Stack Planning
Part of Marketing technology roadmaps
Planning stack upgrades after a business acquisition
Sequence marketing stack changes after an acquisition around live work, system ownership and the actual customer-data boundary.
After an acquisition, plan marketing stack upgrades around the work each business must continue to perform and the data it may use. Establish the transaction and operating boundaries first. A shared owner does not, by itself, make two customer databases or campaign processes ready to combine.
Establish the day-one boundary
Identify the legal entities and teams running each website, campaign account, customer system and reporting route. Ask who owns access, contracts and active work, and which commitments must continue immediately after completion. Record where one business depends on an agency or administrator at the other.
List the stack layers in each business before deciding anything: CRM, marketing automation or email platform, customer data platform, consent and preference records, analytics and tag management, advertising accounts and reporting tools. For each, note the contracting entity, renewal date and whether the vendor or agency contract can be assigned or novated, or must be renegotiated.
Keep the transaction structure in the record. The OAIC publishes guidance for organisations on selling a business and on trading in personal information, so treat the structure of the transaction and any information shared during due diligence as separate questions.
The handling of personal information after completion depends on the entity, transaction and proposed use or disclosure. Under the Privacy Act, an APP entity 'discloses' personal information where it makes it accessible to others outside the entity, so moving records between legal entities needs its own assessment. An acquisition does not, by itself, authorise a new campaign use of acquired contacts.
Two Australian Privacy Principles matter most for marketing. Under APP 6, personal information can only be used or disclosed for the primary purpose for which it was collected, or for a secondary purpose if an exception applies, such as consent. APP 7 provides that an organisation must not use or disclose personal information it holds for direct marketing unless an exception applies, and it must always let people opt out and comply with that request.
Have the organisation’s privacy and legal owners assess any transfer and marketing use before customer records move, and carry existing opt-out requests across with the records.
Australian Privacy Principles (APP) key points for post-acquisition marketing
- APP 6 – Use and disclosurePersonal information can only be used for the primary purpose or with consent for secondary use.
- APP 7 – Direct marketingMust provide opt-out options and comply with all opt-out requests.
- Disclosure under Privacy ActMoving records between legal entities requires assessment — an acquisition does not automatically permit new uses.
Create an upgrade sequence from the work
Start with a continuity map for each business: scheduled campaigns, customer enquiries, approvals, opt-outs, reports and the systems that deliver them. Mark what can continue independently, what requires a controlled connection and what needs a shared tool.
Keep unknown data definitions visible. Two systems may both call a person a “customer” while using different criteria.
A useful sequence is:
- Stabilise access and ownership.Identify authorised operators and deputies for critical accounts without casually changing live campaign routes.
- Define shared decisions.Agree which brand, team or entity may use each record and who resolves conflicting definitions.
- Prepare a bounded change.Choose one workflow, map its data and approvals, and establish the expected output and exceptions.
- Release and inspect.Move the workflow at an agreed point, check its receiving result, then decide whether the next one is ready.
These are planning steps; they do not assume that every acquired business should end on one platform.
Separate integration from replacement
A shared report may need consistent labels and access before it needs a new reporting product. A common campaign calendar may help teams coordinate while their customer systems remain separate. Conversely, a necessary cross-business hand-off may expose a need for a new connection or tool.
Record the reason for each proposed change and what the current systems cannot do under the agreed rules.
Suppose the buyer wants one launch report across two brands. First define the measures and reporting periods, then determine which team can provide approved figures. Combining customer records can remain a separate decision.
Keep an acquisition change register with the workflow, entities, data involved, decision owner, privacy or contract condition, proposed timing and evidence needed before cutover. The next upgrade is ready when the owners can explain the current route, the proposed route and what happens if the change fails.
A sample register row: workflow, the acquired brand's newsletter; entities, the acquired company until the email platform contract is novated; data, its subscriber list with opt-outs; owner, the acquired brand's marketing lead; condition, privacy sign-off on any use by the buyer's brands; evidence, a test send and a working unsubscribe link. Review the register before each cutover, not only at the end.
