Back-Office

The term Back-Office is used to refer to functions that aren’t directly facing a customer that are typically low in complexity and highly repeatable transactions.

Back-Office functions can include:

  • Accounting/bookkeeping
  • Payroll
  • Human resources
  • Logistics
  • Procurement
  • Customer administration such as data entry for form approvals

Essentially they are easily repeatable transactions that are typically low in complexity that don’t directly involve the customer.

The back-office functions can be performed in-house either at the same location or in another location altogether.

For example, it’s not uncommon for businesses to have a warehouse or retail store in one location, and their back-office in another.

Increasingly, back-office functions are being transitioned to offshore destinations to lower costs.

Examples of this include global companies processing all invoicing functions to a central location e.g. India or payroll functions to the Philippines.

 

 

Back-Office Outsourcing

There is currently a huge growth in outsourcing back-office functions to third parties.

Unlike traditional outsourcing functions like call centres, as the back-office functions are not customer-facing there is less risk associated.

Even with COVID, popular destinations include the Philippines and India that offer significant savings as compared to conducting the same work in Australia.

In addition to the cost savings, outsourcing enables a business to focus on their core business rather than the day-to-day functions which can lead to better business outcomes.

How to find back-office outsourcing suppliers

If you are looking to outsource some back-office functions you’ll find a list of back-office outsourcers where you can filter by function, country and more on the free CX Directory:

If you’d like some free assistance in finding a recommended back-office BPO contact us on 03 9008 7287