Avoiding Tech Implementation Failures: A GTM Leader’s Guide to Getting It Right
Implementing new technology within your GTM (Go-To-Market) organisation often seems like a promising move. However, without the right foundations, these initiatives can quickly derail, failing to deliver the anticipated value - the tech isn’t broken—your foundation might be.
Drawing from firsthand experience rebuilding such implementations, here’s a guide to ensure success.
1. Start with Customer Value and Recurring Impact
Before introducing new technology, it's crucial to understand what drives customer value and recurring impact. This understanding should inform your data capture and monitoring strategies. Typically, it takes 2 to 3 iterations, each spanning about three months, to gather sufficient data that instils confidence in predictive metrics. These metrics are essential for driving meaningful, day-to-day actions.
🔑 Actions:
Define what recurring impact means for your customers and business.
Capture and test 2–3 cycles of value-based data.
Focus on metrics that drive decisions, not just dashboards.
🧠 Takeaway: If your data isn’t rooted in value and recurring impact, it’s noise.
2. Fix the Process Before You Buy the Platform
Establish or enhance your foundational processes to ensure they operate smoothly and address existing gaps. This refinement aids in effective data capture, highlighting areas needing improvement or increased efficiency. For instance, you might discover missing critical customer interaction data or inconsistencies in your CRM—new tech won’t fix broken workflows.
🔑 Actions:
Audit how data flows across teams—look for gaps or manual workarounds.
Standardise your core customer journeys (onboarding, QBRs, renewals).
Tidy your CRM and CS tooling before layering in new tools.
🧠 Takeaway: If your teams work around the system, the system isn’t ready.
3. Lead the Cultural Shift
One of the most underestimated challenges in tech implementation is the cultural change required. Transitioning to a genuinely customer-centric approach necessitates a shift in mindset. Leaders must champion and coach this new way of working, ensuring alignment across the organisation. Collaboration should replace silos, fostering a culture that prioritises what's right for the customer—tech adoption is about people, not just platforms.
🔑 Actions:
Coach cross-functional behaviours—value delivery is a team sport.
Promote a mindset of co-owning the customer experience.
Embed customer-centric decision-making into every team’s goals.
🧠 Takeaway: You can’t automate a culture that doesn’t exist.
4. Drive Alignment at the Top
Every leader within your business must be aligned with the new direction. They should actively champion and coach the new methodologies, ensuring that teams are informed and engaged in the transformation journey. This alignment is critical to embedding the changes and achieving the desired outcomes—without leadership buy-in, tech rollouts stall.
🔑 Actions:
Get your Sales, CS, Marketing, and Product leaders aligned on the why.
Set clear accountability: who owns insights, adoption, and impact?
Run 30/60/90-day check-ins to reinforce behaviours and unblock friction.
🧠 Takeaway: If your leadership isn’t visibly onboard, neither is anyone else.
Final Word
Successful tech implementation in GTM organisations hinges on more than just the technology itself. It requires a deep understanding of customer value, refined processes, cultural shifts, and unified leadership. By laying these foundations, you set the stage for technology to deliver its full potential. Neglect them, and the initiative may quickly unravel.
Don’t blame the tech if it fails—blame the prep.
Let's chat if you need help through your GTM transformation—I’d love to help. 🚀
