Building a modern data stack for marketing

Marketing leaders face growing pressure with more channels to manage, stricter data rules and constant demands to prove ROI. The reality is that legacy systems cannot keep up, which is why many mid-market marketing teams are transitioning to a modern data stack.

Instead of on-site servers and manual pipelines, cloud platforms and automation let teams collect, clean and analyze data at speed. Insights are available in hours, not weeks, and business users no longer depend on IT backlogs. You get better data quality, easier governance and more flexibility.

So, how do you build a modern data stack for marketing?

Simple. You need a central hub that interconnects with all your data sources and destinations. Marketing leaders can cut reporting work, plan with confidence and act on data they can trust.

To help you build a reliable data stack for your marketing team, we’ve put together this guide to the modern data stack: what it is and how it can help with everything from keeping up with AI-driven analytics to privacy compliance and data governance. 

TL;DR: Building a modern data stack for marketing

What is a modern data stack in marketing?

A modern data stack is a cloud-based system that lets marketers collect, unify and analyze performance data across all their platforms. It connects sources like ad platforms, analytics tools and CRMs to turn raw numbers into insights teams can use.

Why is the modern data stack important in 2025?

Because speed, privacy and accuracy define marketing success. Legacy systems cannot keep up with multichannel data, AI-driven analytics or new compliance standards. The modern stack gives teams governed, scalable and real-time visibility into performance.

What are the components of a modern data stack?

It includes six layers: data collection, data ingestion, data transformation tools, data storage, data analysis and activation. Each layer moves information from source to insight so marketers can make faster, more confident decisions.

What are the best tools for building a modern data stack?

Leading teams use flexible API-driven platforms that reduce maintenance and ensure compliance. The best tools combine scalability, automation and AI capability.

How does Funnel fit into the modern data stack?

Funnel is the intelligence layer. It automates collection from 500+ platforms, transforms data without code and stores governed data ready for analysis, whether inside Funnel’s secure hub or in data lakes and cloud data warehouses like Snowflake or BigQuery.

What is a data stack?

A data stack is the ecosystem of tools that move raw information from where it’s created to where it can be analyzed and acted on. In marketing, that means collecting spend and performance data from ad platforms, web analytics, CRM systems and ecommerce tools, then centralizing it in one place. 

The core of the stack is a marketing intelligence platform like Funnel, which standardizes and connects all that data so it can be trusted. Once unified, the data flows into dashboards, BI tools or modeling systems, giving marketers a single source of truth for measuring and improving performance.

What’s the difference between a modern data stack and a legacy data stack?

Legacy stacks were built for another era: on-site servers, specialist engineers and reports that took weeks to deliver. Scaling meant more hardware and higher costs. Modern stacks live in the cloud, scale on demand and put data directly in the hands of marketing teams.

Legacy systems created friction: multiple tools, long integration times and little flexibility. Modern stacks remove those barriers with modular tools that are easier to plug in and maintain. Businesses can add or replace components without starting from scratch.

What are the main features a modern data stack should have in 2025?

A modern data stack in 2025 should deliver performance that keeps pace with modern marketing. The best stacks are built to handle complexity with speed, precision and scalability so teams can trust their data and make smarter decisions. They should also be: 

Cloud-based

Your storage and data process run in the cloud, so scaling never requires new servers or extra engineering support. You can handle campaign spikes or seasonal peaks without worrying about infrastructure bottlenecks or cost overruns.

Why it matters: Marketing teams get instant scalability during major launches or seasonal surges without waiting for IT or hitting capacity limits.

Modular

Each tool in the stack is specialized for a task, such as ingestion, transformation or analytics. You can swap or add components as needs change, avoiding lock-in to outdated systems or rigid all-in-one software.

Why it matters: As new channels or analytics tools emerge, marketers can plug them in fast — no rebuilds or procurement delays.

Automated

Data pipelines update and deliver data with minimal manual work. You spend less time copying spreadsheets and more time on analysis, strategy and campaign optimization.

Why it matters: Automation removes reporting drudgery so analysts and marketers can focus on optimization and growth instead of data prep.

Scalable

The stack grows with you, handling larger volumes of data without major overhauls. As you add new channels, campaigns or markets, reporting stays unified and reliable.

