Business Development vs Business Operations: Key Differences Explained

business-development-vs-business-operations

Business development and business operations professionals are two critical positions that play a key role in a business's success. Although these two roles sound similar, they deal with different aspects of a business and work to achieve different goals. If you are considering a role in either of these areas, keep reading to learn the differences between business operations and development.

Table of Contents


What is Business Development?

Business development involves planning for the future growth of a business or company and creating strategic plans to drive business expansion. Business development teams identify ways to expand their company's reach by identifying business opportunities, diversifying revenue streams, and creating growth plans, such as new market entry, relationship building, and strategic partnership formation.

Business development is all about growth and planning, and careers in it culminate many years of diverse business experience. Many business development professionals start in project management or in various positions that drive business development efforts, such as supply chain management, market research, or resource planning.

Progressing to a business development manager role will require diverse experience, business acumen, and education. Many professionals working in business development will have an MBA (Master of Business Administration) and proven experience developing strategies that drive business growth. Business development managers will also be required to have strong management skills and proven experience managing teams.

What is Business Operations?

Business operations differ from business development because they are primarily concerned with optimizing processes and overseeing a business's day-to-day tasks. Business operations managers and teams coordinate tasks between internal teams and departments to effectively achieve business goals. They also develop strategies to streamline internal business processes and optimize workflows to improve organizational performance.

Business operations managers work directly with internal teams, such as people in other high-level human resources roles or department operations managers. Although they do not interact with external stakeholders or potential clients, business operations professionals are critical to a business's success. They ensure that internal processes are optimized for maximum productivity and efficiency.

The career path for a business operations manager also involves many years of business experience, especially in management positions. Those who enjoy working in teams, collaborating with others, and managing people would enjoy working as a business operations manager.

Skill Set Comparison: The Main Differences Between a BD and BO

Business development and business operations roles require a unique skill set to succeed. Take a look at the most critical skills required to succeed as either a business development manager or business operations manager:

Business Development Skills

  • Strong business acumen and communication skills, being able to effectively build rapport, strong customer relationships, and strategic alliances with external parties. The ability to communicate this information is key, as many businesses will create a business development plan that is shared with stakeholders.
  • Sales and Marketing Skills, including being able to develop sales strategies, evaluate customer feedback, research market trends, improve lead generation efforts, and identify new markets and customer segments to expand to
  • Analytical skills, including risk assessment, financial analysis, and using analytical tools and software to improve cost control and quality control efforts
  • Understanding of business and manufacturing processes, such as supply chain management, quality control measures, and inventory management

Business Operations Skills

  • Strong people and communication skills, and being able to collaborate, coordinate, and maintain relationships with various teams, e.g., collaborating with the sales team, human resources, business development, etc.
  • Strategic planning skills and being able to evaluate current operations and then implement strategies to streamline processes for maximum efficiency.
  • Leadership skills and experience as business operations managers will be required to implement and adjust strategies and lead training sessions and development programs for the continuous improvement of the business.

Both business development and business operations roles require a wide range of multidisciplinary skills. Still, business development roles require more in-depth knowledge of manufacturing, sales, and industry business processes. Business operations also require business knowledge, but more in terms of internal processes, as the goal of the business development team is to improve internal efficiency. Both ultimately drive growth and are key to a business's success.

Business Development and Business Operations Salary and Outlook

Both business development and business operations are lucrative careers with strong salaries and career paths. We've compared the salaries and career paths of these two positions so you can better understand which one best suits your goals.

