Back Office Outsourcing

It’s a competitive world where result-oriented companies take the lead. While several strategies can enhance the growth curve, Back Office Outsourcing is slowly and steadily becoming the go-to solution in the business landscape of today.
Each organization has its core business competencies to focus on to generate revenue. For instance, verticals like sales, marketing and communications, or even finance are an inherent part of a company.
However, to expedite the functioning of these departments, there’s always an option to integrate back-office solutions that can be customized based on the client’s requirements.
Think of anything from accounting, data entry to even loyalty program management—each of these functions can be outsourced so that employees can focus on more important tasks.
Taking this step is also likely to enhance the productivity of the workforce and help companies cut costs.
Before we detail why back-office outsourcing is the need of the hour, let’s first look at some tasks that can be simplified through this solution.

That’s not all. Companies can also outsource certain tasks that take up unnecessary time for the human resources department.
This could be anything from easing the recruitment process to ensuring timely approval of payments, among other things. During the recruitment process, there are a lot of man hours that go into job posting, screening resumes, interviewing each candidate, and finally onboarding.
When it is outsourced to recruitment and talent acquisition specialists, the access to a larger pool of skilled individuals broadens. Moreover, such individuals or agencies also have the requisite tools to streamline the process and find the right fit for the organization.
Similarly, a payroll specialist can be outsourced to ensure that everything from timely payments to compliance with tax regulations is taken care of.
That’s also because if payroll processing isn’t done on time, the company has to incur hefty penalties that may not just lead to financial losses but are also problematic to their reputation.
These payroll specialists use the most advanced software to automate calculations and carry out the process smoothly with minimum hiccups.

Customer Service Representative

This is another function that’s integral to maintaining the reputation of a company and at the same time, garner customer loyalty.
Customer representatives, as the term suggests, are the link between the customer and the brand.
Thus, they are responsible for addressing any customer grievances, inquiries, or any information that is required from them.
While companies may think it’s ideal to build a team within the organization, let’s break it to you that this requires immense time and financial resources.
Thus, outsourcing skilled customer service representatives streamlines the process to ensure there’s consistent communication across all channels of the company, be it on the phone, email, or social media channels.
Moreover, having external help is an advantage because these teams are more adept at this, plus they can be available 24×7, which is a win-win for the customer and fosters more appreciation and loyalty for the brand

Social media specialist

We live in times when being seen has been imperative for brands.
But also it’s important to be seen in the right way.
That’s what a social media specialist generally helps with—they build a brand’s online reputation and ensure they engage with customers through various channels.
Once again, building a team in-house may not be as cost-effective; thus, outsourcing such specialists is a smart move.
From creating and curating content, to responding to comments, messages, and testimonials on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram—this and so much more is handled by a social media specialist.
By doing this, companies can meet their marketing goals and build a stronger brand identity to reach a larger audience base

Bookkeeping

This part of back-office solutions is crucial for maintaining the healthy financial status of a company.
Within this role, an individual is responsible for recording and organizing everything from sales, to expenses, and payments.
Accuracy plays an integral part here because every detail is important–even if a minor detail is missed, it can cost the company in the long run.
Since it is a demanding task and requires skill and experience, it is a good idea to outsource the work without burdening permanent employees within an organization.
The bookkeeping services that are outsourced tap into the latest technological tools and software to make the process much simpler and generate real-time financial insights.

Technology Specialists

Technology has become the mainstay of most organizations, posing a higher risk of cyber security threats.
This aspect can be outsourced to security service providers who are the best in this space, so that any potential issues can be averted.
IT teams can also be outsourced to handle other tech issues with software, hardware, or connectivity.
While it may seem counterintuitive for small and medium-sized companies, it’s the best solution because building a team in-house requires more finances and that may be a challenge.
Plus, these external technology specialists come with more experience and expertise, which can help to resolve queries in a shorter period. At the same time, they may recommend some preventive action to ensure too many issues don’t crop up in the future. All in all, it is a good way for businesses to improve their reliability and offer a smooth user experience.

Administration Specialist

This isn’t an exhaustive list in any way but it can’t be complete without a mention of administrative tasks.
There’s so much to be done here from buying office supplies to ensuring the transport services are provided at odd hours.
The task list here is never-ending, which is why it’s beneficial to have back-office outsourcing companies on board.
Administration specialists or assistants are always available remotely and take charge of everything from calendar management to preparing documents, travel arrangements, and more.
This helps companies reduce costs in a big way, since hiring an in-house person may require big bucks. Plus, delegating tasks like these to an assistant also frees up time for permanent employees who can then focus on other crucial tasks.

Inventory Specialist

An inventory specialist is someone who takes care of regular audits, updating records, and refilling the stock.
Besides, when it comes to inventory, they are also responsible for ensuring that stock-outs are reduced and errors do not crop up in the process.
It’s once again a laborious task, particularly for those companies who have a large selection of product offerings.
When this task is outsourced, companies can get access to the latest inventory management systems and optimize their stocks accordingly to reduce the chance of errors.
Besides, getting a skilled inventory specialist on board also gives companies better insights on inventory status and demand forecasting, so that they are better prepared to deal with any situations or concerns that may arise.

Market Research Analyst

In the day and age when there’s no dearth of products, brands must step up their game to get noticed by customers.
This is only possible if relevant data is available in hand that dives deep into the market, its customers as well as competitors.
That’s where market research analysts step into the picture.
They conduct research through on-ground and online surveys to understand behavioral patterns of the customer, and at the same time, study competitors to know more about their strategies. Eventually, all this information helps with getting better market opportunities and making informed pricing decisions.
Doing market research also requires certain tools that are available with specialized agencies that carry out these functions regularly, based on the goals of companies.

Top Advantages to Outsource Your Back Office

Let’s just say what happens behind the scenes is crucial to ensure the front end runs smoothly. Here are a few reasons why your company needs to outsource the back office:

Frees up time to focus on core areas

When companies invest in back-office outsourcing, their employees get adequate time to focus on the important tasks at hand.
This can free up their time so that the core areas that contribute to business growth including product development, customer acquisition, and marketing strategy can be paid attention to.
It may seem like a small step but it can make a huge difference in enabling innovation and helping generate greater revenue, especially for smaller companies who have more pressure to make themselves visible in their early years.

Reduces costs and leads to improved savings

It may seem counterintuitive in the beginning but investing in a back-office outsourcing company can help reduce expenses in a big way.
That’s because the expenditure to set up such a team in-house will be much higher, leading to significant overhead costs. What’s more, it is also an effective strategy especially when a company wants to reduce their permanent staff.

Better access to skills

By outsourcing back-office operations, a company is expanding its talent pool by getting external resources on board who may be highly skilled in various domains.
Also, having a diverse workforce can help stay abreast with the current happenings and innovations in the industry, giving the organization an edge over others

Enhances productivity

It’s no easy feat to handle back-office tasks—sometimes, these may take a long time to deal with. When a company outsources these functions to a specialized service provider, productivity and outcomes automatically improve.
That’s because these external resources have the right tools to deal with the trials and tribulations that may crop up along the way.

Access to more scalability

For those businesses that are in their initial stages, scalability is a crucial goal to achieve. Hence, it’s beneficial to outsource backend services for enhanced freedom and flexibility, so that it’s easy to scale up or down based on requirements at different stages.