Is RevOps the same as DevOps?
Well, no. But the similarity is uncanny and rather fascinating, so let’s explore!
In today’s dynamic world of business operations, RevOps (Revenue Operations) has emerged as a pivotal strategy, making its debut in 2016. Similarly, DevOps revolutionized software and IT operations, making its debut in 2007.
While DevOps bridges the gap between software development and IT teams (and operations), RevOps addresses the persistent misalignment between commercial teams. Both offer a streamlined approach to improve efficiency and drive growth, with DevOps focused on software development and RevOps focused on Revenue growth.
The Evolution of RevOps
The concept of DevOps came about to bridge the gap between software development and IT operations. Developers would create features, but the IT teams faced difficulties in deploying and managing them, resulting in delays and errors.
Similarly, commercial teams became increasingly disordered — marketing departments would produce engaging content that sales teams found challenging to leverage effectively. Sales would sign the deal, but handover so poorly to Customer Success that the churn kept rising and the success remained elusive. This disconnection led to internal conflicts and missed sales opportunities.
RevOps was developed to address these issues, aiming to align marketing, sales, and customer service teams. By fostering better collaboration and communication, RevOps helps organizations operate more smoothly and efficiently.
The Benefits of RevOps
The success of DevOps is well-documented, bringing about faster development cycles, more frequent releases, and fewer errors. These benefits have transformed the tech industry, with about 20% of tech roles now dedicated to DevOps practices.
RevOps is poised to bring similar advantages to commercial teams. By unifying various departments, companies can expect benefits like:
- Accelerated Sales Cycles: Streamlined processes reduce the time it takes to close deals
- Increased Revenue: Improved alignment results in more effective sales strategies and higher conversion rates
- Reduced Errors: Clear communication minimizes misunderstandings and mistakes
- Many, many, many more
The Growing Adoption of RevOps
DevOps made its debut in 2007 and has since become an integral part of many organizations. RevOps, introduced in 2016, is still in its early stages but is rapidly gaining traction. The similarities between these two approaches suggest that RevOps will follow a similar growth trajectory.
As companies increasingly recognize the value of aligning their commercial teams, it’s anticipated that in the next decade, 10-20% of commercial roles will be focused on RevOps. There’s no way to guarantee this of course, but all trends point in the right direction. RevOps also won’t be as impacted by AI as other commercial functions so for now, we can expect the growth to continue.
Wrapping up
Of course DevOps is not the same as RevOps, but it’s still funny to see the terms getting confused with one another. Not too long ago, people thought RevOps was DevOps mispronounced, but that’s quickly changing.
The similarities are fascinating though, so I do support the analogy of RevOps as “DevOps for commercial teams” or “DevOps for growth”.
Also, this post and several others have been inspired by Tariq Ahmed’s analogy on DevOps vs. RevOps. Highly recommend following him on LinkedIn where he shares very thought provoking wisdom on RevOps.
