Martech Utilisation Levers
To improve utilisation, think of these key levers and how you can pull them to your advantage.
The key levers are:
CAPABILITY AND PLATFORM – improving utilisation by expanding use of features, improving data and having the right people.
COSTS – Improve the cost base of your technology platform to realise greater value and offset low utilisation.
OPTIMISATION – undertaking activities to improve efficiency, skills, performance of activity and strategic alignment.
In the table below we have outlined the actions, effort and payback for each of the levers. Including highlighting the one that matters most for each area.
Capability and platform.
Lever: Improving platform application and use.
The one that matters: Have the right people - Invest in correct resources.
| Action | Effort | Benefit | Time to Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expand platform features use | Medium – requires the ability to use the features (data, channel, skills) | Medium – there is no use paying for something and then not using it – leveraging capability is central to utilisation | Short to Medium – certain features (like predictive learning, personalisation) can have immediate returns |
| Improve data availability & quality | High – an on-going but necessary challenge for organisations | High – data is often cited as a critical challenge and success factor in Martech | Medium to Long – based on effort to integrate and fix data |
| Invest in correct resources | Low – aligning the right people and skills to capabilities | High – having the right people is paramount in ensuring utilisation is high (assuming they are applied correctly) | Short to Medium – the right skills base can have immediate impact |
Cost
Lever: Cost improvements to benefit overall utilisation value ratio.
The one that matters: Choose and implement the right platform.
| Action | Effort | Benefit | Time to Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choose and implement the right platform | Low – proper due diligence for selection and business case to know true costs | High – sets up for success and increases utilisation baseline in addition to right size platform costs | Short – assuming a well-managed implementation |
| Consolidate or remove (including de-platform or downgrade) | High – shifting of processes and decommissioning technology effort | Medium – improves base costs, support and other areas (as long as utilised customer value is not impacted) | Short to Medium – impacted by speed to consolidate, license terms and process re-engineering |
| Licensing or Platform costs | High – varies depending on contract and license terms | Low – platforms increase costs with usage unless you can negotiate higher tiers | Short – at the right time – benefits can be immediate |
| Review resource profile | Low to High – outsourcing, leveraging agencies or reducing staff vary in effort | Medium – outsourcing can impact quality and overheads if not managed well but can reduce costs | Medium to Long – re-organisation or outsourcing takes time |
| Be better targeted in activity | Medium – improvements in targeting and execution (aka personalisation) take time | Medium – can improve direct line to value, reduce platform & media costs (which are often on a usage basis) and focus teams of utilising platform capabilities better | Short to Medium – certain personalisation activities take time to see customer benefit |
Optimisation
Improve performance of processes, people and activities.
The one that matters: Optimise performance.
| Action | Effort | Benefit | Time to Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strive for automation | Medium to High – undertake continual automation of processes | Medium – enables redirection of resources to higher value work | Short to Medium – enables platforms to do what they do best |
| Optimise performance | Medium – breaking out of the cycle of effort for efforts sake and introducing proper review & optimise activities | High – continual improvement of campaigns or activity can provide large benefit | Medium – embedding behaviours and supporting capabilities takes time |
| Improve skills | Medium – map and gap skills, undertake training to improve skills | High – a highly skilled team improves utilisation | Medium to Long – skills build takes time to flow through to execution |
| Strategic alignment | Low – ensure alignment on capability with business outcomes | Medium – helps prioritisation on utilisation and focus on organisation value | Short to Medium – alignment can pay off quickly by enabling teams to stop focus on non value creating work |
| Process improvement | Low to Medium – depending on the process, effort varies to fix or address process issues | High – good processes improve time to value, efficiency, and team happiness | Medium – tweaks can be immediate but general take a while to improve utilisation |