30-second summary:

• Right now, companies have a critical opportunity to re-evaluate if their marketing automation stacks can keep up with their unique needs while keeping business growth in focus.
• If your current marketing automation platform doesn’t seamlessly integrate with your other business technologies, it’s time to look for a platform that does.
• Companies must look for flexible tools that incorporate contact management and also go beyond lead generation to impact the complete customer lifecycle.
• You want a core platform that is not only focused on one point of the buyers’ journey, but also one that is more expansive and will help maximize your sales funnel, run with your key systems and make sure leads are being nurtured.
• You need to understand how your investment in a platform will help you grow and deliver ROI. Be sure that you’re clear on pricing structure, contract terms and SLAs, or Service Level Agreements.

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