Are you struggling to streamline your business operations? For sure, the reasons may be a lack of capital, resources, and a lot more.
But the problem is still there. Its ultimate solution, which can help you to navigate cost- and time-based challenges, lies in leveraging back-office business services.
Certainly, a saffron seller or car manufacturer, let’s say, cannot handle data entry, management, processing, strategy making, and other non-core services like a professional support outsourcing company.
But these services improve strategies, which scale efficiency and, hence, revenues without sacrificing quality.
This post will introduce you to outsourcing and how it can support and nurture the culture of AI back-office automation.
Also, you can learn some stunning ways these companies transform the operations of organizations.
What Are Back Office Business Services?
Back-office business services are typically services related to administration and support operations that indirectly enable an organization to run smoothly from behind the scenes.
Majorly, these services include but are not limited to the following:
- Data entry and management
- Finance and accounting
- Human resources
- IT Support and helpdesk
- Compliance and legal documentation
- Inventory management and procurement
The aforesaid tasks have no direct role in generating revenue, but other operations are lifeless without them. Consider a Deloitte report in this context.
It states that companies that effectively streamline operational tasks in the backend can exponentially control their operational costs by up to 30%.
It also positively enhances workflow and overall productivity.
The Power of Back Office Support Outsourcing
Outsourcing back-office support refers to incorporating a third-party professional to strategically shift focus from lengthy and tedious backend operations to revenue-generating activities.
Research indicates that operational workflow management solutions are widely used to improve efficiency in non-core business processes.
A report explains that the global market for business process outsourcing (BPO), which covers all backend operations, was worth $261 billion in 2022, and its growth is not going to cease annually.
This is a clear indication of the fact that more businesses are working with expert partners to seek expert assistance in handling their administrative burdens efficiently.
Let’s find the benefits that are contributing to its fame.
Key Benefits of Back-Office Support Outsourcing
- Cost savings: You save money by delegating non-core tasks to a BPM company, meaning you don’t need internal staffing, infrastructure, and technology that require huge capital.
- Access to skilled professionals: Domain experts like chartered accountants, data analysts, researchers, and marketing professionals are skilled resources that involve a massive investment if you consider hiring them in-house.
- Scalability: To adapt services and requirements as a business grows, outsourcing eliminates the recurring cost associated with hiring, training, and managing internal teams. It increases during seasonal demands and declines when the season is off.
- Improved accuracy and compliance: Backend operations mostly involve data and complementary processes, whose quality small or lean businesses and startups can barely manage effectively. Hiring an external partner that specializes in it can prevent the risk of inaccuracies and non-compliance.
- 24/7 operations: You can expect urgent deliveries in time, especially with offshore or nearshore partners. Their different time zones are advantageous.
Considering the findings of McKinsey & Company, companies obtaining external support for backend operations can save up to 50% on operational costs.
For new businesses and SMEs, this alternative makes services affordable, which might overextend their budgets.
What is the Responsibility of Back Office Support Companies
Back office support companies are firms that employ skilled specialists to manage one or more administrative functions for clients.
These roles are extremely specific according to diverse fields, like data specialists, MIS experts, accounting experts, tele-callers, marketing specialists, and customer support experts.
These specialized companies invest in updated technologies to automate domain tasks and offer consultancy to impart process knowledge across industries.
Overall, they prove their worth by offering trending solutions with digital innovation so beneficiary companies can streamline workflows through automation, standardization, and best practices.
These days, the most popular service areas to get back office support include:
- Data mining, web scraping, and data cleaning for AI and automation
- Customer support ticket management for an excellent customer experience
- Financial reporting and auditing to manage financial books and assets
- HR onboarding and exit management for smooth operations
- E-commerce back-end operations like order processing and inventory sync
Overall, the role of a reliable partner for these services is not constrained to managing budgets effectively but also boosting efficiency and operational quality with consistency.
How AI Back Office Automation Is Changing the Game
The need for fast, consistent, and premium-quality services is surging. Interestingly, AI back office automation boosts this strategy.
And the credit goes to artificial intelligence or artificial general intelligence that shows a silver lining to automate repetitive and rule-based operations.
Their machine learning models replace manual inputs with bot-driven operations, which is an invisible workforce that works around the clock with minimal errors.
A report by PwC clearly spotlights that AI is going to potentially add $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
And we should not ignore the significant role of AI that automates administrative and back-office functions effectively.
So, how is AI transforming backend services? Let’s have a look.
- For automated data entry, scanned copies are converted into digitized (soft copy) files using OCR (optical character recognition).
- AI bots are used to foresee surplus and scarcity via predictive analytics in inventory management and finance.
- Chatbots and virtual assistants resolve half of the complications involved in HR’s hiring, training, induction, and payroll processes. Moreover, some basic IT support queries can also be solved via bots, which smartly forward complicated queries to the human workforce for an excellent customer experience and minimal downtime.
- Like OCR, intelligent document processing (IDP) can also help in processing contracts and forms automatically.
- Machine learning algorithms can be deployed to optimize workflows and schedule tasks.
For sure, the integration of AI into internal operations brings peace of mind, reducing turnaround times.
Moreover, the human errors and non-compliance issues won’t trouble us as the machine learning algorithms adeptly follow integrated models and protocols.
Best Practices to Streamline Operations Using Back Office Services
Here come some proven practices that remove bottlenecks and help in streamlining operations smoothly.
1. Audit your current back-office processes
Note down repetitive and lengthy processes and audit where bottlenecks hamper smooth operations.
2. Define what to outsource vs. automate
The logical tasks that require human judgment or a specialist’s expertise can be delegated to a third party. On the other hand, repetitive tasks that are bound by rules can be administered via AI tools.
3. Choose the right partner
Choose the experienced company with a proven track record in your niche for outsourcing. Also, determine whether it can meet the need for scalable orders, data security, and 24X7 support.
4. Integrate systems for better data flow
To ensure smooth navigation of data and communication, connect CRM, ERP, and communication tools.
5. Monitor performance continuously
Focus on monitoring KPIs, such as turnaround time, accuracy rate, and cost savings, to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of outsourcing and automation.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, back-office functions may not generate revenue directly. But these operations are indeed critical for running a business smoothly.
The substantial thing is that these tasks are not restricted to finance or data, but also HR and IT. The range of these functions is expansive.
These services, when combined with AI and automation, can lift organizations that are lean, efficient, and focused on growth and scalability.
Incorporating experienced back-office support outsourcing companies and strategically embracing outsourcing support can enable businesses to not only reduce operational burdens but also access their full potential.
