Marketing teams today are stuck between a rock and a spreadsheet. The pressure to prove ROI has never been higher, but many marketing departments are operating without the data infrastructure—or cross-functional support—they need to deliver on those expectations.
In a strategy workshop I led this April for a group of technology leaders, we explored practical ways Marketing and Technology can partner to drive measurable business growth. The presentation focused on bridging the gaps between strategy, systems, and ROI—and many of the slides referenced here come directly from that conversation. What emerged was a shared understanding: when tech leaders actively support marketing’s efforts to track and improve ROI, the entire business benefits.
The reality is stark—marketing is under increasing pressure to show results, often while working with fewer resources. This challenge isn’t new, but it’s more acute now, especially in companies where marketing is still seen as a cost center rather than a revenue driver.
That pressure is growing fast. According to recent data from a CMO Survey, 63% of marketers now feel increased pressure from CFOs to prove the value of their efforts—up from 52% just two years ago. Pressure from CEOs and Boards is rising too, with 61% and 50% of marketers, respectively, reporting heightened scrutiny.
This isn’t just a marketing problem—it’s an organizational one. And without stronger alignment between marketing, finance, and technology leaders, the ability to deliver credible ROI reporting will continue to lag behind expectations.
It’s not that marketers aren’t trying. The biggest challenges are structural: siloed systems, vague or inconsistent attribution models, and a lack of integration between marketing and the technology teams that could help fix those problems.
In fact, only 20% of marketers say their data is fully integrated across systems. Most are launching campaigns in disconnected platforms, evaluating results independently, and struggling to track performance from first touch to revenue. Nearly 30% say their tools don’t connect at all.
This disconnect leads to more than just inefficiency—it erodes confidence in marketing’s numbers. Without end-to-end visibility, attribution suffers. And without attribution, trust suffers.
One area where marketing and tech can collaborate with outsized impact is in measuring the return on events and sponsorships. At Surgo, we often encourage teams to adopt a “5x spend rule” as a starting point. If your organization is investing $20,000 in a trade show, your goal should be $100,000 in attributable pipeline.
This mindset reframes events from generic brand awareness into measurable growth opportunities. But capturing that measurement requires the right systems—lead tracking, CRM integration, and opportunity attribution all the way through the funnel.
That’s where IT teams can deliver real value: by helping marketing prepare the infrastructure to track what matters before, during, and after the event.
It’s easy to get buried in a flood of marketing metrics, but not all of them matter. The most meaningful KPIs are the ones tied directly to business growth:
Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs)
Opportunities created
Pipeline influenced by marketing efforts
Closed/won deals tied to specific campaigns
The right metrics don’t just tell you what happened—they help you plan what to do next. Tech teams can support this by creating easy-to-update dashboards that track these KPIs consistently, even if it’s just in a shared Google Sheet. Weekly visibility helps marketing transition from reactive reporting to proactive, strategic management.
In many companies, the martech stack is a mess: an average of 17 tools, minimal integration, and plenty of orphaned platforms left behind after staff changes. When no one owns the system—or knows how to use it—those tools become liabilities instead of assets.
The first step is a joint audit. What tools are actually being used? What’s redundant or outdated? From there, the focus should shift to sustainable, scalable systems that both marketing and sales can use with confidence. Platforms like HubSpot and Zoho are good examples—tools that consolidate rather than complicate.
Want to see how your tech team can make an immediate impact on marketing performance? Download the full presentation deck from my tech leaders session to explore actionable strategies, key metrics, and real examples of how technology leaders are helping marketing teams drive measurable growth. It’s a quick read with insights you can apply right away.