Tech stacks are full of acronyms and Wednesday's panelists rattled off about 10 before moving on to using them as they described how they help them do their jobs.

Ryan Heft, Email Marketing Manager at KEEN (third from left), admitted that sometimes he is piece-mealing things together, using this part and that part. "ESP is my main world," he said. "Our CDP is being developed in a larger capacity." 

On the other hand, Nout Boctor-Smith, marketing technologist at ADP (second from left), has no ERP or CDP but she uses CRM, which integrates with a marketing automation tool. "I spend most of my time in CRM, making sure data is flowing properly." 

As for Shawn Nelsen, director of marketing at 3Day Blinds (far right), when people ask which tech works best, he says he doesn't know, asking what does DAM even mean? (Digital asset management) "Our CRO is very digitally focused. Often, we have strongly overlapping systems. CMS can do a whole bunch of things. But then we layer on a testing platform. And I ask, where's the value being added? I just want to understand how the pieces fit together. I think we have too many of them. Many vendors are consolidating, offering everything under the sun."

Moderator George DiGuido, VP of subscription marketing, Business Insider (far left), asked them which tech provides the most value for their spend.  

Boctor-Smith said "marketing automation platform is where I derive the most value. I feel comfortable moving data around."

"My world, I'm a one-man team of email so ESP," replied Nelsen. "Our CDP is where we have one place for all information for all our customers."

Panelists also provided implementation stories, with most starting with the RFP process and ending with implementation a year or two later. 

Nelsen said the first step is determining a need. When looking at vendors, he said he is seeking a relationship first so that as needs change, he can rely on them to be there for support.