Why it matters: You maintain consistent metrics across all markets and campaigns as spend scales, preventing data fragmentation and reporting gaps.

User-friendly

Interfaces are built for business users, not just engineers. You can explore, visualize and share data directly without waiting on technical support, shortening the path from raw numbers to decisions.

Why it matters: Marketers gain autonomy and speed — no more BI ticket queues or dependency on data teams for every small update.

Governed

Compliance controls and data quality checks are built in. You know your data is accurate, secure and aligned with privacy requirements, which reduces risk and builds confidence in reporting.

Why it matters: Reliable, privacy-compliant data builds trust with finance and leadership and protects the brand from compliance risks.

AI-assisted

Automation and AI help with data hygiene tasks like anomaly surfacing and consistency checks, reducing manual effort and speeding up analysis. Teams get cleaner, more reliable datasets to use in their reporting and modeling.

Why it matters: Marketers spot errors or performance shifts earlier, so they can act on insights faster and make confident, data-driven decisions.

Now, let’s look at the layers that make up the modern data stack and how a centralized marketing intelligence platform brings all the pieces of the puzzle together, empowering marketers to turn data into actionable insights.

What are the main components of a modern data stack for marketing? 

While every organization will have different requirements, most stacks share a core set of components. These cover the flow from raw collection to insight.

While the specific technologies in your data stack will vary, you can expect most tools to fall into one of the following categories. 

1. Data collection and monitoring

This step involves gathering data from ad platforms, web and mobile analytics, app stores, CRM platforms, payment providers, and many more.

Funnel accelerates this stage with prebuilt connectors to 500+ marketing platforms. Instead of building custom integrations, teams can plug in and start collecting clean data immediately.

2. Data ingestion or integration

Data ingestion is like bringing raw data from its source into a central storage place, such as a data warehouse or data lake. In a modern data system, extract-transform-load (ETL) tools are usually deployed to handle this task by bringing data from various sources. 

Funnel simplifies ingestion by delivering normalized data directly to destinations like BigQuery, Snowflake and Azure. Teams can also store data securely in the Funnel Data Hub.

3. Data transformation

Data transformation is all about cleaning, organizing, and summarizing raw data to make it easier to understand and work with. Transformation can happen during the ETL process or when it reaches the target system (then commonly referred to as extract-load-transform (ELT). 

In 2025, AI-assisted transformation can help surface anomalies and enrich fields, reducing manual cleanup.

Funnel gives marketers direct control over transformation rules without code, ensuring consistency across reports while staying agile as campaigns change.

4. Data storage 

Data storage is the heart of modern data stacks, acting as a historical record for all behavioral and transactional data. These systems are designed for flexibility, speed, cost savings, better data management, and improved developer productivity.

Funnel provides its own secure Data Hub for marketing teams that want centralized storage without the overhead of managing a warehouse. For enterprises, Funnel pushes data directly into cloud warehouses while maintaining data governance, so you get the dashboards you want with the marketing intelligence to back them up.

5. Business intelligence (BI) tools

Business intelligence tools are used to analyze data and create reports. Modern BI tools aim to make data accessible to anyone in the organization.

Funnel integrates with all major BI tools or outputs data into Google Sheets when teams need fast, flexible analysis.

6. Data management, governance and orchestration

Data management ensures efficient organization of data, orchestration automates data workflows, and governance maintains data quality and security. Together, they create a robust infrastructure for reliable and accessible data.

With stricter privacy laws in 2025, governance cannot be an afterthought. Funnel reduces risk by centralizing marketing data in a secure environment, ensuring compliance while giving teams autonomy. For larger teams, Funnel acts as the connective layer between marketing and data teams, ensuring consistency between business reporting and warehouse datasets.

Takeaway: The modern data stack is made up of six layers that move information from raw signals to insights. Funnel strengthens every stage, giving marketers governed, accurate and timely, always-updated data without waiting on IT.

What are the most common data stack integration challenges, and how do I solve them?

Even the best-designed stacks face hurdles. Data rarely flows smoothly across tools without planning, and marketing leaders need to know where the roadblocks are and how to move past them.

