CSO Insight’s newly released 2018 Sales Operations Optimization Study has some interesting findings for organizations looking to improve sales performance. (Which, let’s face it, is pretty much everybody.)
Sales Operations Hits Mainstream
First, sales operations is becoming a mainstream function. The 2018 study found that the majority of organizations (63.9%) have a dedicated team. This was even higher when we looked specifically at technology-related businesses where 80.5% of respondents had a dedicated sales operations function.
Furthermore, sales operations isn’t fighting for a seat at the table quite as much as they used to. We studied 16 activities for which sales operations is commonly involved, and in 15 of these, our respondents said they were either “heavily involved” or took on a “leadership role.” Here are a few areas of responsibility where sales operations had the greatest responsibility:
Sales tool and technology management: 27.7% heavily involved 20.1% leadership role
CRM definition and update strategy: 22.3% heavily