Business Development Career Path & Salary Outlook

Whether you are just starting in business development or are an experienced business development manager, the salary is quite generous:

  • Entry Level Business Development Roles: approx. $58 000 USD
  • Business Development Manager: approx. $83 000 USD
  • Business Development Senior Manager: approx. $100 000+ USD

If you are interested in becoming a business development manager, this is a standard career path:

  • Although it is not always required, a degree in sales, marketing, finance, accounting or economics will benefit you in terms of having the relevant knowledge to succeed. Some companies could also require an MBA degree, depending on the level of seniority. If you are starting out in an entry-level role, a degree will benefit you greatly. You must work in a non-managerial role before being promoted to a business development manager.
  • To level up to a business development manager, you will need to have proven experience in successfully hitting sales targets, project management, and successful execution of strategies to improve sales efforts, increase customer satisfaction, or stand out in a competitive landscape. Likewise, you will also need to have experience in managing people or teams. "Proven success" in a job posting is another way of saying 'experience', and you can highlight your experience in your resume and cover letter.
  • To succeed as a business development manager, you will need to have a strong foundation in general business acumen and skills, including being able to manage resources efficiently, understand market research and stay on top of industry developments.

Business Operations Career Path & Salary Outlook

Careers in business operations are also well-paid, even if you are just starting out. Some approximated salaries for business operations roles are:

  • Entry Level Business Operations roles: $57 000 USD
  • Business Operations Manager: $82 000 USD
  • Business Operations Senior Manager: $110 000+ USD

Just like a business development manager, you will need to show you have the relevant knowledge and skills, including:

  • A degree in business, human resources, finance, economics, sales or marketing will allow you to get an entry-level operations role. Whether or not a degree is required will depend on the individual company. You will need a few years of experience in a non-managerial role before becoming promoted to a business operations manager, just like for business development.
  • To level up to a business operations manager, again, you will need to have proven success in managing people and developing strategies to ensure success for internal business practices. For instance, you could have worked as a part of an operations team or been an operations manager for a specific department and developed strategies to improve the efficiency of day-to-day tasks. You can highlight these in your cover letter and resume, using statistics and empirical data to back up your experience.
  • To succeed as a business operations professional, you must be able to effectively work with people and balance the business's goals with your team's abilities and capacity. Strong communication, strategic thinking, and people management skills are also required.

Which Career Is Suitable for Me?

A career in business development or business operations is challenging, interesting, and fulfilling. If both business development and business operations sound interesting to you, you can consider the following to help you narrow down which would suit you more:

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a framework you can use to help make decisions. Typically used by businesses, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. You can reflect on each of the following to allow you to evaluate better if business development or business operations would be right for you, for example:

  • Strengths: Do my strengths and skills align better with business operations or development?
  • Weaknesses: Are there any critical aspects or downsides to business operations/business development that I must consider?
  • Opportunities: What are the benefits of business operations/business development, including any possible professional development?
  • Threats: Would choosing a role in business operations/development negatively affect other aspects of my interests or career?

Salary Comparison

Salary is an important factor to consider when choosing a career, and luckily, both business development and operations have comparable pay ranges. If you choose between the two, one question you can ask is, "Which job would I be more satisfied in if I were only earning an entry-level salary?"

Industry Demand

Both business development and business operations manager roles apply to any industry; however, some industries will be harder to fill. Industries like technology and software are often hiring for business operations and development roles and are more likely to employ entry-level roles as well. Startups or new businesses will also likely be hiring for business operations and development roles but will often require more experienced professionals.

Conclusion

Overall, business development and business operations professionals help businesses succeed through process optimization. The key difference is that business development is related to the company's growth through improving market reach and sales through expansion to new markets, cost reduction, and improving alliances between external collaborators and stakeholders.

Business operations involve optimizing an organization's strategy or processes and maximizing the operational efficiency of teams. Business operations management involves evaluating and adjusting workflows and processes so that teams effectively achieve internal business goals.

Business operations and development careers are fulfilling, engaging, and complex and allow you to work across any industry. If you are considering a career in either, reflect on the requirements of each role and align it with your strengths and goals. If you want to learn more about careers in business development or operations and get free career advice, check out Cake for more!

Cake provides a free resume maker and a portfolio builder that provides hundreds of resume templates (free download) and various job resume examples to help showcase the best you. Landing your dream job will be a piece of cake!

— Originally written by Bronte McNamara —

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