Most Companies Don't Have a Tool Problem. They Have a Strategy Problem.

Most companies don't have a tool problem. They have a strategy problem that looks like a tool problem.

That's the short version of my conversation with Sergiy Bondarenko, Senior Manager of Marketing Operations at Compass Digital in Vancouver. Sergiy has spent over 10 years in MOps, mostly in PE-backed companies growing through acquisitions. He's built tech stacks from scratch, torn apart overgrown ones, and navigated the uncomfortable middle ground where budget pressure, stakeholder expectations, and operational reality all collide at once.

The problem with easy answers

Sergiy calls it "tool-oriented problem solving": the reflex to reach for a new platform the moment something isn't working. And he's clear that it usually comes from a good place. Stakeholders see a problem, they want to fix it, and a vendor has been in their LinkedIn inbox all week promising that their platform is the answer. The impulse makes sense.

But here's what makes this so hard to fix: the people who push back, who say "wait, maybe we need to look at strategy first," often get sidelined. It's easier to approve a new tool than to sit with the uncomfortable question of whether your conversion rate is just plateauing organically.

That's exactly where MOps should come in. Not to say no, but to ask the harder questions before the budget gets committed.

Integration as a plan, not a feature

One of the things that stuck with me: Sergiy doesn't evaluate tools based on whether they have a "proper" native integration. He evaluates them based on whether there's a plan for integration. That's a subtle but important distinction.

He's seen teams pass on genuinely useful tools because they only connect through Zapier or a middleware layer. He thinks that's often the wrong call. What matters is whether data can flow reliably from A to B, not whether the integration shows up in a native app directory.

"Approaching integration as a plan rather than only a technical capability is the most important thing. If that might be enough, then that actually might be perfect."

As AI agents become more capable, this matters even more. The line between "real" integration and "good enough" integration is going to keep blurring.

The Gong story

My favorite moment in this episode: Sergiy talking about cutting Gong.

For those who don't know, Gong is one of those tools that sales teams love, passionately. Revenue intelligence, call recording, conversation analytics. Sergiy cut it anyway, replacing it with the call recording functionality already built into Outreach, which they were already using for outbound sequencing.

Was it as capable? No. Did it do enough? Yes. And it saved real money at a point when every line item was being scrutinized.

The lesson isn't that Gong is bad. It's that "the team loves it" is not a business case. The question is: what problem does this tool solve? And can we solve that same problem with what we already have?

Shadow IT starts with frustration

When the conversation turned to shadow IT, Sergiy's first instinct wasn't to restrict access or lock down credit cards. It was to keep the door open.

Most shadow IT happens because someone feels like their problem isn't being heard. They don't have clarity on when you'll get to it. They don't have time to wait. So they sign up for something themselves.

"It's important to always keep your door open. Never come out of a conversation without both parties being clear on what the next step is."

Partner with finance for the rest. They'll catch the big-ticket items and they'll ask the questions you don't have to.

Inheriting an overgrown stack

Sergiy's advice for walking into a role with a bloated tech stack: resist the urge to cut immediately. Use the first 30 days to get the lay of the land. Interview senior stakeholders. But also the people on the ground, because they'll tell you the real story.

Then map the stack to the business roadmap. What are the plans? What themes is leadership focusing on? When you look at the stack through that lens, what needs to stay and what needs to go becomes much clearer.

And always have a short list ready of tools you could live without if budget pressure comes. Because it will come.

The bottom line

Sergiy's closing thought is the one I keep coming back to. You won't be seen as a strategic partner by saying no to everything. But you also won't get there by approving every tool request.

"Always go with where the business is going. You want to be seen as a strategic partner rather than as a cost center."

That's the lean stack philosophy: not fewer tools for the sake of it, but tools that earn their place.

Find Sergiy on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sergiybondarenko