Technical debt is a common challenge when working with your systems of record (and now also system of action!) like HubSpot, where GTM teams—ops, sales, marketing, and customer success—rely heavily on the platform to drive revenue and engage customers.
It’s often easy to prioritize short-term solutions to meet immediate goals, but over time, these quick fixes accumulate, creating a "debt" that can restrict flexibility and drive up maintenance costs. For GTM teams, technical debt doesn't just slow down operations; it can create data quality issues, misalign workflows, and reduce overall system usability.
Let’s explore how technical debt takes shape, why it matters, and what GTM teams can do to address it proactively.
Ad-hoc Customizations and Configurations Customization is a powerful capability that allows teams to tailor HubSpot to fit unique business needs. However, when configurations are implemented hastily—such as creating custom properties or adjusting workflow rules to meet temporary campaign needs—these changes often lack the flexibility required for future adaptability. A small change might fit a specific campaign today, but as GTM strategies evolve, those tweaks can lock teams into workflows or data structures that don’t scale. The result? Inefficient processes and a system architecture that becomes increasingly brittle over time.
Data Debt Through Poor Management Practices GTM teams depend on accurate data to drive insights, yet poor data management practices lead to "data debt." Duplicate entries, unstandardized fields, and incomplete records are common issues that arise when data entry processes or import rules are inconsistent. Each instance of data debt may seem minor initially, but these issues compound quickly, especially as customer databases grow. In a sales or marketing context, poor data integrity limits segmentation, complicates personalization efforts, and makes accurate reporting a challenge, impacting everything from lead scoring to forecasting.
Inefficient Integrations with Other Tools HubSpot is often the central piece of a larger tech stack, with integrations connecting it to tools like email, marketing automation, analytics platforms, and ERP systems. Technical debt accrues when these integrations are implemented with stop-gap measures—such as using third-party connectors or basic API configurations that don’t account for the intricacies of data syncing. Over time, incomplete or inconsistent integrations lead to syncing failures, data inconsistencies, and fractured customer views. For GTM teams that rely on accurate and complete customer profiles to run multi-channel campaigns or execute cross-functional initiatives, these integration issues lead to misalignment, inefficient hand-offs, and missed opportunities.
Quick Wins Over Long-term Workflow Design GTM teams are frequently under pressure to deliver results quickly, especially in sales and marketing, where campaigns, product launches, and promotional events drive short-term KPIs. This urgency often leads to workflows or automations that are designed with immediate needs in mind rather than sustainable processes. For instance, quick automation hacks might work for a single campaign, but they often lack the scalability to support broader, more complex sequences over time. This results in workflows that need constant manual intervention, are difficult to troubleshoot, and ultimately slow down operations as teams spend more time on fixes and less on revenue-generating activities.
Technical debt has a cumulative impact on how GTM teams operate and interact with customers. Below are some of the most significant ways technical debt impairs efficiency and strategic alignment within a HubSpot-dependent GTM organization.
Reduced Agility in Sales and Marketing Efforts As technical debt accrues, GTM teams find it harder to pivot quickly in response to market or customer demands. A new campaign or product feature launch might require reconfiguring workflows, creating new segments, or updating integrations. When HubSpot is encumbered with technical debt, these adjustments take longer and require more resources, which limits GTM teams' ability to act on timely opportunities. In a fast-moving market, this lack of agility can lead to lost revenue, missed opportunities, and a reduced competitive edge.
Impact on Data-driven Decision-making Poor data integrity resulting from technical debt directly impacts the quality of insights that GTM teams can derive from HubSpot. Unclean data makes it difficult to measure campaign performance accurately, assess lead quality, or identify trends in customer behavior. For a sales or marketing team striving to be data-driven, decisions based on compromised insights can lead to misguided strategies and a waste of resources. Instead of focusing on high-potential leads or effective marketing channels, GTM teams may spread their efforts thinly, resulting in diluted performance.
