Marketing Technology Should Reduce Work; Yours Likely Creates More

Cathy McKnight

Feb 24, 2026 · 1 min read

Perception

There’s a process gap; you buy new tech to fix it.

Your teams are overloaded with work; you buy a new workflow management tool to “help” alleviate the load.

There isn’t enough cross-team collaboration, you add, yet another work productivity solution.

Technology is a magic wand to fix all your woes … according to every vendor pitch ever.

Your tech stack isn’t lacking, its bloated. You’re adding tools to solve problems that those same tools created.

Most of your martech isn’t enabling or speeding up efficiencies; it's adding steps, confusion, frustration, and cost.

You don’t need a bigger stack, you need to use the tech you have in a better, smarter way.

Too many tools add confusion, complexity, and more work because tool management becomes job.
Teams lose productive time switching between technologies rather than creating, producing, or innovating.
The ROI on the tech investment drops when there is redundancy and an increased governance need.

Thinking tech is the panacea to all challenges, problems, etc.
Assuming new tools automatically translate into faster output.
Buying based on vendors' promises without aligning them to stakeholder’s needs.
Dropping new tools and technology on teams without adequate training and setting a clear path/process for adoption.

Audit the tech stack for functionality and time used compared to value delivered.
Map tools to workflows: who uses them, how often, for what.
Create and maintain a martech stack roadmap that includes sunset rules for under-used tools.

Tech is only as good as its depth of adoption and the processes that use it.