Episode #23: Building a Next-Gen Composable Martech Stack - Niels Fogt
Exploring the power of a dedicated workflow layer
For most of us in B2B, the marketing automation platform - aka "MAP" - is the anchoring piece of technology in the martech stack.
When I was first buying a MAP, there were way more options than today, but generally they all bundled a few core features together:
A database for your lead and activity data
A way to segment audiences
Email sending
Form and landing page builders
Workflow functionality - the ability to execute "if this, then that" style logic for various reason scoring, data management, pipeline management etc.
So whether you're using Marketo or Pardot or Eloqua or Hubspot, you're kind of used to thinking of all those functions bundled together.
But, does it have to be that way? Is there a reason why you need to do your lifecycle processing in the same tool that you send emails with?
Of course, there isn't. But what does a martech stack look like where these roles are distributed differently?
Today's guest has answered that question and put it to the test.
Niels Fogt is Sr. Director, of Automation Solutions at tray.io. And he's built an elegant and high-performing composable stack.
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About Today's Guest
Niels Fogt is Sr. Director, Automation Solutions at tray.io. He's led and participated in a wide variety of initiatives within growth and marketing. Strong technical acumen. UX roots.
Take-Aways
Cultivating a developer mindset
Optimal architecture for martech systems follows many of the same best practices used in software engineering.
These include concepts like service-oriented architecture, loose coupling, following DRY principles, and so on.
You don’t need to be a coder to apply these practices — but you do need to understand them and have a developer mindset.
Approaching challenges flexibly and pragmatically
All of us can be constrained by our past experience, by conventional wisdom, or by our own beliefs about best practices.
However, it’s important to keep an open mind and evaluate each problem on its own merits to identify the best solution.
Technical challenges are seldom black-and-white enough. There are good reasons to consider both native and custom integrations or both composable monolithic solutions.
Ultimately, you need to evaluate your jobs to be done and do what works best.
Key Topics
[00:00] - Introduction
[02:31] - Niels’ journey as a martech architect
[06:06] - Challenges with the traditional martech stack
[09:13] - Developer mindsets and service-oriented architecture
[12:10] - Applying automation capabilities across the organization
[14:09] - Components of Tray’s martech stack
[15:02] - The role of a customer journey tool
[16:07] - Centralized lead processing in Tray
[17:23] - Event collection
[19:09] - Streaming events into automation tool vs. data warehouse
[22:21] - Native vs. custom integrations
[29:15] - Benefits of having a workflow layer in Tray vs. in a MAP
[32:02] - Economics of using an iPaaS as a workflow layer
[34:50] - Composable martech stacks
[39:03] - Skillsets needed to operate a composable stack
[40:01] - Future capabilities
[41:25] - Relationship to business stakeholders