A business operating system (or BOS) is a set of practices a business puts in place to define how a team communicates, collaborates, and works together to grow. One of the most well-known business operating systems is the Entrepreneurial Operating System, aka EOS.
What is a Business Operating System (BOS)?
If your business has more than 10 employees and things feel chaotic — missed priorities, unclear accountability, or the same problems recurring — you need a business operating system. A business operating system (or BOS) is a set of practices a business puts in place to define how a team communicates, collaborates, and works together to grow. One of the most well-known business operating systems is the Entrepreneurial Operating System, or EOS.
Implementing a BOS like EOS can help teams communicate better with a shared language while streamlining processes. When everyone on your team has a view of your company’s goals and how their work fits in, it’s much easier to prioritize and feel energized to get great work done.
We built Strety as operators who lived this pain ourselves. We know what it’s like to feel like you’re herding cats rather than running a business. In this guide, we’ll break down what a BOS actually is, explain the core components every framework shares, and help you determine if your business is ready for one.
What are the parts of a Business Operating System?
While every business operating system out there has its own unique flavor, the vast majority of them have some core principles in common. That makes sense, because running any business — whether it’s an MSP or a cat treat company — shares some common factors. No matter your business, your concerns can be boiled down to how you achieve success.
Company Vision in a Business Operating System
Defining your mission and company vision may sound like a ‘nice-to-have,’ but it’s really considered vital to the core functioning of your business operating system.
Your mission can be lofty — maybe you’re changing the lives of cats and their owners by providing treats that make felines happy and live longer. Whatever it is, you and your team need to have a passion to live up to the mission. Otherwise, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle.
Your company vision needs a little more definition than your mission: “grow really fast” is a little too vague. But it’s okay if it’s not super detailed either. The point for your company vision is to give yourself and your team something to look forward to — an overarching goal that will easily translate into real-life benefits. What would it look like if sales grew by 30% quarter over quarter this year? Asking yourself these sorts of questions will help you think about the vision you want the team to rally behind.
In EOS, the tool to organize your company vision is called the Vision/Traction Organizer, or V/TO. Your V/TO includes goals, core values, core focus, and marketing strategy.
Heritage Advises, an insurance firm that implemented EOS with Strety, puts it perfectly: “Make your vision and traction organizer a living part of who you are as a company. We fire and hire today based on what we did two years ago, based on our core values. That one exercise of really focusing on the vision is still very much with us today.”
People in a Business Operating System
Your people are one of the most important facets of your business: they are the ones who will execute on your company mission and make your company vision a reality. While some entrepreneurs may believe that they would be unstoppable if their company was run solely by clones of themselves, the truth is that a diverse workforce hugely benefits companies.
In the context of a business operating system, the people part of the equation comes down to figuring out how to get different people in different roles to rally around the same goals. Your BOS should help you determine how to know if someone is the right person for your company and is sitting in the right role, while creating a consistent culture that attracts and retains high-quality people. In EOS, this concept is called “right person, right seat,” and there are a variety of tools to help you determine this, like the Accountability Chart™ and People Analyzer™.
Processes in a Business Operating System
A good BOS will help you define and streamline your business processes. Every move you and your team make should be in service to your larger goals. Tightening up your processes will minimize confusion about priorities and lend your team a clear view of projects in progress.
Processes can cascade down from a strategy, which can in turn be developed out of a mission statement. For example, if your mission is to change lives through cat treats, your strategy will include the way you make your treats and how you get them into the paws of your ideal cats and customers. Production and sales will each have their own processes, but will be working toward the same overall mission.
We made Playbooks in Strety to make it easier than ever to organize your processes alongside your BOS.
Georg Dauterman, President of Valiant Technology, an award-winning MSP in New York, shares how business operating system software can support process efficiency:
“Every time we can avoid having to manually enter something, we’re getting back seconds and minutes. MSPs, like most businesses, especially service businesses, are games of inches. You’re not hitting home runs every day. On your best days, you’re hitting singles constantly… When the small daily wins are compounded over the year, you’re making some massive changes in the business.”
