Community Operations with Tiffany Oda, Director, Community Operations at Venafi

Community Operations: The Behind-the-Scenes Powerhouse
Community operations is an essential but often overlooked component of digital and social platforms. It includes tasks such as managing the technology stack, scaling the community, and ensuring smooth processes. This article delves into this critical function and its pivotal role in community management.

The Role and Importance of Community Operations

Community operations is the engine that keeps the community running smoothly. It focuses on:
Setting up processes and workflows
Scaling and automation
Management of the technology stack
Community engagement and moderation
It's a multifaceted role, dealing with everything from the front-end user interactions to the back-end system management. This includes working on the technology stack, which comprises various software and platforms used in community management, such as the community platform, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), customer success platforms, and marketing automation tools.

Exploring the Technology Stack
A well-structured technology stack is integral to effective community operations. It typically includes:

Community platform: The primary interface for community engagement and interaction.
CRM: Helps track customers and individuals in the community, including potential leads.
Customer Success Platforms: These platforms can reveal correlations between customer health scores and community engagement levels.
Marketing Automation: Vital for executing community events and communication initiatives.
Support Portal: A crucial tool for case deflection, directing community members to resources and reducing support team workload.
Product Ideation Tools: These allow feedback collection from the community that can shape the product roadmap.
Community operations also make use of auxiliary tools such as project management software and integration tools like Zapier.

The Impact on Business Goals
Community operations can significantly influence a range of business objectives, including case deflection, customer health scores, upselling, cross-selling, and renewal rates. While the effect on case deflection and customer health scores is relatively straightforward to measure, the influence on upselling, cross-selling, and renewal rates is more complex.

However, by closely monitoring community activity, customer health scores, and subsequent renewal behaviors, it is possible to draw valuable insights. For instance, a decrease in community activity and customer health score could signal an upcoming churn risk. Conversely, high community activity and idea submission might correlate with higher renewal rates and upsells, particularly if the submitted ideas are acted upon.

The Challenge and Reward of Community Operations
Community operations is a challenging but rewarding field. It requires a deep understanding of the community, data analysis, and the technology stack to drive meaningful results. Its impact spans across customer success, marketing, support, and product ideation, making it a critical component of any community-driven organization. Though often behind the scenes, community operations has the potential to significantly influence the success and growth of the community, and by extension, the organization as a whole.

10:28 - 21:16
The Value and Impact of Community Operations Management
The Emergence of Community Operations Roles
Community Operations Management is a specialized niche that is increasingly recognized for its value in various industries. While still relatively new, the role is gaining popularity due to its ability to streamline processes, manage data, and enhance the overall operational efficiency of a community.

Community Operations Managers often work cross-functionally with various teams and stakeholders to understand their needs and requirements. They help decipher relevant data and transform it into actionable insights, thereby contributing to the strategic decision-making process.

Importance of Operations in Community Management
The role of a Community Operations Manager is becoming increasingly significant due to the growing emphasis on business outcomes. Apart from monitoring Google analytics and managing SEO, these professionals also contribute to business growth by:

Upselling and cross-selling products
Deflecting cases
Generating leads
Aligning with higher level business objectives
In essence, a Community Operations Manager is the bridge between the community and the business, ensuring both sides align and contribute towards achieving the business's goals.

The Need for Specialized Roles in Community Management
As communities evolve, the need for specialized roles becomes apparent. Community managers, for instance, have always been involved in operational tasks. However, their primary focus often lies in engagement and interaction with community members. To allow community managers to focus on their strengths, operational tasks can be delegated to specialized roles like Community Operations Managers.

This approach enables an efficient division of labor, allowing each team member to contribute their best to the community. Furthermore, it can also help in the growth and evolution of the community by ensuring all operational aspects are adequately managed.

The Evolution of Community Operations Roles
In recent years, there has been a notable shift towards acknowledging and appreciating the role of Community Operations Managers. For instance, the Community Management Executive Summit (CMX Summit) now includes Community Operations as a track, acknowledging its relevance and importance in the industry.

Moreover, the role is not restricted to individuals with a background in community management. The skills and experiences required for this position can be transferred from various fields, offering opportunities for many interested professionals.

Merging Customer Success Operations and Community Operations
A noteworthy development in the field of operations management is the growing intersection of customer success operations and community operations. Both roles work towards creating operational excellence and improving processes, making it logical to integrate these roles.

By creating a seamless flow between technology stacks and processes, and incorporating community at every stage of the customer success journey, businesses can enhance their operational efficiency and deliver better customer experiences.

Embracing Discomfort in Professional Growth
In the quest for continuous professional growth, it's essential to embrace discomfort. This notion is based on the idea of being constantly challenged and learning from experiences, which helps prevent complacency. Embracing the unknown fosters learning and drives individuals to push their boundaries, thus aiding in their professional development.

In conclusion, the role of Community Operations Managers is evolving rapidly, becoming a key contributor to business success. As the landscape of community management continues to change, so too will the importance and scope of these specialized roles. By embracing new challenges and constantly striving for growth, Community Operations Managers can drive their communities and businesses to new heights.

21:18 - 31:53
Operational Excellence in Community Building
In the dynamic world of community building, operational efficiency plays a key role. This article focuses on the importance of operations in community building, the challenges encountered, and the potential solutions.

Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone
Understanding the operations side of community building can be a daunting task. It involves dealing with different systems and implementing a unique mindset. Companies often employ specialized individuals such as customer success operations personnel, who handle complex software like Gainsight. This software, while incredibly robust, requires significant time and effort to yield the desired outcomes.

The Power of Data and Time
Implementation of systems such as Gainsight can be a commendable feat in itself. The ability to utilize such a tool in regular meetings and integrate it with other systems like Salesforce, all while having community involvement, is an impressive achievement.

However, it's crucial to understand that timing is vital. Sometimes, organizations may not be ready to implement certain systems or changes. For instance, the incorporation of Enterprise Search and Single Sign-On (SSO) systems can be a massive undertaking, especially if not already present in the existing digital systems.

Building a Community From Scratch
Creating a community from scratch requires careful planning and strategic implementation. These tasks often need the support of a project manager and a team of individuals who can manage and implement the process. It's important to find the right time to introduce new systems such as SSO and Enterprise Search, which can provide valuable data for case deflection and other metrics.

Understanding the Intention Behind Building a Community
Many companies express interest in building a community but often lack a clear understanding of the purpose or intention behind it. This leads to the necessity of obtaining buy-in, enabling, and educating everyone in the company before starting the building process.

Successful community building requires the support of all teams within the organization. Without their understanding and willingness to contribute beyond their roles, establishing and maintaining a thriving community becomes challenging.

Streamlining Community Operations
When considering a role in community operations, it's crucial to think beyond program management. Consider how you can streamline processes, remove bottlenecks or blockers, and improve efficiency. Highlighting these skills in your resume can be highly beneficial.

For those hiring, it's equally important to identify what's taking time away from community interaction. Consider your team and company's priorities and how operational improvements can be made in those areas. Assess your tech stack, data availability, and processes, and identify any areas where time can be saved.

By evaluating these factors and creating a solid business case, the value of a dedicated operations person can be demonstrated, leading to increased efficiency and productivity within the community.

Final Thoughts
Community operations play a vital role in building and maintaining successful communities. Whether you're just starting out or looking to improve existing operations, remember to think strategically, understand the importance of timing, and always strive for efficiency.

By keeping these principles in mind and continuously seeking to improve, you'll be well on your way to creating a thriving, dynamic community.