Trying to connect all the different teams of an organization can feel like playing a game of Tetris. You can only excel if you can clear away the blocks (obstacles) and align the moving pieces (teams). The more disjointed a team is, the harder it is to connect employees to a company’s goals and objectives.

So, how can you guarantee that every department in the organization is connecting where they need to be?

The secret is BizOps.

By having a strategic BizOps strategy in place, an organization can create the necessary infrastructure to scale its organization to new heights.

In this article, I'll take you on a deep dive into the world of BizOps. You'll learn how finance teams and business operations can work together to achieve a whole new level of organizational success.

Topics covered in this article:

What is business operations (BizOps)?


We see more and more that BizOps is creating a wave of interest across companies everywhere, especially in the tech scale-up sector.

Why is this, you ask?

After surveying 50 BizOps professionals, it was easy to see that companies everywhere can see the true impact that a strategic business provides. Many are even investing more into this integral role.

Companies need someone who can pinpoint organizational roadblocks, craft strategic solutions, and tactfully create a roadmap for projecting forward.

This is where the BizOps team comes into play.

Business operations, also known as BizOps, help organizations...

  • Make better decisions
  • Create stronger collaboration among teams
  • Achieve operational excellence

While internal strategists and business operations managers may have overlapping duties, the BizOps role is more focused on turning data into actionable insights to support strategic decision-making across the entire organization.

BizOps professionals focus on three main categories:

  1. Strategies
  2. Operation
  3. Finance

By becoming laser-focused on these three pillars, organizations can set more strategic goals backed by data-driven insights.

What does the head of BizOps do?


Business operations is the glue that connects sales, marketing, finance, and all other business functions of an organization.

The BizOps role tackles several different problems and must devise solutions to overcome these roadblocks. This role also communicates and collaborates with various stakeholders to align teams on overall objectives.

The ideal business operations manager must have superior organizational planning and communication skills. They must also be a problem-solver by nature. They should identify issues and craft solutions while maintaining a holistic point of view. This approach provides extra support to key stakeholders. And, it creates a unified strategic plan from team to team.

The relationship between BizOps & finance: what’s the connection?


When reviewing the basic operations of both BizOps and the finance team, it's easy to see the many overlapping objectives.

Both teams assist organizational growth. When both business functions work together, they can design a more precise roadmap to success backed by operational metrics.

Strategic finance serves as the fuel that runs BizOps initiatives.

Business operations and finance must work together to set and hit ambitious goals. Whether they work together to streamline financial management initiatives or outline people planning goals for the organization, these two entities must work in harmony to drive continuous improvement.

By improving visibility and creating a foundation of insights, the BizOps team can be more strategic in day-to-day planning, alignment, and operations.

Conclusion


Over the past decade, finance teams have adapted to become more strategic players within their organization.

Instead of just creating forecasts and reports, finance professionals are now expected to turn financial data into valuable insights that drive organizational growth and support better decision-making.

By taking a more strategic approach to financial planning, BizOps managers can then work with their finance counterparts to deliberate over data, outline clear objectives, and work together to devise a path to success.  

One of a finance team’s main objectives is to conduct better forecasting so they can stay agile. This is essentially the same goal of a business operations team. While BizOps might be outlining these goals and setting a clear roadmap, the finance team needs to bring the data front and center and revamp forecasting to drive these strategic initiatives home.

Want to see more tips and insights from Dani around FP&A and industry trends? If so, head over to her author bio and library, where you'll find more insightful articles like this one.