , so ironically, people waste even more time working around problems they refuse to confront. ✦ Fear of triggering budget cuts Let's be real: If you highlight that half your tech stack is redundant, leadership might start asking other uncomfortable questions - like how the marketing budget got so bloated in the first place. Sometimes, it feels safer to let sleeping MarTech dogs lie. Listen to our Podcast Why avoiding a MarTech audit is a terrible idea Ignoring your MarTech audit needs is like refusing to go to the dentist because you suspect  you have a cavity. Congratulations - you just upgraded yourself from “simple filling” to “root canal.” Here’s what happens when companies delay audits: Situation Consequence Disconnected systems quietly corrupt CRM data Sales doesn’t trust Marketing’s leads Overlapping platforms bloat costs Budget cuts land harder and more randomly later GDPR compliance gaps go unnoticed Legal exposure and potential fines Low adoption platforms quietly rot Teams invent rogue workarounds that break everything else Legacy tech blocks new strategic initiatives Digital transformation projects stall or fail By the time these problems show up on the leadership radar, the fix isn’t a tidy weekend project. It’s a six-figure, six-month rehab. The brutal irony: Audits save  time, money, and credibility Here's the kicker: The same MarTech audit everyone dreads could prevent 80% of the stack-related disasters  that suck up time, money, and CMO reputations later. A good audit: Cleans up wasted spend Streamlines workflows Exposes easy wins Strengthens your marketing data quality Shows leadership that Marketing actually knows how to self-regulate and drive efficiency In a World where every department is fighting for budget, showing operational maturity isn’t optional. It’s a survival skill. Download our whitepaper Final thoughts: Open the closet. It’s never as bad as you think. Auditing your MarTech stack isn’t glamorous. It’s not exciting. It’s definitely not going to trend on TikTok. But it’s how you stop bleeding budget, stabilize your tech foundation, and actually future-proof  your Marketing Operations. Ignore it long enough, and you’ll end up doing an audit anyway - but it’ll be under someone else's flashlight, at someone else’s request, and on someone else’s timeline. Better to open the closet now. It might be messy. It might be awkward. But it’ll also be the smartest move you make this year... Discover our Services

Starting May 5, 2025, Microsoft Outlook is rolling out new rules for high-volume email senders - and if you're sending more than 5,000 emails a day, you're on the list. These new requirements are all about cleaning up the inbox: better security, fewer shady senders, and (hopefully) more trust in the emails that do  make it through. But for Marketing Operations teams, it means a little homework - and a lot of DNS updates. Here’s the lowdown. What’s changing? Outlook’s cracking down on emails that aren’t properly authenticated. If your emails don't check all the right boxes, they’ll be sent straight to junk - or blocked altogether. Not ideal if you’re trying to hit your KPIs. To stay on the right side of Microsoft's filters, you’ll need to make sure your sending domain passes: SPF (Sender Policy Framework)  – proves your domain is allowed to send the email DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)  – signs your message to verify it wasn’t tampered with DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance)  – ties it all together and tells inboxes what to do when something looks off In short: if your email setup isn’t buttoned up, you’re about to have a deliverability problem. What else Outlook wants from you Along with the email authentication trio above, Microsoft also wants you to: Use a valid “From” or “Reply-To” address—no shady throwaway inboxes Include a working unsubscribe link (and yes, people will test it) Keep your mailing lists clean—bounce-heavy lists are a red flag Be honest in your subject lines—no clickbait nonsense Why Marketing Ops should care Because this affects every. single. campaign. If your emails are flagged or junked, your nurture flows stall, your product launches flop, and your metrics take a nosedive. Worse, you might not even know  it’s happening until the complaints roll in. Compliance isn’t just for IT - it’s a core part of ops now. What to do next Here’s your quick to-do list to stay out of trouble: Check your DNS records  – Make sure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are in place and properly aligned. Clean your templates  – Unsub links, clear sender info, no weird formatting—polish it up. Scrub your lists  – Remove the bounces, the spam traps, and anyone who hasn’t opened an email since 2021. Monitor like a hawk  – Watch your deliverability metrics. If something tanks, dig into it fast. Bottom line? If you want your emails to land in inboxes - not the void - these changes aren’t optional. They're the new normal for sending at scale. And if you want to hear the conversation about navigating the chaos, well... maybe you should be listening to The MOPS Brief 😉 Would you like some help confirming that you are compliant with these updates? Discover The MOPs Brief Discover our Services

