Back Office Support Services: The Backbone of Any Business Operation

Back office has long been regarded as an auxiliary business process. However, its importance is not lost on those entrepreneurs that truly understand how it can serve as the backbone of any business operation. Those who ignore it, generally end up lost in a myriad of paperwork, all confused and with nowhere to go. Many back office support services like accounting, inventory management and data entry are quite cumbersome and monotonous. Companies that do not have access to workforce accomplished in back office tasks miss deadlines, fail to produce the right paperwork at the right time and make careless mistakes that come back to haunt them at later stages.

Back Office Outsourcing: The Solution to Never-Ending Back Office Problems

Generally, back office tasks are not as difficult as tasks that are related with core processes. However, companies fail to perform them with due diligence as they simply do not have the necessary expertise and sensitivity required for carrying out such tasks. Running in an in-house back office support services operation may sound like a good proposition, however, it is a task riddled with great challenges. Some of the challenges that can be solved with back office outsourcing are listed below:

1.      Procuring the right software – From item-level inventory management to sales promotion to sales forecasting to invoice processing, each of these tasks requires cutting-edge software solutions for their efficient completion. Most companies either do not have the necessary funds to outright buy such expensive tools or they lack the right kind of workforce that can use these software.  This is why most in-house operations, especially the ones run on a small scale, end up using substandard tools and fail to accomplish their tasks on time.

2.      Investment in office space – For running a full-fledged back office operation, you require dedicated office space. This requires you to invest in real-estate, which can cost a lot especially in a developed country like the US. A great way to overcome this challenge is by partnering with back office service providers, who already have offices running back office operations.

3.      Need for hiring employees on payroll – Although back office operations are essential, they do not require the best talent for their accomplishment. Most back office tasks like data entry can be done by employees with average skill levels. When you run a back office operation in-house, you need to hire a lot of employees (with average skills) on your company’s payroll.  You also have to provide them with regular benefits (that you provide to your other employees) like medical, dental etc. This can be a major headache for the HR department. Moreover, unlike in a core operation where the hired employees can grow vertically and be useful to an organization in future, back office workforce that you have hired generally does not offer any additional advantage. Hence, back office outsourcing becomes a better option than an in-house operation.

Conclusion

In this age of competition, companies are looking to minimize their day-to-day challenges, so they can focus more on innovating and creating better product. The challenge of back office management has always remained a hurdle for many business operations. In order to overcome this obstacle and enhance the quality of back office operations, taking the help of back office service providers is a great option.