Known State

Independent customer technology advisory

Customer technology,
independently considered.

Known State helps marketing, data and technology leaders choose, design and govern the systems behind customer growth.

Discuss a decision

Strategy · Selection · Assurance

Decision stateKS / 001
Frame the problemTest the optionsMake the decision

00 / Position

The vendor should not be the only expert in the room.

Customer-data and marketing-technology decisions sit at the intersection of commercial strategy, architecture and organisational reality. Known State represents the buyer throughout selection and delivery.

01 / Expertise

Deep expertise across customer data and marketing technology.

Known State works where customer data, marketing platforms and operating models meet. We help organisations turn complex technology choices into practical customer capabilities.

01

Customer data & CDP

Data collection, schemas, identity, profiles, audiences and governance across packaged and warehouse-native architectures.

02

Marketing automation & engagement

Lifecycle marketing, journey orchestration, messaging platforms, personalisation and the operating models required to use them well.

03

Data activation & integration

Customer-data flows, audience activation, reverse ETL, source and destination design, and the connections between data and engagement platforms.

04

Customer technology architecture

Current-state assessment, target architecture, build-versus-buy decisions and the relationships between platforms, teams and processes.

Our work considers the broader technology landscape wherever it shapes the customer experience.

02 / Services

From uncertainty to a working system.

01

Strategy & current state

Clarify the commercial problem, expose the operating gaps and decide what should change before another platform enters the conversation.

Maturity assessment · use-case design · roadmap
02

Selection & RFP

Run a buyer-side process built around real scenarios, controlled demonstrations, total cost and implementation reality.

Requirements · shortlist · evaluation · negotiation
03

Architecture & assurance

Pressure-test the design and keep delivery aligned with the outcome the technology was purchased to produce.

Solution review · implementation assurance · governance
04

Fractional leadership

Provide the senior ownership that sits between marketing, data, technology and vendors without adding a permanent executive role.

Operating model · prioritisation · executive counsel

03 / Approach

Clarity before capability.

Feature lists create the appearance of rigour. Good decisions come from agreeing on the problem, testing vendors against the same evidence and making trade-offs visible.

  1. 01

    Frame

    Define the outcome, constraints and decision criteria.

  2. 02

    Test

    Evaluate realistic scenarios, not rehearsed demonstrations.

  3. 03

    Decide

    Compare evidence, cost, risk and operating implications.

  4. 04

    Assure

    Protect the intended outcome through implementation.

04 / Principles

Buyer-side

The client pays us. Vendors do not.

Senior-led

The person in the room does the work.

Evidence-based

Decisions are documented, comparable and defensible.

Outcome-first

Technology is a means, never the strategy.

05 / Contact

Facing a customer-technology decision?

Start with the decision, not the demo.

hello@knownstateadvisory.com