Learn More About Revenue Operations & Intelligence (RO&I) Software
What is Revenue Operations Software?
Revenue operations (RevOps) software automates the cross-departmental process of predicting future revenue, managing pipelines, increasing collaboration and visibility, and generating revenue intelligence. Revenue is the bottom line of every business, but the process of managing tasks related to revenue has historically been siloed across departments and often involved conflicting perspectives from business leaders.
However, RevOps as a field is evolving rapidly, and it’s more important than ever for department or team leaders in an organization to share the same vision on revenue growth. RevOps software accomplishes this through synthesizing large quantities of data across marketing, customer success, finance, and sales departments to forecast future revenue, estimate the likelihood of closing deals, and align the business on its vision.
What are the Common Features of Revenue Operations Software?
The following are some of the core features within RevOps tools that help users create a fully integrated revenue forecasting and management process.
Sales forecasting: The sheer volume of real-time data that RevOps tools collect allows for predictive insights into future revenue. These metrics are crucial to RevOps structure because it helps with new business, analyzing product lines, and expansions and renewals. Some metrics help assess the health and lifecycle of certain products or deals.
Sales analytics: With historical conversion rates and sales data, RevOps can provide accurate predictions based on ongoing deals. Also, one can compare their internal projection with machine learning predictions to adjust goals as necessary. With these analytical measurements, sales leaders can finetune revenue targets for the upcoming quarter.
Artificial intelligence (AI): AI is at the core of RevOps software. Machine learning algorithms allow systems to create revenue forecasts and provide probability scores on the likelihood of closing a deal. AI can specifically measure sales cycle time, pipeline velocity, win rate, customer acquisition cost, annual recurring revenue, customer lifetime value, upsells and renewals, customer churn, and forecast accuracy.
Revenue intelligence: RevOps systems can also accrue information on workflows and, consequently, their strengths and weaknesses. Revenue intelligence helps users see how engaged customers are in the selling process through activity integration. Activity integration combines CRM data with activity signals such as emails, calls, or calendar meetings.
Sales operations: RevOps tools also provide functionality for CRM and sales enablement. The time consuming nature of data entry can make sales representatives fail to log all potential customers. However, RevOps solutions can scan emails and documents to store contact information and log sales activities. This function helps build an effective CRM system and monitor the potential for winning deals. It can also link to third-party systems that provide sales enablement materials for representatives .
Account engagement: AI in RevOps platforms can analyze the cadence of conversation and the amount of engagement occurring between a sales representative and prospect. If there is an upcoming renewal and the sales representative has yet to follow up, RevOps software will send a notification. More generally, it provides reminders for members of the sales team to follow up with leads on deals that are inactive.
What are the Benefits of Revenue Operations Software?
RevOps software can unify multiple departments and provide important insights on revenue. The following are some of the key benefits:
Internal alignment: The previous adherence to a sales operations model often led to disagreements among departments. However, revenue management is a collaborative process across marketing, sales, customer success, and finance departments. The software will automate the process and increase visibility to various stakeholders.
Consistent messaging to consumers: Sometimes sales and marketing send different messages to potential customers, resulting in an inconsistent brand message. With a RevOps framework, everyone is on the same page, which means more effective customer conversion and satisfaction.
Higher sales and revenue: The sales funnel functions more smoothly when RevOps procedures are in place. Conversely, using sales operations involves working in silos and leads to internal friction. When operations are running more efficiently, this means more time to win sales and, thus, revenue.
Predictable revenue: The reliability of machine learning algorithms allows companies to make informed decisions that ensure a predictable revenue stream in the future. Due to the synchronous nature of revenue operations, teams can respond to market volatility more efficiently, which leads to more predictable growth.
Consistent tech stacks: Tech stacks are tools that automate job functions. Without RevOps, various departments may use different tech stacks to perform job tasks. However, this software provides universal tools that keep employees working in the same space.
Who Uses Revenue Operations Software?
RevOps is an interdisciplinary process that aligns multiple internal stakeholders. Below are the key teams that benefit from using this software:
Customer success teams: Ensuring existing customers renew their accounts is a crucial function of RevOps tools. Through using these solutions, customer success operations can identify risks and opportunities with upcoming expirations, forecast churn to measure progress against revenue targets, and ensure teams are focused on the right accounts.
Finance teams: Finance departments review revenue forecasts to help work with sales teams on setting new goals and reconfiguring existing goals. This internal alignment ensures confidence in sales activities and increases revenue.
Marketing teams: Visibility into the revenue pipeline helps marketing teams focus on targeting messages toward leads who are likely to become accounts. Removing silos between sales representatives and marketers helps drive engagement, create customers, and increase revenue.
Sales teams: These tools provide thorough CRM functionality and, thus, benefit sales teams greatly. Salespeople are empowered to follow up with leads more to facilitate deal-closing. In addition, through knowing the probability of closing a deal, sales reps can engage with customers differently to increase the likelihood of conversion.
Software Related to Revenue Operations Software
RevOps synthesizes multiple disciplines together into a streamlined process, which means software in the following disciplines is part of these tools:
CRM software: One of the key functions of any RevOps software is customer relationship management. Since its AI analyzes emails and interactions to determine which customers need outreach to help close deals, RevOps solutions help enrich customer interactions, improve the customer experience, and win sales.
