Revenue Operations (RevOps) aims to integrate highly differentiated systems to enhance alignment and collaboration among teams, ultimately leading to better market orientation and business outcomes. However, with these systems comes an overwhelming number of tools, often leading to tool fatigue – a phenomenon where the sheer volume of technology tools available leaves us feeling unable to keep up with the latest changes.
The State of Tool Fatigue
Tool fatigue is not just a buzzword; it can lead to burnout, anxiety, and frustration in our teams. Here are some statistics highlighting the current state of tool fatigue in the RevOps landscape:
- 45% of sales professionals feel overwhelmed by the number of tools in their tech stack. [Source]
- Over a quarter of sales professionals believe reducing the number of tools would increase efficiency, allow more time for selling, and improve data quality. [Source]
- Only 8% of RevOps teams consider their revenue tech stack to be integrated and optimised. [Source]
- Just 12% of RevOps professionals report being “very satisfied” with their ability to access accurate data in their tools. [Source]
The Role of RevOps
RevOps teams often face the expectation, both internal and external, to be experts in every tool they use. The challenge lies in selecting the right tools and justifying these choices. One strategy we recommend RevOps teams employ to help manage their tech stacks effectively is to go back to basics and undertake regular audits:
Regular Tech Stack Audits
- Inventory: Identify all tools in the current tech stack and their use cases.
- Purpose: Define the role each tool should perform.
- Evaluation: Determine which tools are underperforming, not integrated, or not serving their purpose and why.
- Efficiency Gains: Identify potential efficiency gains from investing in new areas e.g. call intelligence or revenue intelligence.
The table below lists some core tech stack components we might expect to find in SaaS businesses, focused on Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams. This table does not (yet) include Finance tech stack, such as ERP systems, Billing, and CPQ or some of the AI offerings out there re call intelligence etc. These additions are on our to-do list to add, but this just shows how many tools businesses often have (and need) to run efficient and smooth business operations.
It’s important to note that not every component is relevant for every business size or every business in general. For example, a growth-stage company will have a much lighter tech stack than an enterprise-level company. However, the principle of regularly reviewing the tech stack remains our recommendation.
So what if you are considering adding a new tool to the mix? How should you approach this? We recommend undertaking the following exercise:
Evaluating New Tools
- Key Use Cases: Seek to understand the primary use cases for the tool.
- ROI Confirmation: Investigate the return on investment you expect to see.
- Proof of Concept: Kick off a clearly defined proof of concept.
- Team Survey: Collect feedback from the team.
This approach will enable comparative research of the tools under consideration. Generally speaking, there will always be elements of a tool that do not do ‘everything’ the way you expect it to. At RevQore we find it best to take an 80% assessment approach – if it is doing 80% of the things you expect or need it to do then it’s a keeper.
If you’re facing similar challenges and are stuck with what to do next, we invite you to share those challenges with the RevOps community. Equally, if you are facing other challenges not mentioned in this article, we are always keen to hear what is consuming the time of RevOps professionals! 🌍
References:
https://www.clari.com/blog/beat-tech-fatigue-by-consolidating-revenue-tools-into-a-revenue-platform
https://www.salesforceben.com/11-of-the-best-revops-tools
https://www.people.ai/blog/revops-red-flags-is-disconnected-data-damaging-your-pipeline
