As your business grows and responds to the evolving needs of customers, the technology you use will also have to adapt, upgrade and improve in order to provide maximum efficiency and value.
The tools you invest in now will lay the foundation for future opportunities and possibilities for your business. Ineffective tech could lead to costly corrective measures further down the line.
For example, if the software you use now stops receiving support and upgrades from the developer, or its limited features no longer align with your growing business, you'll have to put everything on pause, search for a new option, ensure that your data assets and current process are configurable with the new platform and go through the onboarding process with your employees and stakeholders. This could take weeks and months –– and even longer until you start getting results and return on investment.
With so many different platforms and applications on the market, how do you know which technology is central to your company's growth and success?
In this article, we'll explore the fundamentals of business technology and how to identify core tools that will offer long term benefits for your business.
What is a tech stack?
A technology stack, or tech stack, refers to the digital tools, platforms, applications and software that a business uses for operational, marketing and sales purposes; it can also refer to the software tools you use to build your products and can include coding languages. Sometimes, these technologies function in silos, or they can be integrated to share data and add functionality.
A tech stack encompasses front-end technologies that are responsible for what users actually see and experience, as well as backend technologies that manage the data and affect the performance of the tool. The technology at your disposal can vary in complexity, often requiring specialist assistance when it comes to maintenances, integration or troubleshooting.
Why do I need a tech stack?
Can a business operate without technology? Sure, some trades and businesses may not necessarily need a tech stack to develop products, get them to market, and manage performance. However, in a world that's vastly embracing digital transformation, technology is a key driver for scalable business growth. Mobile and web-based applications can bring speed, accuracy and simplicity to your everyday operations, helping to reduce costs and improve the experience you provide to customers.
Why your tech stack needs to be scalable
Your digital architecture will be made up of multiple components, each supporting a core function of your business. For example, you may use a tool to manage projects and client delivery; you may use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform to record, monitor and improve interactions and communication with customers and prospects; you may use other platforms for paid advertising and marketing campaign management, tools for billing and payment processes, as well as e-commerce platforms through which you sell your products. These technologies exist in an ecosystem and may directly or indirectly affect one another.
Each tool in your tech stack will likely come with a cost – often, that cost increases as your business needs expand. For this reason, it's essential to choose technology that offers flexibility – it must serve the needs of your business throughout the different stages of its growth journey.
In short, the tech stack you implement should support your business's growth goals while ensuring the security and integrity of your digital framework. When choosing what goes into your tech stack, you must consider maintenance, configuration and integration – Who will manage these tasks in the long run and is there enough support available for the particular technology you're interested in using? For example, becoming reliant on custom platforms that continuously require developer intervention may not be financially sustainable for your business.
How to choose a tech stack
The first step is to audit the technology you currently have, then consider the purpose or objective for each new and existing tool. Once you know what you're hoping to achieve, you can start asking these fundamental questions:
- Will it deliver the necessary value to justify the spend and investment that's required for integration and training?
- Do you require the tool to complete a one-off task, or will it become an integral part of your everyday processes?
- Can you add or remove users as required, and how will that affect the cost of the application?
- Are you and your team familiar with this tool? If not, is there likely to be a resistance to using it?
- Does the tool have a demonstrated use case in your industry, or is it a generic application?
- When were the most recent upgrades released, and is there frequent communication from the developer?
- What integrations are currently available with this application?
- Is the software cloud-based, or will it require on-site hosting?
- Is the app secured, and does it follow the required protocols for your geographic location and the places where you do business?
- Are the costs of upgrading feasible and in line with your revenue projections?
- Is there a helpful knowledge base and adequate support?
- Is it easy to identify issues with a certain tool – does it have dashboards and alerts to notify you when things go wrong?
Once you've got the information you require, it becomes much easier to discern between what is necessary and truly beneficial for your business. Taking a big picture look at where you are right now and where you're headed will help you to connect the digital dots between the various tools in your tech landscape.
Adding HubSpot to your tech stack
Ambitious businesses know that HubSpot is the go-to platform to help you achieve a myriad of growth goals. The world's top brands rely on HubSpot to launch, monitor and optimise powerful campaigns that turn leads into buyers.
From automation to sales enablement and service delivery, HubSpot is the most comprehensive inbound tool you'll ever use. Like all technologies, there is a considerable learning curve and a fair bit of integration before you can start taking full advantage of its features. To help you, we offer a full implementation and integration service that sets you and your team up for HubSpot success. We can review your existing systems, third party app requirements and objectives for your HubSpot integration to ensure everything is done with best practices in mind.
Click the link to learn more about our service and find out how we can support you.