Challenge 1: Fragmented connectors

APIs change, new platforms appear and custom connectors break. A stack built on fragile pipelines quickly becomes a maintenance burden.

Solution: Choose a solution that provides prebuilt integrations to your marketing platforms and keeps them current as APIs evolve. This reduces engineering work and prevents reporting gaps when platforms update. 

Challenge 2: Data quality and consistency

Different platforms often track the same metric in different ways. Without standardization, reporting loses credibility and teams lose confidence in the numbers.

Solution: Your marketing intelligence platform should apply consistent naming and transformation rules across all sources. Marketers can align metrics like spend, clicks and conversions without waiting for engineers to rebuild pipelines.

Challenge 3: Security and governance

More tools mean more risk. Each integration creates a potential compliance gap, especially with stricter privacy regulations in 2025.

Solution: Funnel centralizes marketing data in governed environments that meet GDPR and other regional standards, with EU and US data center options.

Challenge 4: Scalability under pressure

Stacks that work for today’s volumes may not keep pace as campaigns grow. Manual fixes and brittle pipelines cannot scale when data doubles.

Solution: Cloud-first design scales automatically. Teams can expand data sources or volume without worrying about storage limits or data processing bottlenecks.

Challenge 5: Measuring ROI from your modern data stack

Every modern data stack faces the same test: proving ROI. Executives expect visible cost savings, faster insights and measurable revenue impact, yet manual reporting and broken pipelines make this difficult. Forrester estimates that inefficiencies in reporting and ETL inflate costs by up to 40%, while Gartner warns that delays in turning data into insight prevent agile decision-making.

The solution is automation, standardization and secure centralization. Funnel enables this by automating pipelines, unifying data across platforms and enforcing governance so leaders can prove ROI with confidence.

With these challenges in mind, it’s time to discern which modern data stack approach is right for you.

Modular, bundled or hybrid: which is the right option for me? 

A lot of people ask which is better: modular or bundled stacks. The truth is you don’t always have to choose. Some companies benefit from a tailor-made modular approach. Others find bundled solutions fit their needs perfectly. Many in 2025 end up with a hybrid stack that blends both.

Funnel works across all three approaches. It can serve as the full marketing stack on its own, or slot neatly into a larger architecture alongside warehouses and BI tools.

Pros and cons of modular and bundled data stacks

1) Modular Data Stack

Pros:

• Flexibility: You can choose specific tools based on your specific needs and budget. This allows for a highly customized data stack that caters to your unique requirements.
• Integration with existing tools: If you already have existing tools you're comfortable with, a modular approach allows for easier integration with those tools.
• Scalability: You can scale your data stack incrementally as your needs evolve. You can add or remove individual tools as needed without having to replace the entire stack.
• Potentially lower cost: You only pay for the tools you need, which can be more cost-effective compared to a bundled solution with features you might not use.

Cons:

• Complexity: Managing and integrating multiple tools can be complex and require more technical expertise.
• Vendor lock-in for individual tools: Even with a modular approach, you might become reliant on specific vendors for certain tools, making it challenging to switch in the future.
• Learning curve: Each individual tool might have its own interface and learning curve for your team.
• Security concerns: Managing security across multiple tools can be more challenging compared to a single, unified platform.

2) Bundled Data Stack

Pros:

• Simplicity: Bundled solutions are generally easier to set up, manage, and maintain. Everything is pre-integrated and configured.
• Reduced vendor management: You only have one vendor to deal with for the entire data stack, simplifying communication and support.
• Consistency: Bundled solutions offer a consistent interface and user experience across all the included tools.
• Streamlined security: Security features are likely already integrated and managed by the vendor, reducing your burden.

Cons:

• Limited flexibility: Tools in bundles can be limited, but it’s always worth asking the vendor if they can add a tool – some will create custom connectors, for example.
• Potential for unused features: You might end up paying for features you don't need within the bundled solution if they don’t have tiered options.
• Potentially higher upfront cost: Some bundled solutions can have a higher upfront cost compared to a modular approach, depending on their pricing tiers and features.

3) A hybrid approach to modern data stacks

At Funnel, we sometimes discuss if we should talk about data stacks at all. Because isn’t Funnel an all-in-one data stack replacement? Well, yes and no. 

