How To Build a Tech Stack?

Find out how to choose the right software tools and apps to build a tech stack that will improve your business’s bottom line and get it ready for future growth.

How many programs and apps does your small business use? You could have a tool for every job, but does each one help your employees do their jobs better or make more money for your business? Perhaps not.

Your company’s “tech stack” is the collection of tools and apps that your business uses every day. And it’s important to make sure that this tech stack is set up in the best way possible so that your employees spend more time working and less time switching between tools.

If you’re building a tech stack for the first time or reevaluating the one you already have, keep your long-term goals in mind and choose software that can grow with your small business. Also, make sure that the tools in your stack work well together so that business data can be easily shared between departments.

In this article, we talk about how to build a tech stack from scratch and give you tips on how to make the most of your money. We’ll also take a look at some common tech stacks and the parts that make them up.

How does a tech stack work?

A tech stack also called a software stack, is all of the apps and tools that your business uses every day to get work done. For example, your marketing team’s tools could include email management, social media management, customer relationship management (CRM), and survey solutions. In the same way, other teams like HR, IT, and operations could be using different sets of software tools to automate and streamline their daily tasks.

Small businesses like yours tend to have a smaller technology stack than enterprises because their workflows are not as complicated. For example, the HR team of a small company can handle all HR workflows with a single integrated human capital management (HCM) solution. On the other hand, a large business would need to use separate tools for performance management, tracking attendance, managing benefits, and other HR tasks.

So, the size of your tech stack depends solely on how complicated your business processes are. As your business grows, you may need to add more tools to help you manage the different ways work gets done. So, choose solutions that are easy to expand and can work with the tools you already have.

How to Assemble a Tech Stack?

Investing only in software isn’t enough to make the best tech stack. With a stack, you have to organize the tools and know-how each one helps your workflows. Let’s take a look at how to do that.

1. Find workflows that can be done automatically.

Look for tasks or workflows that can be automated with the help of software. For example, if you send customers promotional emails by hand, you might want to use an email marketing platform to automate the process and save time. List all of these kinds of workflows that can be automated with software to make things run more smoothly.

2. List the workflows that can be managed by the same software.

Some workflows are similar enough that they can be better served by the same piece of technology. For example, you can use the same chat tool for teams to talk to each other and for different departments to work together.

By figuring out which business processes are similar, you can save money on technology and make the best use of software tools across your company.

3. Find the right software to help you automate your processes.

Make a short list of the software tools that can do what you need within your budget. Use third-party platforms like GetApp to find out which solutions fit your tech stack the best. On GetApp, you can read what real buyers like you have to say about product features, integration options, scalability, cost, vendor support, etc.

4. Check how your stack is doing often.

The world of technology is always changing, and every few years, new tools and features come out. So, you should keep an eye on your tech stack on a regular basis to keep track of how often it is being used, find bottlenecks, measure the return on investment (ROI), and spot any tech gaps. Depending on how well or badly your stack is doing, add new tools or features.

Integrate the software tools in your stack to get the most out of them.

Make sure your tech stack’s parts can talk to each other so you can get the most out of it. In other words, the tools and apps in a stack should be able to work together and share data.

Let’s say you have an email marketing tool and a marketing automation tool in your marketing stack. Both systems should work well together so that you can easily share information about customers and campaign metrics from one to the other.

How do you put tools together in a tech stack?

Most software has built-in ways to connect with other programs (i.e., a direct connection between two tools for data sharing). If a product doesn’t have built-in integration, you can use third-party integration platforms like Zapier to connect the tools in your tech stack’s have built-in integration, you can use third-party integration platforms like Zapier to connect the tools in your tech stack. Many vendors also have open APIs that make it possible for two solutions to work together.

Marketing technology stack.

A martech stack includes the digital tools your marketing team uses to complete everyday tasks such as creating ad campaigns, sending campaign emails, and tracking leads. It helps automate end-to-end marketing workflows and improve productivity.

Here are some tools to include in your martech stack:

• Email marketing software: Plan, execute, and monitor your email marketing campaigns. Automate communication, and track campaign performance. 
• Social media marketing software: Manage social media activities such as scheduling online posts and replying to comments.
• Marketing automation software: Automate marketing workflows, and measure the performance of campaigns across channels, including email, social media, and website.
• Content marketing software: Manage, track, and share digital content and assets on websites, third-party blogs, etc. 
• Customer experience software: Manage customer interactions, collect client feedback, and track customer sentiments.

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