In the past year, job titles that include the word revenue have been among the fastest growing trend on the professional networking site LinkedIn. Typical examples include Chief Revenue Officer, Director of Revenue Operations, and Vice President of Revenue Operations. One of the factors driving this trend is that businesses can no longer operate efficiently having separate sales and marketing departments. Instead, companies that stay on top of trends are creating revenue operation (RevOps) positions and entire departments.
Other Factors Behind the RevOps Trend
Numerous factors and developing trends have contributed towards the popularity of RevOps, especially in sales-based organizations. The following are among the most common:
- Access to significant amounts of customer data
- Increased demand for subscription-based business model
- Pressure on companies to make it possible to see a 360-degree view of customers and internal operations
- Increased expectation from customers to have holistic interactions with a company
Industry analysts have indicated these four trends are especially responsible for the change towards more revenue operation positions.
A Beginner’s Guide to RevOps
The term RevOps refers to a method of aligning sales and marketing with customer service to push for greater accountability from all parties throughout the entire customer journey. It has only been in recent years that technology has made a merger of these three separate areas possible. The people from these areas themselves have long resisted working together in a collaborative manner.
With RevOps, management sets goals based on metrics that make the most sense to all three areas. This synergy increases trust as well as credibility across the board. The problem with each department having its own goals is that they frequently don’t align, and one area can act in a manner detrimental to the other areas.
Typical RevOps Processes
Those who work in RevOps have numerous responsibilities. Examples of some of them include:
- Data governance: This refers to managing data and then distributing it to the appropriate parties. RevOps teams assist with digital asset management and data flow as it passes through the sales funnel.
- Security: Developing security measures to protect data is crucial. RevOps teams may develop a general certification such as SOC2 or a more specialized one such as HIPAA in health-related fields.
- Technology budget: Although RevOps managers might not have the authority to establish a budget, their superiors are increasingly looking to them to track expenses related to operations software.
- Tech stack management: RevOps employees troubleshoot outside of the IT department, manage software operations, and provide recommendations for applications to keep, eliminate, or acquire.
As this trend continues, industry analysts expect far more companies to align with revenue operations than maintain separate departments for sales, marketing, and customer service.
Something to Remember When Creating a Revenue Platform
In a recent Quotables by Salesforce podcast, Meredith Schmidt, current General Manager and Executive Vice President of Salesforce Essentials, made the following observation about revenue operations:
“When I think about a revenue platform, it shouldn’t matter who’s buying. If it’s a customer buying through eCommerce, if it’s an AE creating a quote selling direct, if it’s a partner coming through our direct channel, I want a single platform that I’m maintaining. And that’s really where I think about this process is how do I create a revenue platform.”
Anyone in charge of creating a revenue platform, process, or position would do well to remember these words.
