Salesforce Research surveyed over 7,700 sales professionals worldwide to reveal that sales operations is becoming increasingly strategic, with 82% saying it plays a critical role in growing their business. Sales reps spend 72% of their time on non-selling tasks, prompting sales ops teams to focus on efficiency improvements through tech consolidation and process optimization. While sales teams use an average of 10 tools to close deals, 94% of organizations plan to streamline their tech stacks within 12 months. AI adoption remains low but shows promise, with 80% of leaders reporting improved productivity from artificial intelligence implementations.