Who is an operations analyst?

An Operations Analyst is a professional who is able to understand data in the context of what their GTM teams want. This role requires an individual to be able to gather data, understand business data requests, identify key metrics, and gather insights for the larger GTM team to act on data in an efficient manner.

Operations Analysts have the unique ability to interpret data in order to help businesses reach their desired outcomes. This includes being able to identify trends, draw conclusions, and suggest solutions. Additionally, they must be able to communicate the results of their analysis to stakeholders in a clear and concise manner.

They are often a part of Revenue Operations. They work to ensure that all revenue-generating activities are running smoothly and efficiently, and that the insights generated from data are presented in ways that help GTM teams make informed decisions.

Amongst many other things, they are responsible for understanding business requirements and translating them into functional data requirements, as well as transforming raw data into actionable insights. They also work to design and maintain business processes as the needs of the company evolve. Revenue operations teams are invaluable in helping companies reach their goals and maximize their potential.

They often function as ‘bridge teams’ working on the interface of GTM teams and data teams- they are ‘techno-commercial’ i.e. working as both, operators and consumers of data. They are actively involved in requirement gathering and presenting insights to help GTM teams make better decisions.

Business requirements are vague at first but operations teams can effectively translate them into functional data requirements (for the data-teams) and convert raw data into presentable insights for GTM teams to consume and make decisions. In their wider scope of responsibilities, they also work on building and maintaining business processes as per the changing business needs.

What does an operations analyst do?

Operations Analysts have a unique and varied role in helping businesses drive growth. A typical day in the life of an Operations Analyst can involve a variety of tasks, including:

• Attending meetings with stakeholders to discuss data requests and provide insights

• Creating dashboards and visualizations to present data to stakeholders

• Crunching numbers to uncover key trends and insights

• Answering ad-hoc data questions that are often 'urgent'

• Working with GTM teams to identify and implement strategies that will generate revenue and drive growth

Operations Analysts must ensure that they are able to quickly and accurately gather data, uncover insights, and present them in a way that is easy to understand. This often requires them to have an understanding of the data as well as the ability to communicate complex concepts in a clear and concise manner.

What are the daily frustrations of an operations analyst?

Being an Operations Analyst can be a frustrating experience at times. With the need to constantly create dashboards and visualizations that may not get used, answering 'urgent' data requests, and going back and forth over numerous emails and Slack messages to explain the numbers, it can be difficult to stay focused and motivated.

It can be particularly challenging to communicate complex concepts in a way that is easy to understand, and to ensure that stakeholders are on the same page. This requires a great deal of patience and attention to detail in order to ensure that all of the data is accurate and up to date.

Additionally, Operations Analysts often have to deal with constantly changing business needs, which can make it difficult to keep up with the ever-evolving data landscape. This can be particularly difficult when they are trying to make sense of a large volume of data in a short amount of time.

What do operations analysts want?

Operations Analysts would benefit greatly if the following were solved:

• An easy way to gather and refine requirements from non-data teams and communicate them to the data teams: This would allow operations analysts to quickly and accurately gather the data they need to present insights to stakeholders. This would also ensure that the data they present is accurate and up to date.

• A single page where they can connect to various business systems and create reports themselves, add context and present data in an easy to consume format: This would allow Operations Analysts to quickly and accurately analyze the data they need to present insights to stakeholders. Additionally, it would give them the ability to add context to the data and present it in an easy to understand format.

• Help business teams make data-driven decisions efficiently: This would allow Operations Analysts to provide insights to stakeholders quickly and accurately. This would also help ensure that business teams are able to make informed decisions based on the data presented.

Operations Analysts must be able to keep up with the ever-changing data landscape and be able to quickly and accurately present data to stakeholders. With this in mind, it is important for operations analysts to have a toolset that can help them stay organized and efficient. This might include being able to connect to various business systems and create reports, add context, and present data in an easy to consume format. Additionally, it is important for operations analysts to be able to communicate complex concepts in a way that is easy to understand, and to ensure that stakeholders are on the same page. This requires a great deal of patience and attention to detail in order to ensure that all of the data is accurate and up to date.

How does Airbook help operations analysts?

Operations analysts surely have a lot going on and we are here to help. Airbook is a modern collaborative experience — allowing data people and non-data people to not only query, present and consume data but also explain outcomes, ask follow-up questions and brainstorm together to make informed decisions together and confidently.

We know how much

We believe that both- consumers and operators of data should never have to fully leave one system and start over in another.

Airbook can help operations analyst bring alignment between revenue teams and data teams from day 0, enabling-

1. to have the power and flexibility to answer data & business questions together by letting anyone connect to various data stores and query them through drag-and-drops (Revenue teams) and/or code (data teams).

2. for everyone to trust the process by letting everyone see the business logic/code and the author’s commentary.

3. a way to collaborate on, present, gain approval and/or consensus and share these insights with a wider audience to validate decisions.

4. a way to track the process by letting them store and retrieve the data, conversations around data and the context around decisions made on one single page

As we’ve been building Airbook we’ve been interviewing a number of operations analysts to see how our solution change the way data is used amongst teams. Here’s what we’ve found-

Airbook in general make information consumable by everyone, in one single place. Thereby, trust issues start to improve since they are viewable (and interpretable) by anyone so no one dismisses the numbers on the basis of not knowing where they came from. Moreover, airbooks are full of author’s commentary to help guide readers on how to interpret the numbers and any considerations to take.

Operations analysts are now not creating dashboards for people who won’t use them, or thousands of filters to accommodate every need since people have more power to create the reports they really need.

Airbook is one home built for data and revenue teams to come together and drive the last mile of analytics together!

‍