Goals in a Business Operating System
Goals, known as ‘Rocks’ in many business operating systems like EOS, can be either short-term or long-term. Sometimes, completing a project could be considered a goal. Other times, a goal could be a number, like booking twenty calls a week per quarter.
All goals should serve the company’s overarching mission and build toward the company vision. It’s often helpful when thinking about goals to look at your company vision for the future, and break down what you would need to achieve that vision. Goals and objectives (or Rocks) will help define the roadmap to your company’s success.
Performance Tracking in a Business Operating System
Once you have the other pieces in place, figuring out how to track your company’s performance against its rocks, goals, vision, or mission is crucial. Performance tracking is the part of the business operating system that gives you visibility into how well your people and processes are working, and can serve as a warning sign if things aren’t working well.
Your BOS should set you up with a performance tracking system that makes sense and is easily transparent to the entire team. This often includes tracking the success of key initiatives such as digital marketing strategies, sales performance, or customer retention efforts. Performance tracking should be consistent and folded into your processes. If you see that a key metric is consistently not being met, it’s an opportunity to problem-solve: is the metric unrealistic, is the process bad, or is the person responsible for the metric underperforming? Performance tracking is key to solving problems — and to stopping them before they spin out of control.
In EOS, the performance tracking tool is called a Scorecard. We love it because the idea is to be simple — your Scorecard should only have a handful of metrics (at most) and the number should be green when you hit and red when you miss. This way you can see at a glance if you’re winning your week.
Popular Business Operating System Examples
Several proven business operating systems have helped thousands of companies transform their operations. Here are the most widely adopted frameworks:
EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System): The most well-known business operating system, the Entrepreneurial Operating System focuses on six key components: Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction. It’s designed specifically for small to mid-sized businesses and is taught by over 850 professional implementers worldwide.
Pinnacle Business Guides: Pinnacle Business Guides focus on creating bespoke journeys to each business’ unique Pinnacle through a custom combination of powerful, proven tools.
Scaling Up (formerly Rockefeller Habits): Created by Verne Harnish, Scaling Up focuses on four critical areas: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash Flow. It tends to work well for larger, more sophisticated mid-market companies.
MSP+: Specifically designed for managed service providers, MSP+ OS addresses the unique challenges of IT service businesses with frameworks tailored to recurring revenue models and client management.
Other Systems: The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX), The Great Game of Business, and E-Myth are also popular frameworks, each with their own philosophy and approach.
The best BOS is the one that works for you. Strety is framework-agnostic — supporting EOS, Pinnacle, MSP+, and others — because we believe it’s more important that you have a system than which specific system you choose. What matters most is finding a business operating system that resonates with you and your team, then committing to implementing it consistently.
Should My Business Have a BOS?
If your business has more than 10 employees, you should definitely start considering a BOS. If your business is much bigger, you have a BOS of some kind to get you as far as you have — even if you don’t have a name for it. If things feel chaotic or growth is inconsistent, whatever business operating system you have needs some examination.
Here are signs your business needs an intentional business operating system:
You’re experiencing constant chaos. Unexpected issues constantly derail your plans. You spend more time firefighting than executing on your strategy. Your leadership team is exhausted from putting out fires.
The same problems keep recurring. You solve an issue, then it pops back up three months later. You lack the systems to prevent problems from returning.
Your team isn’t aligned. Different departments seem to be working toward different goals. Communication breaks down between teams. People don’t understand how their work connects to company objectives.
Growth has stalled or feels inconsistent. You had a great quarter, then a terrible one. You can’t predict or control your growth trajectory. Revenue increases but profitability doesn’t.
Accountability is unclear. When something goes wrong, it’s not clear who’s responsible. Projects fall through the cracks because ownership is fuzzy. People can hide behind the chaos.
Mark Lukehart, COO of Parachute Technology, a California-based MSP, saw immediate improvements after implementing their BOS with Strety:
“There’s been much more engagement and people are actually putting in more numbers. They’re building their scorecards. We have a lot of data that we can go and access through all the different teams.”
