Stack Planning
Part of Planning a marketing technology stack
Identifying overlapping tools in an existing stack
Identify genuine overlap in a marketing stack by comparing users, tasks, data and outputs rather than matching feature names.
Tools have functional overlap when they can complete the same task for the same users and required outcome. That does not mean either tool should be removed: data, permissions or other workflows may justify both. Compare actual use before calling a pair redundant.
Find the tools people use
Start with the approved application list, procurement records, team subscriptions and systems connected to key marketing tools. Ask what people open during a normal campaign and what they use for exceptions. Reconcile differences and mark entries that still need an owner or purpose confirmed.
For each tool, record its main job, users, business owner, administrator, data handled, connected systems and whether use is active, limited or being retired. Record contract and access details only as needed to understand the current state. Cost and consolidation decisions can follow the overlap finding.
Compare the same task in both tools
Choose a task, such as creating an email audience, approving an asset or producing a weekly report. Ask each team to show how it completes that task today, with the same starting information and expected output. Note the steps, people, data definitions, permissions and hand-offs, including work outside the product.
- Do the tools serve the same users and decision, or merely have similarly named features?
- Do they use the same records and definitions?
- Is one route needed for a particular channel, team, permission or exception?
- Would using only one route leave a necessary task unsupported?
- Is a process rule creating the apparent duplication?
For example, two products might both show a campaign dashboard. One could support live channel monitoring while the other supplies reconciled management figures. Their screens look similar, but the decisions and data may differ.
Conversely, if two teams use separate sending tools for the same campaign task and approved audience, examine why the routes diverged and whether either serves another necessary purpose. These are illustrative cases, not product findings.
Record what the comparison establishes
Classify each pair as functional overlap confirmed, different roles or unresolved. Attach the task examined, teams involved, material differences and evidence still needed. Functional overlap is a finding about a task, not a cancellation recommendation. A tool may also hold records, integrations or approval history that the observed task does not reveal.
Pass a confirmed finding to whoever owns the broader consolidation decision. That decision needs separate checks on migration work, contracts, retention and live campaigns. The audit is complete when another person can see what both tools do in the examined workflow and what remains unknown.