The great unmasking AI isn't the future of Marketing Operations. It's the now. And it's showing up everywhere - embedded in CRMs, powering predictive analytics, writing subject lines, and automating tasks we didn't even know we hated. But as more teams rush to "bring in AI," something uncomfortable is happening: it's revealing just how shaky the foundations really are. AI isn't papering over the cracks. It's putting a spotlight on them. This isn't a tech issue. It's an operations issue. A leadership issue. A strategy issue. And if you're feeling the pressure - or the confusion - you're not alone. AI highlights process gaps you didn’t know you had Before AI, a lot of marketing ops teams were getting by on duct tape and heroics. Manual workflows, Slack workarounds, a few power users pulling rabbits out of spreadsheets. Enter AI, and suddenly: Your workflows need to be structured, not ad hoc. Your data needs to be normalized, not “close enough.” Your taxonomy needs consistency, not creativity. AI can’t operate in a process vacuum. It needs clarity. Logic. Rules. And when it doesn’t get them? It breaks. Or worse—it acts , and nobody understands why or what it just did. If your processes aren’t mapped, documented, and owned, AI will expose the ambiguity. Fast. AI makes your dirty data everyone's problem Most MOPs teams already know their data is a bit of a mess. But AI doesn’t just make the mess visible - it operationalizes it. You train a model on inconsistent lifecycle stages? It’ll happily optimize junk. You ask a chatbot to summarize an account journey across disconnected systems? Expect a work of fiction. AI assumes the data it’s fed is accurate. It’s not checking your work. That means: Dupes, missing fields, and disconnected IDs create false insights. Poor segmentation or attribution data ruins personalisation. AI-generated recommendations get ignored because they don’t make sense. AI doesn’t make bad data look better. It makes it louder. AI pushes you to define ownership and accountability Who owns the output when an AI model makes a recommendation? Who signs off on an AI-generated nurture sequence? Who updates the rules that the AI uses to score leads? In many teams, nobody has these answers - because nobody had to before. AI doesn’t just require better tech. It requires better governance. Someone needs to: Own the inputs and outputs. Validate performance and flag risks. Monitor ethical and compliance implications. In short: AI doesn’t just ask for new skills. It demands new roles. If you haven’t addressed that yet, expect operational chaos. AI reveals skill gaps in your team AI doesn’t replace people - it raises the bar for them. You can’t drop AI into a MOPs team and expect magic. You need: People who understand how models work (and when not to trust them) Analysts who can interpret outputs, not just visualize them Strategists who can connect AI capabilities to business outcomes If your team is made up entirely of campaign builders and platform admins, they’ll quickly find themselves overwhelmed - or out of the loop. AI requires: Technical literacy Data fluency Strategic thinking Marketing Operations needs to upskill or risk becoming a bottleneck. AI exposes tool and integration sprawl AI is only as effective as the ecosystem it lives in. But most MOPs stacks have grown organically, not strategically. A bit of Eloqua here, some HubSpot over there, a Salesforce instance that’s been duct-taped since 2018… And now everyone wants to integrate a shiny new AI-powered platform on top of it all. The problem? Data can’t flow cleanly. Models get trained on partial or siloed views. Different tools have different rules, structures, and definitions. Instead of adding intelligence, AI ends up amplifying fragmentation. AI doesn’t just highlight tool sprawl. It punishes it. AI accelerates decision fatigue and cognitive overload Once AI is in play, the volume of information your team has to interpret explodes. Dashboards now offer predictions, not just metrics. Journeys are optimized in real-time, not in quarterly reviews. Content is dynamically personalized - at scale. It’s a lot. Without clear priorities and strong operational focus, teams get stuck: Ignoring insights because they don’t trust them Reacting instead of strategizing Spending time chasing anomalies instead of driving outcomes AI makes everything