How to Build a Tech Stack That Supercharges Your Company’s Growth

Building a tech stack for your business might not be the most exciting topic, but it’s probably one of the most important as you look toward the future. The question is, are you giving it enough thought?

What is a Tech Stack?

Technically speaking, a tech stack, or technology stack, is the collection of tools, applications, services, hardware, software, operating systems, and coding languages that a company uses to build an application. Facebook, for example, relies on more than 36 different technologies, including React, PHP, GraphQL, Framer, Datadog, Jest, Campaign Monitor, etc. 

But when we use the term “tech stack,” we’re using it in a much broader context to include all of the different tech solutions a company uses to run its business operations from the inside out.

As Lenovo explains, “The term Tech Stack describes a group of apps, digital tools and platforms, vendors, data sources or programming languages that are combined to deliver a strategic business function – like revenue generation, product development, or customer experience.”

Internally, companies often separate things out into their marketing stack (known as a Martech stack) or development stack (known as a DevOps stack), but ultimately they all fit into an organization’s larger tech stack.

The key to having a good tech stack is to strategically select tools that cover for each other’s weaknesses while complementing each tool’s strengths. It’s also imperative that they integrate well with one another.

Tips for Building an A+ Tech Stack

Building a tech stack doesn’t have to be this frustrating, painstaking experience. Approached with the right mindset and resolve, it can be very rewarding and creative. Here are several helpful suggestions:

Identify Automation Opportunities

Your tech stack should help automate and streamline tasks – not stand in the way. Thus, in order for your tech stack to benefit your business, you must begin by identifying which areas of the organization are ripe for automation. To identify these areas, consider the following:

Are there specific areas within your business where processes hit a speed bump and consistently slow down?

Are there processes that are too lengthy (have too many steps) and require excessive man-hours?

Which processes have multiple sign-offs and hand-offs?

Are there bottlenecks holding otherwise efficient processes back?

Are there redundant steps in common processes?

Gather a leader from each major department or arm of your business and have a meeting where you record answers to each of these questions. Your tech stack should be able to address these areas.

Plan for “Talkability”

Your tech tools must be capable of speaking to one another. Otherwise, you end up with information silos and bottlenecks where certain processes exist on their own islands and are unable to contribute to the larger process without manual hand-offs. As you build your tech stack, think about talkability.

For example, let’s say you’re a fleet manager who is in charge of managing a fleet of 500 vehicles for your organization. Having powerful fleet maintenance software is a good start. However, it must be able to “talk” with dispatch software and ERP software. Otherwise, your efficiency will come to a screeching halt. 

Choose Industry-Specific Tools

When given the choice between industry-specific tools and process-specific tools, it’s usually better to go with the tool that’s designed for your specific industry (especially if it’s a niche market).

“Industry-specific tools are designed according to industry best-practices, whereas process-specific ones are easier to set up and get started with,” Capterra notes. “While industry-specific tools usually tend to be expensive, process-specific tools are usually off-the-shelf solutions and may lack deep customization capabilities.”

That’s not to say process-specific tools can’t be valuable; just that industry-specific ones are usually better tailored to the unique needs that you face within your niche. 

Do Your Due Diligence

You can learn a lot about an application’s features on the developer’s website, but you can’t get an accurate feel for how it performs in real-world circumstances without getting the pulse of past and existing users. This is why we always recommend reading off-site reviews and conducting independent, third-party due diligence.

These days, you’ll find blogs, YouTube channels, and even Facebook groups where people share their thoughts and experiences on specific software and applications. You can also ask around within your own network to see what experiences others have had.  

Ready, Set, Grow

It’s nearly impossible to scale a business in today’s landscape without having a robust and property optimized technology stack. Take your time and make sure you’re selecting tools that add value to the company while also cooperating with one another.