Why Your AI Martech Spine Is Like Doctor Who: Two Hearts and an Awesome Brain!

Chantal Reed, EMEA Marketing and Communications Director, Interim and Consultant, who’s worked with Microsoft, Cisco, Dell Technologies, and other innovators, considers the importance of having a Martech spine and two ‘hearts’, even when there is the help of an AI B2B marketing brain.

In my article for Engage MarTech, ‘ AI-Martech-As-A-Service: Democratisation of Marketing Budgets and Team Structures Through AI,’ I made the term of AI-MarTech-as-a-Service. It made sense given the use of ‘as-a-Service’ or ‘aaS’ in much of the tech world. However, one company creating and providing all this is not how the tech industry has worked before. So how could it work?

So many SaaS companies have platforms that focus on one vertical: i.e. Fintech. They combine the data platform into a way of speedily solving specific problems with fast data manipulation and orchestration powered in the cloud. I do love a SaaS business!

It occurs mainly when its truly unique in the problem it is solving, where the innovators, programmers, inventors have cut through to the white space and when they have not copied everyone else to create a startup, that they put all their energies into it. Sadly, so many fail.

"Approximately 20% of startups in the UK fail within their first year, and around 60% fail within their first 3 years" (Source: Office for National Statistics, 2023). These figures exist usually with VC backing.

AI-MarTech-aaS: I would see it as a systems integrator type business with consultancy at its core. Digital transformation continues to disrupt customers and now it is the marketer’s turn as Graham Jarvis states in his article, ‘Does Marketing Technology Need Its Own Digital Transformation?’ Customers turn to consultancy based businesses with the tech partnerships to solve their problems, create their ‘As Is, To Be’ reviews.

What To Think About When Building Your AI Martech Spine

What exactly should a B2B Marketer look for in their Martech Spine? And remember, from my last article, this has very big implications for team structures that already exist, and of course on roles. If you are creating a new team, start with the Martech and work your way back from the customer data you want and need to know, to enable the best influencing. Start with the outcome you want the AI Martech to achieve.

Any Martech spine is just about the data in the analysis, the solutions out and now AI the advisory. It includes how to navigate the customer and their stickiness to your brand through long sales cycles, aiding stakeholder decision-making with the true facts that no-one can argue with, and then there’s our friend ABM – making data the true game changer whenever it’s used correctly. See my article here, ‘ABM is Not for the Faint-Hearted.’

An old saying ‘Garbage in, Garbage out’ is still relevant today. However, it’s less so. The data that goes in is usually from another form of real-time analysis of say intent data from data providers similar to Zoominfo, Bombora and HG Insights.

However still watch out, you still need team members who are really good at the analysis of the data – data analysts are a growing requirement in larger firms. However, all marketers that work with Martech need to see part of their roles now as this.

What Are The Hearts Of AI Martech

An AI Martech spine for me has two hearts, just like Doctor Who and he is pretty incredible! Firstly, the middleware solutions that integrate the data from all sources, and then from that a data platform that combines the analysis of all the Martech to give you a specific view of that customer – a major requirement for your sales teams and ABM.

The brain of the Doctor is obviously where the magic happens, and with an AI Martech Spine, there are many more systems that should combine as the entire brain to give you the competitive edge of KYC…knowing your customer… but it’s also about understanding what and how they are influenced to buy your B2B solution. And remember, if a provider does not use #AI now where they could, don’t use them.

By Chantal Reed, EMEA Marketing and Communications Director, Interim and Consultant