B2B technology consulting firms play an important role in helping companies reduce and better manage their budget and improve their tech stacks. To do so, consultants highlight the best parts of B2B technology stacks to create efficient strategies of implementations to adapt these tools to the needs and processes of the companies. Let’s understand how B2B technology consulting helps companies optimize their budgets and tech stacks.
What is a B2B technology stack?
A B2B technology stack is a term used to describe the complete list of software and applications used by a B2B company. This term comes from the recent wave of technologies and SaaS (software as a service) companies created in the B2B sector.
To stay competitive, most B2B organizations pay attention to the budget they dedicate to technology. The tools used in a company play a huge role in the success of the sales and marketing teams since these tools accelerate and optimize their tasks. Having the right B2B tech stack and knowing how to use it is key for the success of any business.
As said in the last point, an effective B2B technology stack can bring many benefits to the sales and marketing teams. Here are some of them:
- SEO and keyword research.
- Planning and communication.
- Content creation.
- Connecting and engaging.
- Tracking and measuring.
- Generating leads and closing deals.
- Increasing productivity.
- Optimizing problem-solving.
- Improving forecasting and analytics.
- Better flexibility.
How does B2B consulting help budgets and tech stacks?
B2B consulting helps identify the needs of the company
When choosing the right tools for sales, marketing, or any other team in a company, they should be based on the problems faced. Each tool requires an investment of money, time, and human resources. It is therefore important to know how to choose effective tools. A Smart Selling Tools report shows that companies spend more than 1000$ per sales representative per month.
B2B consulting helps companies determine how each tool directly contributes to achieving their goals. To do so, the returns on investment should be measurable in key areas.
Consulting firms use some techniques to identify a company’s problems and come up with the right tool. The goal here is to have an idea of what the company needs to improve before investing in a platform that will improve its processes and performance. These techniques include:
- Considering key performance indicators.
- Look for blockage points ahead of time.
- Realizing a survey of team members before, during, and after using the tool.
B2B consulting helps assess gaps in a tech stack
B2B consulting conducts performance audits of the current technology stack of their clients. They also take a look at the processes that the stack supports. That way, they can determine if the tools used by the company meet their needs or if they are missing some key features.
When the audits show that there are inefficient workflows, it’s then time to look for new solutions. An excellent way for B2B consulting firms to fully understand gaps is to interview the employees. They are the ones who are daily in contact with the tools. Therefore, they really know what the current tools lack.
In some cases, the problems don’t come from the technologies but the processes or skills. The audits also pinpoint these gaps to put solutions in place.
At MKC, we love helping companies to scale their success. One of our biggest success stories is Tech Stack Advising which is a firm that helps businesses assess the gaps in their tech stack. They do it by simplifying the technology evaluation process of a company in order to determine the right tools for their corporate objectives. To do so, they walk businesses through customer journey analysis, RFP & new software evaluation, vendor management as a service, and procurement/contracting.
B2B consulting ensures teams’ training
A Salesforce survey shows that sales teams with great results use 3 times more tools than teams with lower results. However, even with the right tools, if the issue of a company comes from processes and skills, the proper training should be implemented. Many companies overlook training as a waste of time and money but lose even more money.
Even with a user-friendly new tool, training employees is always important. It’s wrong to assume that they will figure it out as they go. B2B consulting ensures that the teams are well trained in the use of each new tool and even on the current tools used by the company.
Adequate training prevents costly mistakes, the inefficiency of the tool for the users, and thus, a rejection of the tool by the team. The operational success of any company depends on its employees’ training.
Mastering the technology stack is one of the most important requirements for a business’s success. Through consulting, B2B consultants help companies identify their needs, assess gaps in their current tech stack, and ensure the efficiency of the processes and the teams. Seeing companies scale their revenue is exactly what we aim for at MKC.