Revenue Intelligence vs Revenue Operations Software

Revenue operations software is a collective name for tools that make the processes in the revenue chain more efficient: assigning leads, cleaning CRM data, calculating commissions, handling approvals, synchronising systems. Revenue Intelligence checks whether the outcome of all those processes is right in euros: has what was sold also been invoiced, at the agreed price, and does it keep coming in? RevOps software improves how the work gets done. Revenue Intelligence shows where the work does not lead to the right revenue.

What counts as revenue operations software?

There is no fixed definition. In practice, it covers tools that support a RevOps function. A selection of the categories:

• Lead routing and assignment. Which lead goes to which salesperson, based on region, segment or availability.
• CRM data quality. Merging duplicate records, enriching fields, enforcing mandatory fields.
• Synchronisation and integration. Moving data back and forth between CRM, marketing automation, ERP and billing.
• Commission and incentives. Calculating what salespeople earn based on won deals.
• Approvals and workflow. Routing discounts, contracts and exceptions to the right people.
• Pipeline management and inspection. Reviewing deals, flagging stalled deals, supporting forecast calls.

Each of these tools solves a specific process problem. Together they make the machine run more smoothly. What a RevOps function is and how it relates to software is covered in Revenue Intelligence vs RevOps.

What does Revenue Intelligence do?

Revenue Intelligence does not look at the process but at the outcome. It reads the systems in the chain and compares them: deal to order to invoice to payment, contract to billing, usage to subscription. Where they do not match, there is potential leakage. That gets an amount and an owner. A full explanation is in What is Revenue Intelligence?.

The difference

Why can a smooth process still leak?

One of the misconceptions around RevOps software is that a well-configured process automatically leads to correct revenue. It does not, for three reasons.

Processes stop at their own boundary. A lead routing tool makes sure the lead reaches the right salesperson. It does not see what happens after the deal. A CRM clean-up tool makes sure customer records are right in the CRM. It does not see whether the customer number in the accounts is the same.

Synchronisation copies errors. An integration that pushes deals from the CRM into the ERP as orders also pushes through a wrong amount or a forgotten term. It synchronises; it does not check. More on this in Why silos cause revenue leakage.

Commission is calculated on won, not on invoiced. If commission is paid on won deals, and some of those are never invoiced in full, you pay commission on revenue that does not exist. That is a leak with two sides.

Where do they complement each other?

RevOps software delivers better data and tighter processes. That makes Revenue Intelligence easier: clean customer records and consistent deal fields make matching between systems more reliable.

Revenue Intelligence delivers insight into where processes fail. That tells RevOps which tool or process needs attention. If it turns out that 15 percent of deals get stuck without an order, that is a reason to review the synchronisation or the handover between sales and finance.

An example of that interplay:

1. Revenue Intelligence sees that discounts on invoices are higher than in the CRM.
2. Investigation shows that discounts are still being adjusted by hand in the ERP after approval.
3. RevOps changes the approval workflow so the approved discount flows through automatically.
4. Revenue Intelligence measures over the following months whether the difference disappears.

Worked example: commission on revenue that never arrives

Worked example: suppose a services company with EUR 7M in revenue pays salespeople 5 percent commission on won deal value. The commission package calculates neatly from the CRM.

• In one year, EUR 3M of new deals is marked as won. Commission: EUR 150,000.
• Suppose a check reveals that EUR 180,000 of that deal value was never invoiced: deals cancelled after signing without the CRM being updated, and deals with a smaller final scope.
• EUR 9,000 in commission was paid on that amount.
• On top of that, the EUR 180,000 itself is missed or never realised revenue that the forecast was counting on.

The commission package calculated correctly. It worked with the data it was given. The figures are made up to show where things go wrong between the systems.

The stack of tools and the gap between them

After a few years of growth, many B2B companies have built up a stack of tools: a CRM, a marketing platform, a synchronisation tool, a commission package, an e-signature tool, a billing system, an accounting package. Each tool was bought to solve a concrete problem, and it does.

The gap is between the tools. Each tool sees its own part of the chain and reports on its own part. The e-signature tool reports that the contract was signed. The synchronisation tool reports that the deal was passed on. The billing system reports that the invoices were sent. Every report is correct. Nobody checks whether the signed contract, the passed-on deal and the sent invoices concern the same amount, the same term and the same conditions.

More tools do not make that gap smaller. Every new integration is one more handover where something can get lost. What helps is a layer that looks across the tools and compares the outcome at the start with the outcome at the end. That is not a replacement for the stack but a check on it.

Which do you need first?

RevOps software first if your processes are chaotic: leads left lying, a CRM full of duplicate records, discounts without approval, manual copying between systems. Then structure pays off straight away.

Revenue Intelligence first if your processes seem reasonably in order, but the numbers between sales and finance do not reconcile, or if you do not know how much revenue leaks between agreement and invoice.

In both cases it helps to know first where the biggest problem is. How Revenue Intelligence weighs up against other categories, from BI to ERP, is covered in the overview Revenue Intelligence vs Business Intelligence.

Checklist: are you measuring your process or your outcome?

• Which of your RevOps tools looks beyond the CRM?
• Are integrations between CRM and ERP checked on content, or only on whether they ran?
• Is commission calculated on won deals or on invoiced and paid revenue?
• Do you know how many won deals still have no invoice after 30 days?
• Do you measure the success of your RevOps investments in cycle time, or also in euros of revenue?
• If a process fails silently, for example a synchronisation that stops, how quickly does someone notice?

Frequently asked questions

Is Revenue Intelligence a kind of RevOps software?

It is sometimes grouped under it. The difference is the focus: RevOps software improves processes, Revenue Intelligence checks the financial outcome across the whole chain.

Can my CRM synchronisation tool prevent revenue leakage?

It prevents manual re-keying errors. But it passes on everything that is in the CRM, even when that is incomplete or wrong. Checking the content is a separate step.

We already have a lot of tools. Is this just one more?

That is a fair question. Revenue Intelligence only adds something if it checks what your current tools do not. First see whether you can answer the questions in the checklist above with what you already have.

Who uses RevOps software and who uses Revenue Intelligence?

RevOps software is used mainly by sales operations and marketing operations. Revenue Intelligence is used by finance, the board and RevOps together, because the outcome cuts across departments.