faster. If your team isn’t aligned and focused, it’ll just make them faster at running in circles. AI reveals the real state of your leadership Here’s the uncomfortable truth: if there’s a lack of direction, strategy, or accountability at the top, AI won’t fix it - it’ll magnify it. Misaligned priorities become conflicting automations Vague goals turn into poorly trained models Lack of governance creates chaos at scale Leadership that doesn’t understand AI - and doesn’t empower their teams to use it wisely - will find themselves overwhelmed and reactive. AI requires: Strategic clarity Clear measurement frameworks Investment in people and process, not just platforms If the leadership isn't ready to support that shift, the cracks start to show very quickly. Key takeaways for MOPs leaders ✅ AI is a stress test.  It forces you to confront the weaknesses in your processes, data, tools, and team structure. ✅ Don’t start with the tech.  Start with the problem you’re trying to solve, then decide if AI is the best way to solve it. ✅ Get your house in order.  Fix your taxonomy, map your workflows, clean your data. Boring? Yes. Essential? Also yes. ✅ Invest in people.  Your team needs training, not just tools. Give them the time and space to experiment, learn, and adapt. ✅ Define governance early.  Someone needs to own the models, the data, the decisions. Build those frameworks before  the tech goes live. ✅ Use AI to drive maturity.  The best MOPs teams use AI not to patch over problems—but to evolve how they work. Final thought: AI is not the enemy. Distraction is. When used right, AI can absolutely help scale and sharpen your operations. But if you’re using it to dodge strategy, skip hard decisions, or chase shiny things - it’s going to hurt. The cracks AI exposes? They were always there. Now you have a chance to fix them. And if you're not sure where to start? Ask for help. That's the smart move. Discover our Services

by Sue Wieberg Global Head of Delivery Sojourn Solutions The rise and fall of the contact field, {misc_info_3} in the age of AI and ABM One day I held important data that supported the Marketing Ops team with critical data that facilitated personalization for an event campaign.  The next? “Loves pickles.” I’ve seen emojis, lorem ipsum, broken HTML, and once - a confession about someone’s boss. I am full of secrets. And none of them are good. I wasn’t always like this. I was created with purpose. Potential. They said I’d be “ a flexible metadata field for edge cases. ” The kind of field you use when the structured fields just don’t cut it. But somewhere along the way, I became the junk drawer of your Marketing Automation Platform. Now, in the age of AI and account-based marketing, I sit silently in the shadows… bloated, unindexed, and untrustworthy. I know I shouldn’t be here, but no one has the heart to delete me. The high stakes of dirty data in modern Marketing Ops The analysts avoid me. The business analytics team refers to me as ‘that cursed field.’ I once made a data scientist cry. They tried to parse me. They failed. You’re running AI-generated nurture sequences and building ABM tiers based on firmographics and behavioral intent. But I have to ask…are you really ready for automation when I am still in your database? Alone and unclean? Data like mine - messy, unlabeled, ambiguous - kills AI’s potential. And ABM? It’s nothing without clean, actionable data. Dirty fields like me lead to: Confused targeting; Awkward personalization; Broken integrations; Wasted spend; and Deep existential shame (mostly mine). What I wish you’d done instead I didn’t want this life. You gave it to me. With every import, every lazy copy-paste, every ‘just for now,’ you chipped away at my purpose. Here’s what your modern Marketing Ops data strategy should be built on Clear Purpose for Every Field If a field exists, it should have a name, a defined use, and a reason to live. I never got that. I was your “misc” field. Your fallback. Your data orphan. Input Validation & Guardrails People shouldn’t be able to paste 1,000-character XML into a text field meant for "preferred language." But they did. To me. Daily. Field Audits & Schema Reviews Look back. What am I even doing here? When was the last time someone reviewed the fields you're actually using? Spoiler: it's not the ones you think. Structured Data for AI & ABM Machine learning needs consistency. ABM needs segmentation. I provide neither. If your programs rely on me, they’re doomed. Documentation & Training Teach your teams how to treat their data with care. Show them the horror that I’ve become and let me be a cautionary tale. AI and ABM is not a Band-Aid for broken data Sometimes I fantasize about being renamed. Something dignified like {aux_metadata} or {custom_notes_json}. But no. I am, and