Only three things in life are certain: death, the taxes and that marketing professionals will change their technology tools, the so-called martechs. When the researchMartech Replacement 2024arrived at my table, this change became extremely clear. From marketing automation tools to CRM, ESP (and beyond), the insatiable thirst of marketing professionals for change is unwavering
But what is interesting are the factors that drive these changes. Low adoption, contract renewals, consolidation of new tools, new leadership and many other reasons are catalysts that drive this constant state of flow of technology tools
In 2024, the main factor that drove the change in martech was, without surprise, the cost, the most visible part of any investment in martech — and that is often kept under a microscope by CFOs. It is not surprising that the latest researchGartner CMO Spend, do Gartner, show martech spending at its lowest level in 10 years
But it was the second factor that drove the replacement of martech – capacidades de integração/API aberta – that caught my attention
Consolidation and fragmentation, simultaneously
Thanks to the explosion of martech applications in the last decade, much has been done anticipating an inexorable transition towards the consolidation of technology tools. The premise is that the fewer applications in your technology structure, cheaper and better will be to manage it
Although the proliferation of tools is real, and some consolidation is certainly taking place, the data tells us that companies are usingmore software than ever, using specialized tools and applications to meet specific and critical business needs. Observe the technology tools of most modern companies and you will see core platforms supporting a Jenga tower of interconnected tools, not a single and universal platform
The reportState of Martechin 2024 found a similar pattern. Despite having fundamental platforms (such as CRM, CEPs, CDPs or data warehouses, about 82% of the surveyed organizations said they also used alternative products and applications
É precisamente neste contexto que a integração/abertura se torna tão importante. To be frank, if a supplier does not integrate its data well with other tools, marketing professionals will find a different tool that does it for you
A wolf in sheep's clothing
The large martech packages, it's clear, they realized this growing demand for interoperability and created seemingly robust application ecosystems that allow you to use a variety of different tools in combination with your main platform
But pay attention, buyer: these integrations are not free
These large software packages built their dominance by acquiring and merging smaller, independent technology companies. As a result, these business software packages encompass various applications, each operating on different data models that lack internal compatibility, much less integration resources with third-party systems
This means that, although it is technically possible to integrate third-party point solutions into them, they are so complex and clumsy — practically without documentation — that most end up paying dearly for consulting service providers and integration construction in their name
Looking forward to 2025
Given the importance that marketing professionals placed on integration resources in 2024, it is unlikely that this interoperability varnish will be sufficient
With the increase of APIs and the growing demand for composable technology tools, the level for martech suppliers has never been so high. They need to ensure compatibility between different tools and record systems, ensure that data flows accurately between tools in real time, provide easy-to-use interfaces for teams to leverage their API and serve the best-in-class documentation and tools to support them in building their technology stack
If this seems like a difficult task, this shows how marketing teams, data, analysis and digital are maturing within organizations. With this maturity, they come with greater skills and experience in technology, it is a desire to go beyond ready-to-use functionality
It is important to embrace platforms designed to be used with other systems, instead of arresting you. We believe that brands should have the flexibility to choose the best channel solutions for themselves, and the marketing teams, data and development should not have to spend months creating manual point integrations to obtain their data from these platforms
In 2025 and in the following years, I see a future much more integrated than before
