How iDX Fixes Disconnected MarTech Stacks 

Marketers face a supreme irony. The more successful they are, the more customer data they collect and create. The more data they create, they more wasteful and inefficient they become. This problem needs to stop. At an August 24 ANA webinar, I discussed a solution.

As a company operating in the center of the digital MarTech revolution, iDX has witnessed first-hand the benefits of collecting first-party (customer) data and creating more effective marketing and communications across all audiences.

But we’ve also become increasingly concerned about the amount of waste that our industry is creating through poorly coordinated MarTech stacks that are supposed to be making sense of customer data. 

Marketers Have Lost Control of Data

As I noted during the webinar, marketers lack the right mix of human know-how and technological tools to harness the value of data. As a result, marketers collect more data than they can interpret usefully. An iDX-commissioned study of senior executives by Forrester Consulting in 2023 was quite telling. An average of 6 technologies comprise a respondent’s MarTech stack. Having too many MarTech platforms to manage results in inefficiency and waste. For instance:

• 83 percent of business leaders admit their MarTech/AdTech platforms don’t work very well together. 
• 47 percent admit that poorly utilized MarTech/AdTech platforms waste time, budget, effort, and resources. 

Well Managed MarTech Stacks Deliver Benefits

But we also found that when MarTech stacks are well coordinated, they deliver benefits:

• 59 percent of respondents said that they’ve experienced an increase in company revenue.
• 55 percent  experienced improvements in customer experience.
• 48 percent experienced a more efficient use of time.

Unfortunately, the creation of waste is what catches the attention of the CEO and CFO. This reinforces a perception that marketing is a cost center, and an inefficient one at that.

The Solution to Wasted Data

What is the solution? At iDX, we have developed one called ConnectedContent™ -- a framework that marries human insight and technology to reduce waste.

ConnectedContent combines a software to unify fragmented MarTech stacks and human insight to make MarCom operations more effective. ConnectedContent:

• Identifies inefficiencies across the marketing supply chain using a lean process optimization methodology.
• Takes the inefficiencies out by automating marketing workflows, enabling assets to be created in real tie with content pulled from enterprise-wide repositories.
• Breaks down silos to create an integrated experience.

The Benefits of Connected Content

With ConnectedContent, businesses realize benefits such as:

• A 20 percent reduction in costs.
• A 40 percent reduction in process cycle times.
• Stronger brand equity resulting from an improved control of marketing assets.
• Insights to drive better marketing.

As our CEO Myles Peacock said recently, “ConnectedContent^™ has the potential to utilize existing investments more effectively while driving the industry towards a more sustainable future. We can collectively and proactively reduce waste, improve ROI, and enhance the end customer experience by 1) harmonizing complex platforms and processes to make teams more efficient, 2) creating and measuring content more effectively, and 3) streamlining marketing technology for a more profitable outcome. As an industry, we are overdue when it comes to transforming the way organizations think about digital communications.”

Bottom line

All that first-party data that is supposed to make marketing more efficient gets put to use the way it is intended. We suggest that to get started, businesses understand the lay of your own land. How many systems do you have? Are they working? How many different tech stacks are you using? We can help you do that – and much more. Contact us to learn how.