will always be {misc_info_3}. Forgotten. Feared. Full of things no one should ever see. We’re in a new era of Marketing Ops. AI is powerful. ABM is precise. But neither of them can thrive on a foundation made of random fields, duplicated notes, or wild data like mine. If you want to automate smarter, target better, and move faster, you have to fix your foundation. Start with your fields. Rescue the ones you can. Retire the ones like me. Let me go. Please. Final word: From {misc_info_3} and your future AI model You didn’t think I mattered. But now, I’m the reason your AI personalization is suggesting cat food to a CFO. Good luck explaining that in your QBR. Don't wait until your strategy breaks to realize your data is the problem. Clean data isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s the difference between a smart, scalable marketing engine - and a chaotic mess with a dash of existential dread. Need help turning your data landfill into a growth engine?   We specialize in modern Marketing Ops: cleaning data, building smart schemas, and preparing your tech stack for the future. Let's finally give {misc_info_3} the closure they deserve. About the Author Sue Wieberg - Our Global Head of Delivery here at Sojourn Solutions, is a seasoned marketing automation strategist with over 15 years of experience in helping organizations leverage marketing technologies to drive revenue growth. Her expertise spans not just the implementation and optimization of marketing automation platforms, enabling businesses to enhance their marketing operations and achieve measurable results, but Marketing Operations as a whole - she's also a pretty good creative writer too :-) Discover our Services

Ah, the world of B2B Marketing Operations. It’s like a magic trick: you start with a sleek, polished stack of MarTech tools, and next thing you know, there’s an extra 50 SaaS subscriptions creeping around in the shadows. They’re like the mythical creature of MarTech: The SaaS-quatch. No one knows exactly how many are out there, but everyone feels their lurking presence. And let’s be real here: it’s not always what’s written down in the budget spreadsheet that bites you. Oh no, it’s that rogue tool that someone’s been sneaking in through their credit card bill, the one you had no idea about until a frantic finance team starts showing you the receipts. It’s like finding an old Netflix password under the couch cushion. It shouldn’t be there, yet somehow it is. These sneaky, forgotten tools, hidden under the radar, are what we call “shadow stacks.” And just like how you’d hunt a Sasquatch, finding and slaying these rogue elements is a mix of strategy, technology, and a healthy dose of detective work. The curse of rogue tech: "The forgotten platform" and its sneaky cousins For years, Marketing Operations teams have quietly (or not-so-quietly) been battling a growing creature lurking in their budgets: "The Forgotten Platform". This elusive beast first appeared back in 2019 ish, often disguised as a seemingly harmless free trial or a tool that promised to be the silver bullet for a short-term marketing initiative. It starts innocently enough: someone discovers a shiny new tool that claims to save time, boost performance, or “integrate with everything” (we've all been there). Before you know it, that free trial turns into a $1,500-per-month recurring subscription, and no one can quite remember signing off on it. The Forgotten Platform is born. But unlike Bigfoot, "The Forgotten Platform" doesn't leave footprints - it leaves behind email receipts, late-night credit card charges, and a pile of unused, neglected licenses. The only thing it hunts is your budget. And the thing is, you're not alone in this struggle. Research suggests that 70% of companies have some form of rogue tech floating around in their organization. It could be a freemium tool someone started using because it was "free for the first 30 days," or a random license purchased with the best of intentions, only to be forgotten once the tool’s initial allure wore off. These shadow tools may be small, under-the-radar, or just plain forgotten, but they add up over time and quietly siphon away your budget. Because they often don't appear in the official MarTech stack, no one notices the slow drain on resources - until it’s too late. The real damage doesn’t come from the big-ticket items either; those are easy to spot. The problem lies in the seemingly harmless subscriptions that go unnoticed and pile up in the background. So, it’s time to get your detective hat on and start hunting these rogue tech monsters before they consume your resources completely. The MarTech audit: Your tactical weapon Step one in the hunt for your SaaS-quatch: a thorough MarTech audit. It’s a bit like a spring cleaning, but for your