How do you prepare for another Industrial Revolution? If you believe it is happening or around the corner, you are likely taking Digital Transformation seriously. And, like any significant change, you are probably trying to figure out where to begin.

The first step is understanding the future state (as far as you can predict in your line of business) and then mapping it to your current state (as objectively as possible).

Once you do that, you face a common problem called Overchoice. Overchoice (or Choice Overload) is the result of being faced with too many options. Some respond well, can weed through the noise, and find what they are looking for without hesitation. But, at the same time, others experience a kind of emotional paralysis that often leads to fear of making any decision.

Don’t believe there are too many choices?

In 2011, Chief Martec released their list of Marketing technology landscape comprising 150 Marketing technology companies. Seven years later, by 2018, that list grew to over 7,000 options. And by May 2022, nearly 9,500 technologies filled the space (see below). So, once you know what you want to do, it’s virtually impossible to wade through these options to determine the right one. This list only grows as you add more lines of businesses, too. Chief Martec estimates that the average enterprise uses over 1,000 Cloud Services. 

How do you limit these choices to make the right one?

Don’t go the RFP/RFI and don’t print out the above chart, and grab some darts. Those will circle you further down into overchoice as you’ll be presented with features and nice-to-haves that aren’t part of your initial requirements but are nice and shiny. This will lead to losing focus on the original goals and a solution that will be sold and not necessarily bought. 

Instead, if you can’t hire a research firm or consulting group, do your research and pick 3. Make sure that those three vendors know your requirements and know you. As Arianna Huffington mentioned – this is your time to decide what you value.

Once you select the three vendors, invite them to present against both (requirements and culture) and move on. Don’t look back. You may have to reroute at some point, and that is ok; the learnings from vendor selection and implementation are invaluable. You can learn far greater from acting on a decision than avoiding trying to make one.

References and Resources

An excellent article on Overchoice

Forbes on The 4th Industrial Revolution

More from Martech on their Supergraphic

Supporting Music

Infinite Content by Arcade Fire

Originally Published January 7, 2019