The challenges of managing DevOps when integrating #Martech and CRM
Marketing and CRM DevOps
Critical challenges in managing DevOps and marketing solutions
Managing a marketing solution by itself is ok with good campaign governance, but it has challenges in managing configurations and approvals. Then, some solutions have "sandboxes", but they are not sandboxes since they don't have DevOps functionality. But it gets more complicated when you have integrations with your CRM system.
I have seen the following challenges when trying to work with agencies, brands, IT, and business users:
Complexity: Marketing technologies are often complex systems, and integrating them with a CRM system can make the overall design even more complicated. This can lead to increased difficulty in managing and troubleshooting the system.
Collaboration: DevOps requires close cooperation between teams responsible for the development, operations, and quality assurance. However, integrating marketing technologies into a CRM system can involve different groups, such as agencies, brands, compliance, marketing, eCommerce, and sales, making collaboration more difficult.
Integration: Integrating marketing technologies with a CRM system requires careful planning and execution to ensure the systems work seamlessly. This can be a significant challenge, especially if the marketing technologies are from different vendors and need custom integration work.
Testing: Testing the integration of marketing technologies and a CRM system can be challenging because it requires testing both the marketing technology and the CRM system. This can require additional testing resources and more complex testing scenarios.
Security: Integrating marketing technologies with a CRM system can increase the overall security risks of the system. This is especially true if the marketing technologies have access controls, which can create additional points of vulnerability. Don't forget to have your dedicated integration users.
Scalability: Marketing technologies can generate a large volume of data, and integrating them with a CRM system can lead to increased data volumes. This can create scalability challenges, especially if the system is not designed with scalability.
Business users, agencies, IT, and system integrators need to work together in creating an end-to-end DevOps Team to manage the whole ecosystem, not just the CRM. We need to educate users on using sandboxes and DevOps tools and methodologies.
Do you have a complete DevOps process in your governance to manage the customer engagement ecosystem?