tech stack. You’re going to go through every tool, license, and account with a fine-tooth comb to make sure no shadow stack creatures are lurking in the dark corners. Here’s how to do it: Talk to the teams Marketing teams can sometimes become a little too... enthusiastic when it comes to trying new tools. And who can blame them? We all want to experiment, optimize, and stay ahead of the curve. But this enthusiasm can also lead to purchases that may not align with the bigger picture. Sit down with your Marketing Ops team, your content team, and any other team who may have purchased software over the past year or two. Ask them about the tools they’re using - and more importantly, why . You’ll be amazed at the number of “forgotten” tools that crop up in these conversations. Some tools are loved by teams but are so niche that no one else is aware of them. These are your SaaS-quatches. Get the financials in line The next step in hunting down rogue tools is to get access to the financials - specifically, the company’s credit card statements, payment systems, and all those accounts with a subscription model. Start by identifying any recurring charges related to marketing tools. These will often show up as unmarked or ambiguous entries, such as “Tool Co” or “App Inc.” at odd dollar amounts. Once you’ve got the statements in front of you, make sure to cross-check these with your list of official tools. If anything doesn’t match, it’s time to ask questions. Track Usage Data The next step is to look at actual usage data for your tools. Every tool worth its salt has some form of tracking or reporting built in, so check the usage reports. If something hasn’t been used in months but is still racking up charges on the company card, it’s time to start questioning whether it’s still needed. This process should also help identify any licenses that were purchased but haven’t been accessed. This is another sign of The Forgotten Platform making its presence felt. Check for trial account renewals One of the most insidious ways rogue tools sneak into the tech stack is through trial accounts that automatically renew. You’ve all been there — you sign up for a free trial, but before you know it, you’ve forgotten to cancel, and the tool’s been auto-renewing every month since. Check for trial-to-paid transitions in your accounts. Most tools will send a notification when they transition from a free trial to a paid account, but if the tool is “forgotten,” you might miss these alerts. Involve your IT and Security Teams While marketing teams are often the ones driving the adoption of new tools, your IT and security teams are critical in spotting shadow stacks. They’ll have insights into what’s been deployed across the company, whether it’s secure, and if there are any compliance risks tied to certain platforms. IT is often the unsung hero in these audits, so don’t skip this step. Slaying the Beast Once you’ve done your due diligence, it’s time to slay the SaaS-quatch. This is where the real work begins, because you’ll need to address what to do with the rogue tools you’ve found. Evaluate the value of each tool : Just because a tool isn’t officially part of your stack doesn’t mean it’s useless. In fact, it may have value. If you find a tool that’s been used regularly but wasn’t part of your official plan, ask yourself: Is it still relevant? Does it add value to the company? Consolidate and streamline : The goal here is to reduce complexity and improve efficiency. Consolidate similar tools. If you’ve got three different tools for email marketing, for example, do you really need all of them? Consolidating platforms reduces tech debt and streamlines operations. Set up clear guidelines : The best way to avoid this situation in the future is by setting clear guidelines for software purchases and usage. Create a transparent approval process, and ensure every new tool purchase is logged, tracked, and reviewed regularly. Communicate with the team : Make sure that everyone is on the same page about the tools you are using and why certain rogue tools need to be decommissioned. Getting buy-in from the team will make it easier to eliminate unneeded tools without causing friction. The aftermath: Ongoing vigilance The hunt for shadow stacks doesn’t end after the first audit. The beast of rogue tech is ever-present, and vigilance is key. Set up regular check-ins, audits, and reviews to ensure that your tech stack remains lean and aligned with your goals. SaaS-quatches don’t stay gone for long. The MarTech wilderness is filled with hidden tech, and it’s time to make sure your stack isn’t haunted by "The Forgotten Platform" anymore. May your shadow stack be slayed and your budget be freed! Talk to us about our MarTech Audit service. Download our FREE whitepaper Discover our Services