Executive Summary: This article explores Revenue Operations (RevOps) organization charts and their types: department-specific and function-specific. It also outlines a step-by-step process for creating a RevOps org chart and emphasizes the importance of clear communication, logical groupings, structural links, realistic goal setting, periodic reviews, and more.
Revenue Operations (or RevOps) is a strategic amalgamation of all service-related departments involved in revenue generation.
Such an end-to-end integration lays the foundation for business cohesiveness. At the same time, it also leaves room for high-level monitoring and accurate revenue forecasting.
Even though RevOps break down silos and eliminate hierarchies, it is a framework that requires a systematic and logical organization to yield desirable results.
Enter Revenue Operations org chart!
In this article, we’ll cover what are Revenue Operations org charts and their types. We’ll also highlight how you can create one and a few tips to help you along the way.
What are Revenue Operations Organization Charts?
A RevOps org chart is an internal organizational chart that visually depicts the Revenue Operations architecture. In addition to outlining the reporting structure, it details the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of the stakeholders involved.
Now, let’s begin with the types of Revenue Operations organization charts. Most RevOps org charts fall under any of the following two categories:
1. Department-Specific RevOps Org Charts
A department-specific ReveOps org chart breaks down the organization to department levels.
The Head of the RevOps presides over the go-to-market (GTM) operations team, namely sales, marketing, and customer success operations (not to be confused with the teams). Each departmental RevOps unit can be divided into admin, analyst, and other smaller sub-departments or teams.
This type of org chart is best suited for early-stage companies kickstarting Revenue Operations.
Using this approach introduces efficiency and adaptability to your organization structure. On the other hand, it can result in people or informational siloes or introduce redundancy as you categorize teams and operations separately.
2. Function-Specific RevOps Org Charts
While a department-specific Revenue Operations organization chart is pretty straightforward, the function-specific RevOps org chart is way more convoluted.
Here, the RevOps are divided based on the business functions corresponding with the four primary segments:
- RevOps strategies or processes.
- RevOps systems or tools.
- RevOps insights.
- RevOps enablement.
Such a RevOps organizational chart is more appropriate for mid-stage or established enterprises where the RevOps functioning is far more pronounced and well-defined. It maintains flexibility while making collaboration the heart of the action or the decision-making workflows. And so, one can think of it as a catalyst for organizational homogeneity.
However, it lacks unity of command, which can obstruct authority. At the same time, this model can be pretty complex and confusing.
How to Create a Revenue Operations Org Chart
Essentially, a RevOps organization chart illustrates your Revenue Operations team structure.
So, the process of creating an organization chart will commence with establishing a revenue operations team structure and conclude with committing to the diagram.
Here’s how it will typically play out:
- If you are new to building a RevOps team, you can begin by adopting a committee structure. Here, you will have a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at the helm of all RevOps affairs. In the absence of a CRO, the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) or COO (Chief Operations Officer) takes on the overarching role of the key supervisor, decision-maker, and figurehead.
- One level below the C-suite, you will get a leader each from the GTM operations - sales, marketing, and customer success. They will act as the nodal officers and representatives for their respective operations. They serve as the link between RevOps and the corresponding teams.
- As your organization grows, the RevOps team can differentiate and expand proportionally to the increasing demand. Now could be a great time to welcome a CRO to your organization - if you haven’t yet gotten one.
- The team leaders will begin fleshing out the committee structure and make it system-based as you add supporting RevOps roles. They can do that by hiring new talent or reappropriating existing staff to earmarked positions depending on their distribution of the teams, work profiles, and specific requirements.
- Continue integrating all the RevOps resources under one roof and devise a centralized system of managing resources and formulating strategies. Such elasticity will come in handy as the roles, responsibilities, and goals of the RevOps team become increasingly granular.
- All the while, you must create an organization chart at every stage - either traditionally (think pen and paper) or using modern tools (digital apps and software solutions) - ideally, the latter. Such documentation establishes a clear chain of command. Maintain and update the chart from time to time.
6 Sure-Fire Tips for Maintaining Your RevOps Organization Chart
Notice how we talked about maintaining and updating the RevOps org chart? That’s something we need to expand upon in detail. So, here we go!
1. Create clear communication lines
Simply creating a RevOps organizational chart and plastering it on your work notice board is the quickest way to render it ineffective.
What you need is an enthusiastic buy-in from all the stakeholders!
After all, the chart is just a plan lacking action, that is, if you fail to implement it.
Circulate it across departments and communicate the justification, implications, and expected outcomes from such an organizational structure. Communicate the roles and responsibilities of every affected party - and keep this communication two-way.
2. Make logical groupings
As seen above, your Revenue Operations org chart could be department-specific or function-specific. In either case, the grouping is logical and functional.
As your RevOps team begins to scale, make sensible groupings based on the team or individual’s role, activities, functions, and profile. You want a system of closely-related grouping and clear differentiation.
3. Build structural links
Whether you have a committee layout or a systems framework, your RevOps team will comprise various integration mechanisms.
You will have liaisons, cross-functional groups, project integrators, etc. They help with the coordination and cooperation between dissimilar entities.
Additionally, they also play informational and directional roles. As such, identify such structural links to make everything borderless.
4. Set realistic goals
Every organizational element serves an objective. The same holds for your Revenue Operations.
And while revenue is a clear indicator of the team’s overall performance, you will have to identify the different KPIs and metrics that help measure and benchmark performance.
Setting unambiguous and realistic goals also instills a sense of responsibility and accountability among employees.
5. Review and reassess team structure
Your RevOps team structure is a function of time and is bound to change. As such, schedule periodic reviews to reassess the team composition and condition.
By doing so, you will be retaining a dynamic element of your team’s structure. Involve as many participants as you can during such reviews so that you can optimize team structure for the highest efficiency.
6. Tweak your revenue operations org chart
Your RevOps org chart should be nothing short of a living, breathing entity. It should embrace a high degree of flexibility and agility so that it reflects even the unprecedented overnight changes.
For this reason, we highly recommend using a software solution to maintain and update the charts in real time. Plus, you also get added benefits like versioning!
Closing Thoughts
If revenue is the lifeblood of any organization, then RevOps is the heart-like organ maintaining this system.
A Revenue Operations organizational chart displays the organization structure diagrammatically so that leaders can identify bottlenecks and opportunities.
Such insights could be exactly the inputs required to maintain a healthy revenue stream!
