Working invisibly in the background of every thriving business is a back office that manages its core operational areas and supports the “front office,” meaning the customer-facing part of a company. Without the back office, orders for products and services wouldn’t be processed, employees wouldn’t be recruited, transactions wouldn’t be recorded, legal disputes wouldn’t be resolved, computers wouldn’t be fixed and data wouldn’t be analyzed, to name just a few business-critical back-office tasks.
The more efficiently and intelligently the back office runs, the more effective it will be at supporting the business. Employees may also pinpoint potential issues such as an impending inventory stock out that could that could hurt sales. This requires seamless communication.
How the Back Office Works
Employees in the front office, such as a salesperson, have the most interaction with customers. Employees in the middle office, mainly found in financial organizations, manage business risk. Employees in the back office perform all of the administrative and support functions that keep the business operating smoothly.
Back-Office Roles
Back office roles span many different departments within a business. These jobs can range from data entry clerks to specialized research practitioners. Back office staff might include staff accountants, financial analysts, bookkeepers and other professionals responsible for bookkeeping and financial close tasks, tax preparation, managing a company’s investments, developing financial strategies and analyzing financial performance. Information technology: Back-office roles are responsible for managing and maintaining a company’s technology infrastructure, platforms and applications. Jobs can include technical support, network administrators, database managers, programmers and security engineers.
Legal: Staff in the back office prepare and review contracts and other legal documents, conduct research, manage case files and advise the company on legal disputes.
HR: Back-office employees lay the groundwork for employee recruitment, hiring and
development. They also manage benefits, maintain personnel files and more. Procurement: Back-office responsibilities include researching prices for materials, products and services; evaluating suppliers; preparing purchase orders; and monitoring order and contract status.
