How avoiding a Frankenstack can help drive better business results

The consensus? Complexity is unavoidable, but with smart strategies focused on business outcomes, integration and ruthless prioritization, agencies can create value rather than confusion and deliver the goods.

Aligning technology with business goals

With so many technology vendors promising transformative results, agencies have to be selective and strategic. They must prioritize tools that are closely aligned with their clients’ objectives.

Dan Knauf at Merkle stressed the importance of acting with speed and clarity: “We just move faster. We move more efficiently. There’s value in chaos if you can control and tame it. The world today offers more composability, more choice and more data than ever. Agencies like ours use our experience to quickly narrow down the options and make strategic, human-centered decisions.”

Jens Christian Jensen at Plan.Net explained how aligning the tech stack with the client’s core business model is absolutely crucial, saying: “We pick a starting hypothesis depending on the client’s DNA. If it’s an e-commerce brand, we start with the commerce platform. For a content-focused company, it starts with the CMS. From there, we develop a strategy around data, automation, supply chains, and legal compliance – particularly in Europe, where data privacy is a major factor.”

Marcus Pratt, SVP of insight technology at Mediasmith, warned against adding technology just for the sake of it: “There’s always a temptation to pile on new technology. But we ask hard questions, such as, does it add real value? Does it replace something we already have? We focus on testing thoroughly and ensuring every decision is linked directly to measurable business impact.”

Navigating legacy systems and client tech preferences

Naturally, the majority of clients don’t arrive at a new agency partner with a clean slate – they usually arrive with existing platforms that agencies are then asked to integrate or work around.

“Every client comes with a Frankenstein stack,” Knauf said. “You have to look at every part of their tech architecture and ask: is it helping customer retention? Is it expanding revenue? If not, it’s just expensive decoration. It doesn’t matter if they’ve already paid for it – if it doesn’t add value, it needs to go.”

Jensen pointed out that client loyalties to outdated systems often stem from political or contractual obligations: “Many clients are locked into systems due to long licenses or internal politics. If the technology is still fundamentally good, we focus on better usage rather than pushing costly migrations. However, when a tool is genuinely hurting performance, we have to be honest – and back it up with data.”

Vic Smith of Threepipe Reply emphasized the importance of educating clients: “It’s not just about saying ‘this new platform is better.’ Clients need to understand the total cost of switching – the training of global teams, migrating data and all the operational disruptions that come with moving systems. Often, they know their stack isn’t ideal, but moving is a massive effort. Our role is to help them make informed decisions, not just chase the newest shiny object.”

Moving from silos to systems

Even powerful individual tools fall short if they can’t integrate seamlessly into a broader ecosystem. “Content supply chains are only as good as the data infrastructure that supports them,” Knauf argued. “Without strong, connected data, even the best marketing campaigns can collapse. Integration isn’t just technical – it’s strategic.”

Smith highlighted usability challenges: “You can have the most powerful platform in the world, but if it’s not user-friendly, adoption usually fails. Good tech balances complexity with accessibility – it needs to empower users without overwhelming them.”

Pratt explained Mediasmith’s approach: “We evaluate every tool through the lens of duplication and integration. Does it overlap with something we already use? Can it be connected cleanly to the rest of the stack? If not, it becomes a liability rather than an asset.”

Rationalizing the stack

Tech sprawl – the unchecked growth of technology tools and platforms within an organization – is usually very costly. Agencies are increasingly focused on reducing tool duplication and focusing on leaner, more efficient stacks. “Sometimes the smartest move is to simply say no,” Knauf emphasized. “Organizations often have a compulsive drive to add new tech. But smarter agencies focus on stripping away anything that doesn’t deliver clear value.”

Pratt reinforced the point: “Every tool must either improve performance or create operational efficiency. If it doesn’t, it’s just another drain on budget and attention.”

Preparing for the future

Artificial intelligence is reshaping martech, but many agencies believe the real transformation is still ahead.

Vitaly Boitelet at SmartAssets, explained: “AI is exciting, but we’re still early in its real-world application. The biggest changes will come when AI is embedded deeply into marketing workflows – optimizing media buys, automating creative development and personalizing customer journeys at scale. We’re building for that future, even if we’re not there yet.”

Knauf warned that AI adoption requires deep organizational change: “AI isn’t just an add-on. It changes workflows, redefines roles and demands new governance models. Companies that think they can simply bolt AI on to old processes are in for a shock.”

Jensen described how agencies must evolve: “Routine production work is already being disrupted by generative AI. Agencies must move up the value chain – providing strategic guidance, ensuring brand safety and helping clients deploy AI intelligently and ethically.”

Creating order from chaos

Agencies that succeed in today’s complex landscape aren’t the ones with the biggest tech stacks – they’re the ones who can integrate, simplify and align technology to business outcomes.

Smith captured it perfectly: “Our role is to help clients navigate the noise. They don’t need more tools; they need clarity. They need partners who can integrate systems, optimize performance and give them a real, strategic roadmap.”

In a world of martech monsters, modern agencies are the spark that brings Frankenstein stacks to life – giving them purpose, direction and, ultimately, business value.