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2026 Is a Turning Point for Marketing Ops

ByPott Chloe

On January 21, our MOPros Europe chapter kicked off the year with a simple prompt: New Year, New Goals. The format was intentionally conversational — and it delivered.

We were joined by Frans Riemersma (founder of MartechTribe), who shared what he’s seeing for 2026: not just more AI, but a deeper shift in how we build stacks, how we prove value, and how Marketing Ops can finally step into the role many of us have been quietly doing for years.

Here are the biggest ideas I’m still thinking about plus a few practical ways to turn them into action inside your organization.

AI isn’t killing SaaS — it’s changing what “good SaaS” looks like

One of the loudest narratives right now is “AI will replace your martech stack.” Frans pushed back with a more grounded take:

  • AI isn’t replacing SaaS.
  • SaaS that embeds AI is replacing “pure SaaS.”

Why? Because most businesses still need deterministic logic (rules, routing, compliance, data writes) alongside probabilistic AI (language, classification, synthesis). You might use AI to help qualify a lead — but once a decision is made, you don’t want the system “gambling” on what happens next. You want rules.

This is the heart of what Frans described as the agentic stack: AI agents layered on top of your existing systems, not magically deleting them.

“AI is not replacing SaaS — but SaaS embedding AI is replacing pure SaaS.”

If you want to go deeper on this, Frans and Scott Brinker’s Martech for 2026 report is a strong companion read.

“One tool to rule them all” is giving way to composability (aka: LEGO)

I shared something I’m seeing in consulting: B2B SaaS companies are increasingly moving away from the fantasy of one platform doing everything — and Frans agreed emphatically.

He framed the modern martech landscape as atomized: smaller tools that do one thing well, integrate well within an ecosystem, and can be assembled into something that matches your business.

“We don’t need a Magic Quadrant. We need a Quadrant without the Magic — one for my company.”

The stack has two jobs: factory + laboratory

This was one of the most useful mental models of the hour.

Frans described the stack as:

  • A factory (stable, governed, repeatable execution)
  • A laboratory (experimentation, learning, small bets)

The punchline: enterprise constraints aren’t a reason to avoid experimentation, they’re a reason to structure it properly. Prototype in the lab. Then move what works into the factory.

“Your stack has two roles: it is a factory, and it is a laboratory.”

This also explains why stacks often behave like “solar systems”: a few core systems of record, and many tools orbiting them.

Marketing Ops’ unfair advantage: value engineering

When the conversation shifted to responsibilities, Frans got very direct: we should stop optimizing stacks for coverage and start optimizing for cash.

He shared a simple starting point he uses (including in business-school teaching):

  1. Who is your biggest customer (or segment)?
  2. What do you sell most to them?
  3. What’s the margin?

His observation was blunt: many teams ask for more tools and more data — but they could already build a strong business case with what they have. The gap is often data literacy (how to use imperfect data to make decisions).

“We should not optimize the stack for coverage. We should optimize for cash.”

This is where Marketing Ops can take center stage: we sit at the intersection of systems + data + process + business reality.

Experimentation is the antidote to uncertainty (but do it intelligently)

Frans’ advice for skill-building in 2026 was refreshingly practical:

  • Get hands-on with agent building / workflow tools (he mentioned n8n)
  • Get hands-on with rapid prototyping (he mentioned Lovable and Replit)
  • Learn what AI does and what it doesn’t do because that becomes your judgment advantage

“In times of uncertainty, experimentation is the antidote.”

Important nuance that came up in the group: governance and data handling still matter. Kevin Hasse flagged the very real risk of pushing personal data into tools that aren’t compliant for your context — a good reminder that “move fast” still needs guardrails.

“It takes a master to see how simple the solution is.”

The big risk (and opportunity) for Marketing Ops in 2026

Frans described the classic squeeze:

  • IT pushes for less martech
  • Marketing pushes for more martech
  • Marketing Ops gets stuck in the middle unless we can clearly prioritize

His warning was simple: if you can’t explain what to optimize and why, you’re toast — you become an order taker.

“If you don’t know how to optimize or what to optimize and you don’t prioritize, you’re toast.”

His opportunity framing was even clearer: Marketing Ops can become the function that says:

  • “These are the moments in the journey that matter.”
  • “These are the tools and data we need for those moments.”
  • “This is what we will not do.”
  • “These are the guardrails.”

That’s leadership.

And it connects to something else Frans shared: with more data, more AI, and more technology available than ever, the bar for experience is rising fast.

“There’s more data, more technology, more AI than ever — there’s no excuse to not have a superb customer experience.”

“If you’re a marketer, you should be able to guess the question of your customer — and your next message should answer it.”

Want the full conversation? You can watch the complete event recording here:

Event recording

Resources (from the conversation + related reading)

Join the European MOps community 

If you’re building (or rebuilding) your stack, navigating AI changes, or just tired of being the only “ops person in the room”, come join us.

We host friendly, practical virtual meetups for Marketing Ops pros across Europe: real conversations, real challenges, and plenty of “oh wow, same here” moments.

Want to get invites to upcoming events?
Email us at moc.spognitekramobfsctd-3324a6@eporue (or connect with me on LinkedIn) and we’ll add you to the list.

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