What:
A great article about the evolution of marketing technology (martech) stack architecture, specifically discussing a shift from the traditional "systems of record and engagement" model to a new paradigm of "systems of context and truth."
Who:
The one & only brilliant martech guru, Scott Brinker.
Excerpt:
'With the rise of AI agents, both employee-facing and customer-facing, context is being created more dynamically. Many AI agents can be spun up, each tailored to a specific task or workflow for an employee or hyper-personalized for a specific customer’s experience. Systems of context differ from systems of engagement quantitatively — increasingly, there are more AI agents are proliferating across the stack than traditional SaaS platforms — and qualitatively because they’re purpose-fit for much more specialized contexts'.
In a Nutshell:
Traditional martech was divided into systems of record (data storage) and systems of engagement (customer interaction)
Cloud data warehouses/lakehouses have separated data storage from data arbitration
AI is enabling more dynamic, context-aware systems
The new model consists of:
Systems of Truth: Handle data governance and arbitration
Systems of Context: Provide dynamic, AI-driven experiences
The future will include buyer-side AI agents that interact with seller's systems
The reality is more of a graph structure than a traditional stack
Golden Nuggets: The key insight is that AI is fundamentally changing how martech systems operate, moving from fixed, predefined experiences to dynamic, context-aware interactions that can adapt to specific situations and user needs.
What's In It For Marketers?
As this is discussing trends and predictions for 2025, some of the concepts are forward-looking and speculative in nature. You should consider these as strategic planning insights rather than immediate implementation requirements.
Prepare for the shift to AI-driven dynamic experiences by evaluating current martech stack architecture
Consider how your current systems of record can evolve into systems of truth that work with cloud data warehouses
Start planning for the integration of AI agents into customer interactions
Evaluate how your current data governance strategies align with the new model
Consider how your organization will handle buyer-side AI agents in future interactions
Sources:
Meet the new martech stack: systems of context and systems of truth
The thought of buyer-side AI agents interacting with seller-side AI agents is fascinating to me. Being able to automate processes, marketing, sales, all the way to product/service being offered and then obtaining feedback and improving the offering, reiterating, all with AI really is mindblowing. One-man shops will be able to offer what companies with considerably staffing are offering. It really is the ultimate "4 hour work week" (or maybe the "4 minute workweek").