How to Make Revenue Operations Profitable

The idea of revenue operations (RevOps) at software companies has been aspirational – even ceremonial for some, as they’ve thrown people at the idea without a plan or holistic approach in place. In many cases it hasn’t worked out so well.

After all the investments made in aligning business functions, streamlining processes, and boosting revenue, CFOs are left scratching their heads because commercial models are still suffering from customer retention, data compliance, integration complexities, inadequate customer support, difficulty converting freemium users to paid, ineffective business processes, security concerns, aligning sales and marketing teams, and managing customer acquisition cost. Phew…

RevOps has been heralded as the “holy grail” to profitability, and adoption is high: Accenture research shows that 80% of organizations are on their way to complete RevOps transformation. Despite that, software and technology businesses aren’t fully leveraging the opportunity, with only 6% of them having reached a scaling or systemized level of RevOps maturity.

With all this focus and investment on reinventing their businesses with RevOps, how come so few software and technology companies are doing it right?  

C-Suite execs are stuck in a vision and goal-setting rut, and they need to better communicate business strategies, break down silos, and relentlessly focus on customer experience. That means committing to a cohesive RevOps strategy that integrates sales, marketing, finance, product, and customer success to streamline operations and optimize revenue generation.

Many companies are still early in the process, with gaps in strategy holding them back from realizing their full potential. As a result, they’re only seeing incremental benefits to their models. To unlock the potential of RevOps, it needs to be at the center of everything. Companies must adopt a comprehensive, integrated approach, aligning all functions across the company with full support from the C-Suite. 

Making RevOps Real: People, Process, and Technology

RevOps should be built on three foundational pillars – people, process, and technology – covering eight critical dimensions:

People

1. Alignment and collaboration: Focus on alignment across teams.
2. Skills: The need for training in AI for RevOps individuals will continue to be essential. It’s also important to upskill people in other areas that enable RevOps success, such as data analytics.
3. Leadership: Make sure executive engagement and strategic support for RevOps initiatives are locked in.

Process

1. Process efficiency: Minimize silos and enhance operational effectiveness.
2. Metrics and KPIs: Standardize performance metrics with strategic objectives across functions.
3. Customer experience: Focus on tools and systems that capture and measure customer feedback and how effectively those insights inform strategy.

Technology

1. Technology stack: Sophistication and integration of technology tools will build a cohesive ecosystem.
2. Data unification: Centralize and make data accessible across the organization.

The RevOps journey from low to high maturity

For those software companies that are early in their journey, many executives say they lack visibility into end-to-end revenue processes and have only limited standardization or automation. Data silos still exist across departments, and roles are often unclear. As one senior RevOps executive commented, “Nobody’s gotten it right…operation teams are overwhelmed.”

RevOps success comes from ongoing reinvention. Companies walk through a maturity cycle defined by five key stages that reflect increasing levels of process sophistication, team alignment, and data integration: Initiate, Analyze, Validate, Manage, and Optimize.  

• Initiate: Your company very well may be at this early stage, where processes are unstructured, data is siloed, and teams operate in isolation with limited collaboration.
• Analyze: This is where partial standardization of processes begins, along with shared data models and early cross-functional collaboration. Teams start identifying opportunities for alignment while initial performance metrics take shape.
• Validate: Processes become more structured with clearly defined workflows and KPIs. Functional team alignment strengthens, shifting the focus toward proactive decision-making and measurable outcomes.
• Manage: Seamless workflows are implemented, supported by integrated technology stacks and the use of predictive analytics to inform decisions. Cross-functional collaboration becomes unified, enabling teams to work efficiently toward common goals.
• Optimize: The full maturity stage, where workflows are fully integrated and powered by real-time data and AI-driven insights. Advanced tech stacks enable continuous monitoring and optimization of KPIs, while collaboration is maximized across all functions to drive sustained growth and innovation.

The AI factor

Not surprisingly, a majority of business leaders believe that generative AI will play an important role in RevOps. While AI is gaining traction, most organizations are still in the early stages of adoption, primarily experimenting with the technology or partially implementing it.

AI agents are already reshaping parts of RevOps, and their influence will accelerate over the next few years. Agentic AI-enabled RevOps promises to deliver more real-time data-driven decision making, hyper-personalized experiences at scale, unification of the tech stack, and better customer interactions.

Moving beyond hype toward profitability

It’s time to move beyond the RevOps hype and into profitability. If companies are to realize the promise of RevOps as the ultimate solution for aligning teams, boosting efficiency, and driving sustainable growth, they need to commit to powering ahead in the maturity cycle.

That commitment means ensuring strong leadership support, unifying data across functions, and setting goals that are clear and measurable. RevOps strategy requires a fully integrated approach, which in turn will improve business efficiency and drive new revenue opportunities. Powered by people, process, and technology, companies can turn RevOps from an industry buzzword into a powerful driver of business success.

Christian Kelly is managing director of Strategy, Software, and Platforms at Accenture.