SAP Concur’s Martech Ecosystem Comes into Focus

Case Study

SAP Concur’s Martech Ecosystem Comes into Focus

The challenge:

A new, centralized martech team was faced with reconciling disconnected technology and tools

When David Hsu, Global Vice President of Data and Analytics at SAP Concur hired a Director of Marketing Technology, his first ask was that the new Director better understand the current, highly distributed global martech ecosystem. Through years of rapid growth and decentralization, disparate teams at SAP Concur had purchased many point tools for their dedicated use. The result was duplication of functionality and a lack of consistency in what tools were being used for what functions.

Licensing and budgeting information as well as assessment on the technology’s need and fit for the business were difficult to get arms around given the sheer number of tools and the centralization of their use.

“There was a lot of, ‘what are you using for this? What are YOU using for this?’ type of conversation,” said Hsu. “It became clear that we were going to need a strong process for organizing this, and knowing what to prioritize, what tools were siloed, underutilized, etc.”

The solution:

SAP Concur leveraged Inverta’s Martech assessment and consulting to to get a realistic inventory along with prioritized recommendations.

Inverta’s discovery and inventory process helped SAP Concur get an exhaustive picture of the current tools in use, including existing system integrations, overlap and redundancy, cost, level of license subscription and term, as well as active and inactive users.

Additionally, Inverta worked with Concur to create a consistent scale on which to evaluate each tool and prioritize based on impact and cost vs. usability. The scoring methodology determined where functionality should be expanded to new regions, enriched, further maintained and enabled, or eliminated all-together.

In addition to delivering a path forward, the inventory and recommendations fed directly into planning and budgetary conversations – an important reconciliation when you are centralizing technology investments for the first time.

“The timing was right,” Hsu said. “We completed the project right at planning time. We uncovered a lot of martech gaps that need to be filled. We can now deprioritize random tool requests in favor of tools we know will have a greater impact.”

What’s next for SAP Concur? A focus on expanding tools to new regions in lieu of investing in new tools outright. Hsu adds that they are in the process of putting more definition and rigor around new martech acquisition.

[hy-quote image-id=”2284″ name=”David Hsu” job-title=”Global Vice President of Marketing Data and Analytics, SAP Concur”]Kathy Macchi’s background and expertise sets Inverta apart. She could look at an individual tool and know what it does and how it works. She had the technical prowess to back up her strategic recommendations. Her advice was never generic.[/hy-quote]

The results:

0: The number of tools that were shared by the entire marketing organization

61: The number of tools inventoried

28: The number of tools earmarked for expansion to other regions

How Tenable Regained Control of their Marketing Automation Platform (MAP)

Case Study

How Tenable Regained Control of their Marketing Automation Platform (MAP)

The challenge:

Years of suboptimal MAP administration resulted in system bloat and lack of executive ownership

The MAP at Tenable had become difficult to work with. Years of reactivity without governance or rigor had led to competing workflows, complicated builds, and overall bad practice. Tenable wasn’t realizing the full value of their MAP due to layers of intricate development, and the lack of platform performance was strangling their lead response.

It became clear that a series of activities would need to be done to clean up the MAP environment, but the team at Tenable were unsure where to begin and what issues to prioritize.

The solution:

A Needs Analysis and Audit revealed a Prioritized List of Specific Items

Inverta performed a needs analysis and MAP audit to get a clear understanding of what needed to be addressed during the clean-up. Several interviews and conversations were conducted to ensure that the output of the exercise, a prioritized list of projects with specific instructions on how to proceed, specifically met the needs of the Tenable team.

Once completed, Inverta had delivered a complete map of the MAP infrastructure, including over 80,000 distinct marketing and campaign objects, specifically focusing on areas of server load inefficiencies with recommendations for archival or deletion. Additionally, Inverta recommended changes to 75% of 117 custom fields, and built internal team workflows for every MAP process, resulting in greater efficiency and ease-of-use by the Tenable team. Finally, Inverta helped Tenable improve the MAP performance by streamlining existing smart campaigns, segmentations, and campaign structures.

[hy-quote image-id=”2056″ name=”Matt Mullin” job-title=”Director of Marketing Operations and Technology, Tenable”]As important as the project itself was the continued validation that what we were doing was important. I really considered Inverta an extension of my team, continuously supporting me, and helping me communicate our progress to the most senior roles at Tenable.[/hy-quote]

The results:

63% reduction in active/triggered campaigns

54% of folders/programs were archived or deleted

75% of MAP custom fields were reviewed and 16% were deleted