The average revenue team runs 15+ tools, and that number is shrinking. Revenue intelligence, sales engagement, and CRM categories are converging as platform players acquire into adjacent categories. Point solutions that don't integrate deeply are most at risk.
The average revenue team runs 15+ tools. That number is coming down, and it's not because companies found a tool that does everything. It's because the big players are buying their way into adjacent categories.
The Consolidation Map
The lines between categories are blurring fast:
- Revenue Intelligence + Forecasting: Gong started in conversation intelligence. Now it does forecasting, deal execution, and coaching. Clari started in forecasting and pushed into revenue intelligence. They're converging.
- Sales Engagement + CRM: Outreach and Salesloft have added CRM-like features. HubSpot and Salesforce have native sequencing. The standalone sales engagement category is getting squeezed.
- Data Enrichment + Outbound: Clay and Apollo are blurring the line between data providers and outreach platforms. Apollo gives you the data and lets you email from the same tool. Clay gives you the data and lets you build workflows on top.
Winners and Losers
Likely winners: Platform players that own a critical workflow. Salesforce and HubSpot aren't going anywhere — they're the system of record. Gong has made itself indispensable for too many enterprise teams to rip out easily.
Under pressure: Point solutions that do one thing well but don't integrate deeply. If your tool's value proposition is "we do X better than the feature your CRM just shipped," that's a shrinking moat.
Dark horses: Clay's workflow-first approach is interesting because it makes the data layer programmable. Instead of buying a tool for each workflow, you build what you need. It's more work upfront but more flexible long-term. See our Clay vs Apollo comparison.
What This Means for Your Stack
If you're evaluating tools right now:
- Check the roadmap. Is your vendor building toward a platform or staying as a point solution? Platform plays survive consolidation. Point solutions get acquired or lose to features.
- Watch the integration depth. A Salesforce-native tool that reads and writes directly to your CRM is stickier than an API-connected tool that syncs periodically. Native > integration > workaround.
- Calculate total cost of ownership. Three overlapping tools at $30K each is worse than one platform at $70K, even if the platform doesn't do each individual thing as well. The ops tax of maintaining multiple tools is real.
Browse our complete tool reviews and head-to-head comparisons to evaluate your options.