5 Pillars of Effective Revenue Operations in the Age of AI
By Thasha Batts, Forbes Councils Member.
Published September 15, 2025 | Forbes.com
When I advise CEOs and leadership teams, I often remind them: Most revenue problems aren’t caused by talent, they’re caused by orchestration failures. I’ve seen this firsthand across industries as different as real estate, consulting firms and multi-million-dollar service companies.
As VP of Sales at Pinnacle Global Network, I help high-growth businesses build aligned, scalable revenue engines. The best-performing companies we work with don’t treat revenue operations (RevOps) as a back-office function. They treat it as the command center for strategy.
AI and automation can help, but speed alone won’t save you. If teams aren’t aligned, connected and operationalized into a single growth engine, deals stall, customers churn and forecasts collapse.
In my experience, successful organizations build around five critical pillars that keep vision, execution and measurement connected in real time.
5 Pillars Of A Modern, High-Performing Revenue Operation
1. Alignment Is The New Advantage
At a real estate brokerage, sales, marketing and customer service were each hitting their KPIs, yet the company missed three straight quarters. I worked directly with their execution team to uncover the problem: Every function was defining success differently. After adopting a RevOps-led alignment model, they cut sales cycle time by 22% in two quarters.
From what I’ve seen, alignment rarely fails because leaders don’t agree on goals; it fails because they don’t measure success the same way. The fix is simpler than most people think: Pick one metric that unites the room.
What to do next: Choose a small set of key metrics, like sales cycle length, pipeline conversion or customer lifetime value. Focus on metrics that reflect business performance, not just one team’s success.
2. Using Technology To See Clearly, Not Just Move Faster
Most companies use technology to speed things up—faster outreach, faster follow-ups and faster scoring. But the real value is what the tools can help you see: stalled deals, customers likely to churn, upsell opportunities and early signs of team performance shifts.
One CEO I advised put it bluntly: “We don’t need more speed, we need more clarity.” That stuck with me. In their case, the automation was working, but leadership couldn’t see which deals were stalling until it was too late. High-performing companies don’t just automate; they pay attention. They use data to see what is coming before it hits the forecast, and they rely on RevOps to turn those signals into clear actions.
What to do next: Invest in tools that help your team see what matters, and ensure RevOps can translate insight into action across teams.
3. Clean Data Is Foundational (Not Optional)
A Fortune 500 company spent millions on AI forecasting, only to discover 18% of pipeline records were duplicates. When I worked with their team, we found the issue wasn’t just a system error; it was sales reps entering duplicate deals to get extra credit. Once RevOps took ownership of the data, accuracy jumped from 67% to 91%.
I tell CEOs this all the time: If RevOps isn’t auditing your CRM quarterly, you don’t have RevOps, you have a data admin. Messy data wrecks forecasts, distorts reporting and wastes time. RevOps must take ownership of data quality by validating pipelines, cleaning records and maintaining accuracy.
What to do next: Assign a RevOps-led team to manage data integrity. Set standards, run quarterly audits and treat your data as part of your revenue infrastructure, not an afterthought.
4. Lifecycle Thinking Versus Funnel Thinking
The old sales funnel does not reflect how people buy. Customers can discover you via social media, a referral, a free trial or an event. They expect a consistent, connected experience from first interaction through onboarding and support.
The problem? Many teams still optimize only their section. Marketing handles the top of the funnel, sales owns the deal and customer success takes over after close. Without a full journey view, the experience feels disconnected.
I’ve seen companies pour millions into acquisitions while ignoring the post-sale experience, which is often where the biggest revenue upside lives. In one case, mapping the lifecycle revealed a drop-off right after onboarding. Fixing the single stage added seven figures in retention revenue.
What to do next: Map the full customer journey with your teams. Identify key touchpoints, and make sure tools, handoffs and metrics align with how customers actually move, not just how your funnel says they should.
5. Revenue Culture, Not Just Revenue Tools
Even the best RevOps system fails if the company doesn’t respect it. Too often, RevOps is seen only as a tool manager, not a strategic leader. That limits its impact.
In best-in-class companies, RevOps is embedded in executive conversations. It influences pricing models, sales comp plans, customer profiles and annual planning.
I’ve watched revenue culture change overnight once RevOps leaders were invited into executive planning. Tools alone can’t shift trajectories; culture does.
What to do next: Move RevOps leadership into strategic planning roles. Give them visibility across product, finance, GTM and CX, and give them the authority to call out misalignment at the highest level.
Bringing It All Together: An Operating Model For Intelligent Growth
These five pillars are not optional best practices. They are essential operational principles. A revenue operation built on these pillars can adapt to any market, detect problems early and act with clarity. Companies that fail to transform will miss forecasts, drag out sales cycles, lose customers and burn out teams.
The companies that will lead in the next decade will not just adopt AI. They will design revenue operations so every insight becomes action, every touchpoint is intentional and every team rows in the same direction.
I’ve seen firsthand that the companies that win aren’t the ones with the flashiest tech stack. They’re the ones where RevOps has a seat at the executive table. When RevOps becomes the operating system of the business, growth doesn’t just happen; it becomes predictable.
Thasha Batts is VP of Sales at Pinnacle Global Network helping CEOs scale.
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