Most corporations consist of different departments that contribute to their business processes. Among these, the back office is perhaps one of, if not the most vital aspect of a company.
What does the back office do for your business?
The back office is responsible for handling the bulk of an organization’s administrative tasks. They consist of personnel who do not interact with customers face to face but instead support the entire corporation in a variety of ways, such as:
Bookkeeping
The back office handles the everyday financial processes necessary to run your business. This includes keeping track of purchase orders and determining their cost. Back-office personnel also deals with information on the company’s profits, losses, and any loan payments. This helps assess the company’s cash flow.
Calculating and generating year-end financial reports also falls under bookkeeping. This is to give the business owner and stockholders a clear idea of how the organization performed in the previous year.
For this back-office role, it is essential to have keen observation and accounting skills to ensure accurate financial information.
Compliance
Another important role the back office plays is ensuring the company’s compliance with business regulations. For instance, most corporations use credit and debit cards to process financial transactions so it is in their best interest to follow the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS).
The back-office compliance department makes sure that the entire company follows this set of standards to lessen the risk of fraud and identity theft. Additionally, this protects your business and investors from security breaches that may compromise your financial assets.
Aside from PCI DSS, the back-office team also ensures that the organization is ISO-certified. Having this certification proves that your company adheres to proper quality management standards. This may also serve as a testament that your business follows health and safety protocols.
With a trustworthy back-office team, you can have the peace of mind that your business is adhering to business protocols.
Human resources
A business cannot run on its own, which is why it needs to hire people who can help manage it. Part of the back office is human resources, whose tasks include looking for and screening potential talents that will add value to the organization.
A dedicated part of the human resources department, the recruitment team posts job openings online and keeps track of applicants. They sometimes work with headhunters to help them hire fresh prospects with the skillset for the job.
Furthermore, they conduct interviews and examinations to gauge applicants’ qualifications. Once the recruitment team has pooled enough applicants, they endorse them to operations. The team also handles the onboarding process and the completion of the pre-employment requirements of the new hires.
The HR department does not stop at recruitment and hiring; it is also responsible for employee management, discipline, and welfare. For instance, the HR personnel may conduct investigations on employees reported for grave misconduct.
Aside from these, the human resources department is also concerned with employee resignation, from conducting exit interviews to processing clearances.
Being part of this back office requires a good sense of character and people management. After all, you want to hire and retain people who contribute to the corporation’s development.
IT
The IT department is another back-office team. They protect the company from cyber-attacks and ensure company hardware is properly maintained and functional.
IT personnel also ensures that the organization has online connectivity for seamless business communication and coordination. They also troubleshoot computer issues that employees encounter when they work.
This back-office department is also responsible for the installation of new hardware and software, as well as updating systems to further improve the overall business system.
A typical IT team consists of individuals who have an extensive background in information technology and a level of expertise in operating devices and computers.
Retail
Retail is also considered a back-office department. Depending on the scale of the business, retail may include an array of processes that are essential to the entire company.
For instance, it may have customer service to handle customer inquiries, complaints, and other related concerns. It may also include shoplifting and fraud prevention, as losses due to these can be significant to the entire business. This can take a visible or discreet form, such as security personnel or cameras and monitoring devices, respectively.
Internal controls are usually part of retail as it is vital in preventing money or inventory theft. This may include checks or levels of authorizations for different employees to deter potential misconduct either by customers, employees, or suppliers.
Reliable retail staff should have great organizational skills as they are in a dynamic environment. This means that changes are fast-paced, so being adaptable and orderly are good traits in performing their work.
A fully functional back office is critical to your business
Every business should invest in resources and manpower to develop their back office for optimal performance. With all these crucial back-office operations, you can have the peace of mind that your organization will run smoothly.