It’s really never too early to start thinking about getting your team speaking a common language and rowing in the same direction. It’s the best way to get further, faster. 💪
How to Get Started with a Business Operating System
Starting your BOS journey can feel overwhelming, but breaking it down into steps makes it manageable:
1. Research Different Frameworks: Read books like Traction (for EOS), Scaling Up, or The E-Myth Revisited. Explore which philosophy resonates with you and your leadership team.
2. Consider Working with a Professional Implementer: Most BOS frameworks have certified coaches or implementers who can guide you through the process. While you can self-implement, having an experienced guide dramatically increases the success rate for a lot of businesses. Implementation typically takes 18-24 months with professional support.
3. Start with Your Leadership Team: Don’t roll out a BOS company-wide on day one. Begin with your leadership team, get them aligned, and let them model the system before cascading it down.
4. Choose Tools That Integrate: The biggest killer of BOS adoption is disconnected tools. Valiant Technology experienced this firsthand before switching to Strety:
“Every tool we have that doesn’t integrate to our other tools becomes another place we have to go do double entry. So we’re constantly spending time cutting and pasting from one to the other.”
5. Focus on Small, Consistent Wins: Don’t try to implement everything at once. If you’ve chosen EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), start with weekly meetings using the Level 10 format. Add a simple Scorecard. Document your first critical process. These small wins compound over time.
6. Take Your Vision Seriously: Heritage Advises learned this lesson well: “Don’t breeze through anything, and take it all seriously. Make your vision and traction organizer a living part of who you are as a company.”
Remember, implementing a BOS is a journey, not an overnight transformation. But the compound effect of those small improvements adds up to massive changes in your business.
FAQ: Business Operating Systems
What is a business operating system (BOS)?
A business operating system is a set of practices and tools that defines how a team communicates, collaborates, and works together to achieve company goals. Popular frameworks include EOS, Pinnacle, and Scaling Up.
What are the main components of a business operating system?
Most BOS frameworks share five core components: Vision (company direction), People (right person/right seat), Processes (documented workflows), Goals (short and long-term objectives), and Performance Tracking (measurable metrics).
When should my business implement a business operating system?
If your business has more than 10 employees, you should start implementing a BOS. Companies with chaotic operations or inconsistent growth especially benefit from adopting a structured operating system.
What is an example of a business operating system?
The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is one of the most well-known business operating systems. Other examples include Pinnacle, Scaling Up, SummitOS, MSP+, and 4DX.
How long does it take to implement a business operating system?
Full BOS implementation typically takes 18-24 months with a professional implementer, though companies often see improvements in the first 90 days as they adopt core tools and disciplines.
Can small businesses benefit from a business operating system?
Absolutely. Small businesses between 10-50 employees often see the biggest impact from BOS implementation because it creates the foundation for scalable, sustainable growth before chaos sets in.
What’s the difference between a business operating system and project management software?
Project management software tracks tasks and projects, while a BOS provides a complete framework for how your entire business operates — including vision, people management, processes, and strategic planning. Strety is built to help you run your BOS and projects, so you can manage more of your business in one place.
Do I need special software to run a business operating system?
While you can start with spreadsheets, dedicated BOS software can improve adoption and accountability by centralizing information, automating tracking, and integrating with your existing tools.
Your Next Steps
A business operating system provides the framework for how your team communicates, collaborates, and works together to grow. It transforms chaos into clarity, recurring problems into solved issues, and misaligned teams into unified forces moving in the same direction.
Figuring out how to build a business operating system takes commitment and time, but the compound effect of small improvements creates massive changes in your business.
As Georg Dauterman from Valiant Technology reminded us, business is a game of inches — and those inches add up to miles over time.
If you have a BOS you want to implement, like EOS, Pinnacle, SummitOS, or MSP+, Strety is here to help. Our intuitive software makes it easy to track all of the critical components of a business operating system. Start a free trial here (no credit card required) or click here to speak to someone on our team.
We’re all BOS evangelists, and it’s our mission to help fellow SMBs thrive, so feel free to reach out no matter where you are in your BOS journey. 🎯