Martech readiness: structure, capability, process

Why we keep solving human problems with robot solutions

The Martech industry keeps solving human problems with robot solutions. While vendors launch AI agents and blame data quality, the real issue is organizational dysfunction. Why architecture, not technology, determines if marketing teams succeed or fail.

Ok, I need to get this off my chest. This week in Martech feels like watching an episode of the Twilight Zone. Treasure Data launches their AI Marketing Cloud. Hightouch teases new Agents feature. Tealium rolls out their Behavioral Insight Agent. Meanwhile, McKinsey drops a report essentially saying "your technology is writing checks your operating model can't cash", and Hightouch's "Has Martech failed marketers" report includes data showing that marketers think their tools are broken.

Now take a sip of your coffee before I reveal the plot twist. Ready? Everyone's basically saying the same thing without saying

Your CDP is more than just a platform

Why CDP projects unravel and what they reveal about your real digital transformation readiness

I just got back from a family trip to Paris, which was mostly great except for the hour I spent in a queue under the Eiffel Tower with my daughter constantly requesting more screentime on her phone, my wife and son (afraid of heights… like me) trying to find shade at a local cafe, and my brain, entirely on its own, thinking about CDPs and digital transformation. Because of course it did.

That moment, standing between chaos and culture, reminded me that CDP implementations are like tiny, well-lit previews of the digital transformation mess most companies are too scared

Is the CDP binary broken?

Multi CDP Part 1: Why Dual Zone thinking matters now, more than ever.

There was a time, brief and overly PowerPointed, when the Customer Data Platform (CDP) was sold as the answer to everything: clean data, unified profiles, cross-channel orchestration, even internal peace treaties between marketing and IT.

One platform. One profile. One truth.

And then reality showed up.

Not with a bang, but with two CDPs.

The CDP Institute’s 2024 Member Survey reports an average of 2.1 CDPs per company, and Simon Data observes a drop from 2.9 to 2.1 based on that data. That might look like consolidation (down from 2.9 the year before), but

Agentic AI in Martech: The new org chart

Part 4: Roles that emerge when AI handles execution

A friend recently asked me what a marketing ops manager actually does when AI agents are handling campaign execution, optimization, and conflict resolution. It's a fair question. If systems are making billions of decisions autonomously, what's left for us mortal humans?

My first instinct was to give the standard consultant answer about "strategic oversight" and "creative direction." But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that's probably wrong. The interesting human roles in an agentic world are likely to be things we haven't fully invented, yet.

Beyond the "Human in the Loop" fiction

Humans, not tools - A Martech podcast about the real stuff

Phil Gamache on podcasting as therapy, measuring what matters, and why being opinionated at 4am might just land you a guest slot.

Phil Gamache said, “I ask questions like an analyst, but I listen like an operator.” And that’s exactly why I invited him onto Couch Confidentials, for quotes like that. At the end of the day we are all trying to achieve the same.

He doesn’t just host Humans of Martech, he’s built a platform that holds up a mirror to the way we actually work. The late-night migrations. The marketing ops arguments. The tools that break quietly while no one’s watching. His podcast is not about frameworks or vendor checklists, it’s about people trying

Marketing Operations isn’t just about tools, it’s about strategy, people & process!

In this episode of Couch Confidentials, I sit down with Odd Morten Sørensen, Marketing Operations Consultant at PlayMOps, to talk about the real challenges of Martech implementation. But before we even got into that, we had an unexpected personal connecti

Marketing Operations isn’t just about tools, it’s about strategy, people & process!

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In this episode of Couch Confidentials, I sit down with Odd Morten Sørensen, Marketing Operations Consultant at PlayMOps, to talk about the real challenges of Martech implementation. But before we even got into that, we had an unexpected personal connection—turns out we had a mutual friend in the Norwegian Navy! I shared a short clip of that moment yesterday, but the full conversation is even better.

What we covered in this episode:

•The SOPP framework: Strategy, Organization, People, Process

• Why

Posts tagged with Martech readiness

Beyond the "Human in the Loop" fiction