For many marketers, Funnel functions as a complete stack; for enterprises, it integrates seamlessly with larger architectures.

So how do you choose what’s right for you? Here are some of the things to consider when choosing a data stack:

✔️ Technical expertise: Does your team have the skills and resources to manage a data stack? 

✔️ Scalability needs: How scalable are your data needs? How much flexibility do you predict you’ll need?

✔️ Budgetary Constraints: Can you afford the potential costs in time and money of multiple tools over a bundled solution?

✔️ Security needs: Do your data stack options have all the bases covered for security and governance?

Modular vs. bundled vs. hybrid data stacks

What is Funnel's role in the modern data stack?

Funnel gives marketing leaders a way to unify, transform and activate data without waiting on IT. That makes it a core part of any modern stack, whether it stands alone or works alongside warehouses, BI tools and other platforms.

Data collection without code

Today’s marketers often need to collect data from diverse sources, including e-commerce platforms, landing pages and social media sites. With Funnel’s prebuilt connectors, this happens instantly. There is no need to maintain fragile APIs or wait for engineers to build custom integrations.

Transformation built for marketers

Funnel normalizes metrics across platforms, applies custom rules and makes sure fields line up. Campaign spend, clicks and conversions are automatically harmonized, so reporting is reliable and consistent.

Storage that adapts

Funnel’s Marketing Intelligence Platform offers secure storage for marketers who want a central home for their data. With no retention limits, you can store all your historical data. You can also export to your data warehouse or data lake.

Sharing insights everywhere

Modern marketing depends on fast reporting. Funnel sends data to any BI tool, dashboard or even a simple Google Sheet. Teams can act on insights quickly instead of waiting for quarterly reports.

Governance and trust

Data is only valuable if it can be trusted. Funnel ensures quality and compliance across every source. Role-based permissions keep sensitive information secure while still giving marketers control.

Takeaway: Funnel delivers the benefits of a modern data stack without the complexity of stitching it together. It collects, transforms, stores and shares governed data at speed, giving marketing leaders the confidence to plan, measure and grow.

What are the emerging trends in the modern data stack for 2026?

New demands in 2026 are reshaping how organizations build, manage and use data. Snowflake’s Modern Marketing Data Stack Report 2026 highlights the shift toward interoperability and real-time analytics, while Gartner’s martech guidance stresses the importance of governance and integration strategy. Forrester also shows how marketers are adapting stacks to meet privacy rules and extract value from AI-driven transformation. 

1. No-code platforms, which means less dependency on data engineers

No-code has moved from nice-to-have to table stakes. Dashboards, reporting and automated analytics are now designed for non-technical users. Funnel leads this shift by giving marketers control over collection and transformation without code.

2. Unbundling the stack

Data stacks used to be the realm solely of data engineers within the IT department. In 2026, marketing, finance and product teams run their own stack components. Hybrid architectures are now the norm, blending bundled platforms with best-in-class modular tools. 

3. Real-time expectations

The rise of AI and automation in the data stack goes hand-in-hand with real-time processing. Teams no longer accept waiting days for reports. Fraud detection, campaign optimization and personalized experiences all depend on immediate access. Timely, up-to-date analytics are a core requirement of modern martech strategy. 

4. Democratization of data

Executives can usually get reports quickly, but other teams often wait in line behind BI backlogs. That bottleneck is breaking. Self-service data access is a best practice in marketing data strategy. In a recent Chief Martec report, Scott Brinker described this evolution as the rise of the “new data layer” in martech. Instead of a rigid stack, businesses are building a flexible data mesh. Funnel fits this model by working as both an all-in-one platform for marketing and a bridge to the broader enterprise data mesh.

The future of the modern data stack is full of opportunity. With no-code tools, real-time insights and democratized access, marketing leaders have more power than ever to make data work for them. 

Ready to stack smarter?

The modern data stack is a growth engine. With Funnel’s Marketing Intelligence Platform serving as the pulse of your business, marketing leaders can unify sources, move faster and turn complexity into clarity. The opportunity in 2025 is to stop chasing reports and start shaping strategy with confidence. In 2026, the advantage belongs to the teams that turn data into action at speed. They won’t just compete, they’ll dominate.