A beginners guide to understanding RevOps

Revenue operations is simply defined as the alignment between marketing, sales and customer service teams, and the optimisation of their processes to increase revenue.

But what does this actually mean? 

There are some intricacies to RevOps, which those getting familiar with the concept might find tricky to understand. In this case, we’ve found these can be better described through some key terminology and explanation of where these terms can be found in the RevOps world.

We’ve delved into some vocab that helps grasp the concept behind RevOps, explaining its strategic approaches and end goals, and giving you a 360 overview. 

1. Data-driven

One of the main focuses of RevOps is to make data-driven decisions. It could involve data cleansing, data organisation, or movement from different platforms to make more informed decisions with better results. 

Every department in a business will hold data but it can be stored in many different ways, which in turn can alter the final results of this stored data. The job of a Revenue Operations strategy is to look into all places as to where this data could come from, and subsequently where it could be going wrong.

The RevOps concept of departmental cohesion plays on the fact that the actions of one team (marketing for example) can have a direct effect on the results of another (sales in this case). Therefore, looking into how one team operates is simply not enough. Problems with data are not always surface-level and may arise in areas or teams that would never be considered without RevOps investigations. One department may be storing their data inaccurately for example, or using an outdated system.

RevOps aims to stop this inefficient way of operating, which therefore paves the way for data-driven decision-making. Where you make decisions based on accurate data which has been derived from a known, trustworthy source. 

2. Automation

Data-driven decisions that have been obtained accurately, might reveal a need for automation. This is very dependent from business to business, but the job of Revenue Operations is to determine whether or not this is necessary, both from a cost perspective as well as efficiency and chance of adaptability. Whatever automation that is added (or gotten rid of) through a RevOps strategy, should help to benefit each team in some way, as well as hopefully reducing costs and improving revenue in the long run. 

3. Silo’s

Where a RevOps strategy aims to break down walls between departments, this includes removing all chances of a silo occurring. 

A Silo refers to the issues that can be caused by using unique processes in each department of a business. The end goal of all departments should be the same, so having unique ways of working means that when the time comes to eventually collaborate, it could take a long time to do so efficiently. Working with different software, data storage and sometimes even data itself means that to get on the same page requires much more effort than necessary. 

RevOps, therefore, aims to break these Silos, creating a shared process where each team is up to speed where necessary. In terms of data and information, each department will know where to find it and know it is as accurate as possible due to how it's being stored and maintained.

4. Standardised processes

Having teams that follow a standardised process is also another way to break down these silos, as it aims to ensure a cohesive and consistent workflow. Having similar processes firstly limits room for confusion, but also improves the way teams can collaborate due to their newfound, mutual understandings of how one and other operate. 

It is however key to remember that whilst connecting cross-functional teams is the goal, a level of separation should still be occurring, as ultimately each team is employed for a different purpose. The goal of RevOps isn’t to group these departments as one, but more to ensure they’re working together to the fullest extent, and working on the same data and processes where possible. 

5. KPIs

Key Performance Indicators are essential in Revenue Operations just like any other business. New processes and techniques that have been implemented through a RevOps strategy need to be measured against their effectiveness. New changes within businesses and departments can also be difficult to persuade sometimes, therefore having key metrics to back up their effectiveness is crucial. 

A KPI can help track the progress of new strategies, as well as strategies that already exist, deciding whether or not these need changing in the future. As this creates more data, it also fuels even more data-driven decisions. 

6. Forecasting

Finally, the point of having each RevOps strategy in place is that there should now be a much clearer idea of how your business tends to operate. You can now understand how well your strategies work, as well as the data that’s been accurately measured from their implementation. This data should also be easily accessible, meaning that when it's time to discuss forecasting, it can be done with relative ease and reliability. 

All strategies that have been implemented, as well as the data a RevOps expert has worked to extract, can be used to forecast the next stages of the business. Meaning there is always an accurate estimate of how well the business is doing and idea of how far away they are from achieving their goals. 

It is therefore statistically proven that businesses with Revenue Operations strategies in place, are more likely to reach their goals and growth targets. Hopefully, these keywords provide a little insight behind how and why this occurs!