The evolution of marketing operations: from order taker to strategic advisor

Ali Rastiello is a seasoned expert in RevOps and a valued Openprise customer. She joins us as a guest author with 18 years in B2B marketing. Ali has seen Marketing Ops grow from a non-existent function to a strategic powerhouse. In this blog, she breaks down the three key stages of MOPs maturity.

I’ve seen so many changes throughout my 18-year (!) career in B2B marketing. I remember when there wasn’t a team called “marketing operations.” I remember when there were no best practices in data management or data hygiene. Over time, these concepts became real, and the Marketing Operations function became a “thing.” Marketing orgs know they need it, but it’s still a journey for the function to become the powerhouse necessary to support high-performing teams.

Over the years, I’ve recognized a pattern that happens as Marketing Ops orgs mature. Some of it is intentional, but some occurs organically as your marketing team matures. Looking back on some of the teams I’ve built, I can see the inflection points that helped us turn the corner from button-pushers to strategic advisors to the GTM teams.

I’ve created a simple model that helps you identify the different stages of maturity and outlines the steps to help you transition to the next stage.

Stage 1.0: the ad hoc order taker

How to recognize it:

You’re constantly reacting to one-off requests. There’s no clear roadmap, prioritization framework, or strategic alignment. Your days are spent fixing urgent issues and keeping systems running, barely.

Top challenges:

• Lack of structure
• High volume of unprioritized requests
• Being viewed as a support-only function

How to transition to stage 2:
Get processes in place that help you understand your team’s capacity. Implement a simple request intake form and project management tool that helps you assess work based on request type and how long they take to complete. Then calculate how many requests your team can handle in a week. This will give you some transparency into how much work you’re taking on and set the stage for scalability.

Stage 2.0: structured, but stretched

How to recognize it:
You’ve built repeatable processes and basic reporting, but now you’re facing a new challenge—how to say no. Prioritization is murky, scope creep is real, and your team is stretched thin. You’ve got large projects that need to get done while churning through and delivering top-notch day-to-day work.

Top challenges:

• Balancing fire drills and large projects, while still hitting deadlines on daily work
• Gaining buy-in for larger initiatives that set you up for long-term success
• Saying no to things that take away from meeting business goals

How to transition to stage 3:

You “earn the right” to influence by consistently delivering results.

Build trust by showing up with data, hitting timelines, and demonstrating how your work supports business goals. You’ll build street cred with the teams you support and see a shift in their perception of you and your team.

Stage 3.0: the trusted strategic advisor

How to recognize it:
You’re no longer just reacting to strategy—you’re helping shape it. You’re in the room during GTM planning, helping leadership connect the dots between systems, data, and growth. You’ve become a trusted advisor and integral part of the growth mission.

Top challenges:

• Maintaining stakeholder alignment
• Scaling without losing the agility to pivot as the business changes or market shifts
• Doing more with less

Maintaining stage 3—and what comes next:
Staying here means continuously evolving with the business. You need to be flexible enough to make quick process changes, invest in new technologies that move the business forward, and execute like a well-oiled machine.

Curious what that future looks like? This post on the future of RevOps automation breaks it down.

But for those ready for the next challenge, the question becomes: What’s after Stage 3?

Beyond the trusted advisor: what’s next?

Once you’ve mastered Stage 3, your career path opens up dramatically.

• Executive leadership: Move into broader functional roles at the VP/SVP level that stretch beyond ops and lead to C-Suite jobs like Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Chief Operating Officer (COO) or Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), where your cross-functional insights are invaluable.
• Consulting and advising: Help scaling companies build their RevOps foundations through freelance or advisory roles.
• Thought leadership: Share your hard-earned knowledge through writing, speaking, or teaching. The RevOps community is growing fast—and hungry to learn.

Where are you on the journey? And what’s your next move?

Let us know in the comments or reach out to share your story.