1of 9 Pillars

Operations

Project management, finance, fraud protection, compliance, and strategy. This is the foundation every other pillar stands on. Without operational discipline, everything else leaks.

Key Activities
  • Project Management
  • Accounting (Payable / Receivable / Taxation)
  • P&L ownership and financial reporting
  • Fraud protection and chargeback management
  • Data security and compliance (PCI, GDPR, CCPA)
  • Digital strategy and roadmap governance
  • Vendor contract management
  • SLA definition & governance
Plan for a breach ahead of time. It's not a matter of IF, but WHEN. Have your tools, process, and attorneys ready before the incident happens.
KPIs
  • Net Sales
  • Freight cost as % of revenue
  • Cost of Sale (credits, misc. charges, shrink)
  • Gross Profit margin
  • Payroll as % of revenue
  • Platform and CC fee expense
  • Chargeback rate
  • EBITDA
  • Order cancellation rate
  • Chargeback win/loss rate
  • Budget variance % (actual vs. plan)
  • Operating expense ratio (OpEx / Net Revenue)
  • Security incident response time (mean time to detect)
  • Contribution Margin

Current Best-in-Class Tools

Project Management
Jira / Linear
Sprint and roadmap management at scale. Linear is the modern lean alternative preferred by growth-stage teams.
Project Management
Asana / Monday.com
Cross-functional visibility for non-technical stakeholders. Best for marketing and operations workflows.
Finance / ERP
NetSuite
eCommerce-native ERP with P&L, AR/AP, multi-entity, and deep 3PL/OMS integration.
Finance
QuickBooks / Sage Intacct
Mid-market accounting with solid eCommerce connector ecosystem.
Fraud Prevention
Signifyd
ML-driven fraud protection with guaranteed chargeback coverage and revenue protection.
Fraud Prevention
Kount / Riskified
AI fraud decisioning with real-time approve/decline and chargeback dispute automation.
Compliance / Privacy
OneTrust
Consent management, GDPR/CCPA compliance, and enterprise data governance workflows.
Security
Cloudflare / AWS Shield
DDoS protection, WAF, and edge security. First line of defense for any production eCommerce environment.
← Overview All Pillars Pillar 2: Customer Service →

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