5 Trends in Revenue Operations for 2021
Kerry Coppinger
|Data & Analytics | May 11, 2021
Now that 2021 is in full swing, there are several trends relating to revenue operations that are catching our eye. But what exactly is revenue operations? We define revenue operations as an organization function dedicated to streamlining and managing company revenue and profits, while aiming to drive predictable forecasting. Revenue operations is increasingly becoming an essential function of leading companies and new businesses alike. Since the ultimate goal of businesses is to increase revenue, it makes sense that revenue operations should serve as a main component of a company’s structure and influence decisions made by all departments.
As Branden Baldwin, Director of Revenue Operations at Degreed says: “RevOps is helping have a realistic view of the business and then turning it into something executable.”
Throughout this blog, we uncover the five most striking trends in revenue operations this year and tips for how to start incorporating them into your business model.
1. Moving from multiple sources of truth to unified data
Many organizations have multiple teams trying to align on revenue operations, which is a good concept in theory. However, a problem this can sometimes present is the existence of multiple sources of truth and inconsistencies in the quality of data.
When different departments are looking at different numbers, it becomes incredibly difficult to align toward a common goal. One trend we are seeing that combats this problem is an increased emphasis on data quality control processes. By double and triple checking how the data in one platform stacks up to the data in another platform, errors and inconsistencies become more apparent. In order for a company to be successful, all parts of the organization must be measuring success by the same standards, so this trend will help improve efficiencies.
2. Revenue operations roles expanding within organizations
Another trend we’re seeing is the increase in revenue operations titles across many industries and sectors. In fact, job titles relating to revenue operations have increased more than 300% over the past year on LinkedIn. With an emphasis on revenue operations, not only are businesses championing this concept, but they are actually creating titles around it and hiring accordingly. If your company doesn’t already have a CRO, VP of Revenue Operations, or some other form of senior leadership in the revenue operations department, you could likely see that change over the next year.
3. Decreased focus on historical trends
Typically, revenue operations professionals can look back at the previous year as an indicator of what to expect the following year. However, 2020 was not a typical year. Organizations that are used to relying on historical data will now instead have to take into account the rapidly changing conditions of a post-pandemic world and behave proactively. Forecasting may need to be adjusted based on future re-openings, which vary greatly based on geographic location as well. For this reason, it’s even more important to ensure all teams are aligned and looking closely at accurate data as the year unfolds.
4. Technology platforms adding operations functionality
Many platforms that were previously designed as marketing operations or CRM applications are expanding their technology to include revenue operations functionality. One leading example is Hubspot. The leader in inbound marketing noticed that organizations have unified efforts around revenue operations, and therefore the platforms they use should reflect that. Their new revenue operations functionality is part of a larger shift we’re seeing in the technology sector overall. Leaders in industries that are peripheral to revenue operations are starting to put revenue operations at the forefront of their product roadmaps. This could potentially lead to budget shifts and increased spend on platforms that serve multiple purposes including revenue operations.
Noah Marks, Vice President of Operations at Udemy, understands the value of this type of holistic revenue operations approach: “Predictability and forecasting is the top of the layer cake. It’s the output of everything you put into it. The bottom layer is the data integrity. You build efficiency on top of that, then you make it repeatable, then you get to predictability.”
5. Increased focus on removing bots and fake users from revenue funnels
One primary form of emerging technology is Customer Acquisition Security, or CAS. This core new category is security provided to revenue ops leaders, eliminating the fast-growing problem of fake users and bots from customers’ funnels, campaigns, analytics and CRM.
For instance, teams use CAS to legitimize the clicks on their advertisements across all platforms by identifying and filtering out fraudulent clicks. This adds millions of dollars in new revenue and ensures more predictable data and revenue for organizations for the benefit of marketing, analytics, operations, and revenue leaders.
Sales and Business Development Representative (BDR) teams can also benefit from CAS by using this technology to clean up their CRM. When salespeople are wasting their time prospecting fake users, they are also wasting time and valuable company resources. For instance, 23% of digital marketers have been affected by lead generation fraud, with bots filling forms with fake or stolen contact information.
CAS eliminates these problems and allows BDRs to go after real leads, which are much more likely to convert. The third primary benefit of CAS is legitimizing analytics, which both cleans up data internally and allows customer success teams to provide more accurate reporting to clients.
When CAS is used in an organization across departments, not only does it benefit each of those teams, but it also provides more clarity and accuracy across the organization. This is beneficial to revenue operations professionals because it makes their job easier and gives them clean data to predict future revenue projections and company plans.
CHEQ has experience working with over 8,000 customers to improve efficiencies and streamline revenue operations through our breakthrough Customer Acquisition Security technology. Our team is available to provide a demo; reach out today.
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Author
Kerry Coppinger
Senior Manager, Brand Marketing
As head of the brand marketing department at CHEQ, Kerry manages all things content and brand including: research reports, public relations, content marketing, copywriting, press, and other editorial features. Prior to her work at CHEQ, Kerry worked for several tech companies in New York.