Strained Collaboration Across GTM Teams HubSpot serves as a collaborative hub for sales, marketing, and customer success teams, each of which depends on a consistent and unified view of customer data. When technical debt leads to fragmented data or poorly implemented processes, hand-offs between teams become fraught with misunderstandings, data inconsistencies, and duplicative efforts. For instance, marketing might pass along leads that sales can't accurately qualify due to missing data, or customer success teams may struggle to understand a client’s journey due to fragmented records. This not only affects the customer experience but also strains relationships between departments, reducing efficiency and eroding morale.
Increased Operational Costs and Maintenance Overhead As technical debt grows, so too does the maintenance burden. Every piece of technical debt requires time, effort, and often financial resources to manage or resolve. GTM teams may find themselves needing to hire consultants, dedicate internal resources, or purchase additional software solutions to fix or workaround issues stemming from technical debt. Over time, these costs accumulate, effectively making the “quick-fix” approach more expensive than implementing scalable, sustainable solutions from the beginning.
Reducing technical debt within HubSpot requires intentional planning, cross-functional communication, and a proactive approach to platform management. Here’s how GTM teams can keep technical debt in check:
Adopt a Strategic Approach to Customizations When configuring HubSpot, it’s essential to prioritize customizations that align with long-term goals over those that provide immediate, narrow benefits. This means evaluating custom fields, workflows, and properties not just for their immediate impact but for their scalability and adaptability to evolving GTM needs. Regularly reviewing and refining customizations can prevent the buildup of configurations that restrict flexibility.
Implement Robust Data Governance Addressing data debt requires establishing strict data hygiene protocols, such as standardized data entry fields, regular deduplication, and clear data ownership policies. Creating a data governance framework can ensure that all GTM teams understand and follow best practices for maintaining data quality. This reduces errors, improves the reliability of insights, and supports more accurate decision-making.
Invest in Sustainable Integrations GTM teams should seek sustainable, well-supported integrations between HubSpot and other critical tools, considering factors like data syncing frequency, bidirectional updates, and compatibility with future updates. By choosing scalable integration solutions and maintaining a clear integration roadmap, GTM organizations can avoid costly rework and minimize the risk of fragmented customer data.
Design Workflows with Scalability in Mind Rather than relying on quick fixes, GTM teams should design workflows that anticipate growth and complexity. This may involve automating repetitive tasks in a way that allows for easy expansion or revision, prioritizing workflows that contribute to core GTM processes, and periodically revisiting and optimizing workflows to ensure they align with current objectives.
Regularly Audit and Refactor Configurations Conducting regular audits of HubSpot configurations allows GTM teams to identify and address areas where technical debt has accumulated. During these audits, teams can evaluate the relevance of existing workflows, properties, and integrations, removing or revising elements that no longer serve current objectives. A consistent audit process ensures that HubSpot remains agile and effective, regardless of changing business conditions.
Encourage Cross-functional Collaboration on Platform Decisions Decisions regarding CRM configurations, data structures, and integrations shouldn’t be made in silos. Instead, fostering collaboration between sales, marketing, and customer success teams helps ensure that platform decisions support all aspects of the GTM strategy. This approach also increases transparency and enables GTM teams to anticipate potential challenges, reducing the likelihood of short-sighted fixes that result in technical debt.
While technical debt is an almost inevitable part of any technology implementation, it doesn’t have to stymie growth or erode effectiveness. For GTM teams using HubSpot, proactively managing technical debt is essential for maintaining the flexibility, data integrity, and operational efficiency needed to succeed in a competitive marketplace. By prioritizing sustainable customizations, enforcing data hygiene, and investing in scalable solutions, GTM organizations can keep technical debt manageable, allowing HubSpot to remain a powerful engine for growth and customer engagement. Through careful planning and ongoing vigilance, GTM teams can turn HubSpot into a long-term asset rather than a source of operational drag.