What's the difference between revenue enablement and RevOps?

2 minutes

Both revenue enablement and revenue operations (RevOps) empower increased revenue and business growth. While they share some similarities, there are also key differences between the two.  

In this article, we’ll break those differences down to help you understand which skill set you need to invest in. 


What is revenue enablement? 


Revenue enablement is an evolution of sales enablement. Following the realisation that revenue generation doesn’t end when a sale is complete, the function has since expanded. Now, as revenue enablement, the function encompasses sales, marketing, customer success, and customer experience.  

Operating cross functionally, they are responsible for equipping each of these teams with the skills, tools, and resources required to deliver effective customer experiences. The overall aim? Drive revenue growth.  


What is revenue operations? 


Revenue operations (or RevOps) is a newer skill set, focusing on the optimisation of revenue-driving processes. Also working across marketing, sales and customer success, they manage tech stack integration, process improvement and back-end workflows to align the teams under one framework.  

RevOps professionals make data-driven decisions to drive efficiency, alignment, data integrity, and consistent technology use across the revenue engine. 


Revenue enablement vs revenue operations 

Here is an overview of the key differences between enablement and operations: 


Revenue enablementRevenue operations
FocusEquipping sales, customer and marketing teams with the tools they need. Aligning marketing, sales and customer teams under one framework. 
Key activities
  • Designing training materials and workshops 
  • Creating sales collateral and playbooks 
  • Onboarding and upskilling new team members in the revenue engine
  • Building strategies that drive sustainable growth 
  • Managing CRM, data and analytics platforms 
  • Identifying friction, inefficiencies, and gaps in your customer journey  
GoalImprove the performance of revenue generating teams by enabling them to close more deals and increase the lifetime value of customers. Reduce inefficiencies and streamline processes for efficient, effective and predictable revenue growth.  
Reports toReports into the CRO or RevOps Reports into the CRO 



How revenue operations and enablement work together

While the two functions have very different responsibilities, they work towards one shared goal: driving revenue growth. This means that they often collaborate to reach their goals, with Revenue Enablement teams sometime reporting into a RevOps Leader. 

For example, if the revenue operations team onboards a new CRM, the revenue enablement team will be responsible for training the business on the use of the software. They will ensure that the tool is being used effectively to ensure the revenue growth that RevOps expects. 

Ultimately, while RevOps focus on the tools, revenue enablement focus on the people

 

Do you need both skill sets? 

There are clear benefits to investing in both RevOps and revenue enablement, including: 

  1. A more structured approach to revenue growth: Each have their defined responsibilities, allowing for organisations to grow quickly from both a people and process perspective. 
  2. Improved staff buy in: Businesses with both functionalities tend to see stronger sentiment from their employees, as they feel better equipped to perform in their roles.  
  3. Less wastage and improved performance: Optimised processes result in less admin. This means that Sales Reps can spend more time selling.

Not every company needs to employ both functions immediately, however. For smaller companies, we’d recommend starting with onboarding revenue operations practices and professionals. They can oversee revenue enablement in the early days. As your business (and RevOps) grows, you can establish standalone teams.  


Fuelling your revenue engine


Now that you have a better understanding of the different revenue roles, partner with our recruitment team to fuel your growth. Whether you need more guidance on which skills to invest in, support in attracting talent or resource to develop your pre-existing team – our consultants can help. Learn more about our Advise, Attract, Develop services here.