Sales analytics software: Sales analytics tools provide visibility into sales pipelines, report on sales performance, and forecast sales numbers. RevOps incorporates sales analytics into the overall process of revenue optimization by providing probability measures and revenue forecasting.
Marketing analytics software: Insights on key opportunities with prospects help inform marketing analytics. Metrics on campaign and messaging success can, thus, influence targeted marketing toward leads that are most likely to become sales.
Challenges with Revenue Operations Software
Although RevOps provides a wealth of opportunity, there are also some challenges:
New discipline: RevOps is a young discipline in the business world, which means it’s ever-changing and incomplete. Some may find the process to be obscure due to its novelty. Some businesses may also question its validity and reliability because of its relative newness.
Demands internal buy-in and collaboration: The history of revenue management lies in silos, competing priorities, and, sometimes, workplace politics. Should a company choose to use a more innovative approach with software, it will require universal buy-in to a new way of thinking and working. RevOps must be collaborative and consistent, which could mean growing pains for an organization that is used to dividing and conquering.
Which Companies Should Buy Revenue Operations Software?
Certain companies benefit most from using software to manage their RevOps structure, specifically ones that create deals with other businesses versus B2C work. These B2B businesses have high capital expenditures, high customer acquisition costs (CAC), and high lifetime value customers. The following are types of companies that benefit from RevOps tools:
Professional services: Consulting and professional services have high labor costs because most of the work done is through human capital. The ability to automate and streamline RevOps helps drive down costs and increase revenue.
Private equity companies: Private equity firms appreciate KPI clarity, growth initiatives, lower CAC, and labor optimization. All of these are accomplished with RevOps software.
Manufacturing: The manufacturing industry cannot survive without stable revenue predictions and sustained production that is at or near plant capacity. The analytical tools that come with RevOps solutions help make this possible.
Information technology (IT): The IT sector must continually invest large amounts of capital to keep up with the rapid pace of technological development. However, once the technology is built, how to sell it can be puzzling. Determining the best method to maximize revenue can be accomplished through RevOps.
How to Buy Revenue Operations Software
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Revenue Operations Software
The first stage of purchasing a RevOps tool is gathering a list of requirements that internal teams agree are mandatory, as well as any add-ons that would help seal the deal. Teams should begin with creating a long list that addresses the core features that the desired product must have. The short list then considers bells and whistles and any industry-specific requirements.
Compare Revenue Operations Software Products
Create a long list
Buyers must begin selecting the long list by creating a problem matrix that outlines the key business needs that the product must fulfill. Below are some examples:
- Automated proposal data entry to shorten the sales cycle
- Automated top-of-funnel leads to increase brand visibility
- Customer churn reduction capabilities
- Ease of use
- Data storing and collecting methods
- Determining whether to build a tech stack using apps from the same publisher suite versus picking individual applications to create an eclectic RevOps system
Create a short list
When creating the short list, it should be noted that more bells and whistles are not necessarily better due to the complexity and cross-departmental nature of this software.
- Training opportunities and continual support for onboarding the internal team
- Whether to buy a product that has open API, meaning the ability for an app to communicate with other apps, as without this feature, there may be less flexibility and more roadblocks
Conduct demos
Before signing a contract, it’s crucial to try out the product. Buyers must ask for product demonstrations from all of the RevOps vendors on the short list. It’s important to come prepared with questions so one’s internal team has a full understanding of how the product works.
Selection of Revenue Operations Software
Choose a selection team
A RevOps team must be formed to select a product. People included in this are the chief revenue officer (CRO), marketing executives, sales managers, finance leads, and customer success managers. The CRO will likely be the final decision maker.
Negotiation
The negotiation phase of the selection process can be intense and interpersonally complex, as the vendor will bring its strongest personnel and salespeople into the meeting. One must make sure the software fulfills the most important business needs at a fair price.
Final decision
Due to the collaborative nature of RevOps, the entire selection team must be aligned with the chosen product. Without consensus, factions may form that undermine the unified nature of RevOps structures. However, the absolute final decision will likely come from the CRO.
What Does Revenue Operations Software Cost?
The cost of this software varies based on the number of users and the amount of added features. However, it generally costs between $25 and several hundred dollars per month per user. Most prices are not listed online, but a quote can be requested from a vendor.
Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI is the time it takes for the cost of an investment to be negated through gains in efficiency and revenue from implementation of the product.
According to G2 data as of September 30, 2021, nearly every user was able to achieve ROI with their RevOps software, with most accomplishing it within a year. Data indicated users achieve ROI in the following increments.
- 40.88% of users achieved ROI in 6 months or less
- 31.76% of users achieved ROI in 7 to 12 months
- 13.85% of users achieved ROI in 13 to 24 months
- 5.74% of users achieved ROI in 24 to 36 months
- 0.3% of users achieved ROI in 37 to 48 months
- 1.4% of users achieved ROI in 48 months or more
- Only 6.08% of users never achieved ROI
