ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

What is Back Office Outsourcing?

Updated on March 20, 2013

What is Back Office Outsourcing

definition of back office processes

Assuming that most people know the definition of the outsourcing part of the title is basically the transfer of a business function to an external service provider. So what then exactly is the back office part of the title, precisely what does that term encompass when talking about business processes? Well as pehpas implied by the name, back office functions are those tasks that are required to keep a business running smoothly and efficiently but that do not actually make up the core of the company business, for instance a blue widget manufacturer has a core business that consists of manufacturing and supplying blue widgets, however the company simply could not function without people to do the accounts, people to hire the right workers, people to make sure the workers get paid and a host of other things that help the company run, these are back office functions.

The Back office is the engine room

Back office outsourcing has developed

In recent years there has been a growth in outsourcing these functions to other specialist companies rather than have people in house to do it, there are reasons for this growth with advantages and disadvantages in deciding whether to outsource or not, there is more on this at this Hub that lists the benefits of back office outsourcing and also the downsides.

So a list of back office jobs would look something like this..


  • managing payroll
  • human resources departments
  • accounting services
  • pay & bill
  • managing IT
  • data entry
  • administration

There are other back office jobs but these are the most common ones, basically these tasks are non productive but are absolutely vital to the running of the company so when considering outsourcing them it is important to employ service providers with integrity and a proven track record, a safe pair of hands is needed to look after the back office of an organisation, even a small one.

The most common functions that are outsourced are payroll and invoicing which can be useful to small and medium sized businesses as much as a large organisation, payroll is a task that is complex with many viariables like holidays, sickness and overtime to deal with, probably this is why so many firms opt for a payroll outsourcing company. Invoicing can be outsourced in several ways, including factoring which can help a company's cash flow, this is not quite as popular as using a payroll bureau as many business owners like to keep invoicing to themselves, however more and more they are recognising the benefits and contracting out invoicing and accounts departments as well.


What is easy to outsource

Human resources outsourcing is also an area where organisations are taking advantage of outsourcing, often an area of conflict between employers and employees it can be useful to have an expert HR company dealing with employees rather than personalities within the same company.  Nearly all IT sevices in companies are being contracted out on an ever more regular basis, there are people who think this is central to their business so would rather keep it in house but each business needs to decide for themselves whether this is appropriate for them or not.

A recent but growing area for outsourcing is admin and data entry, for instance recritment agencies usually have a datbase to enter all their candidates details into, however there are times when that task is not quite so intensive and other times when it becomes very busy, outsourcing the data entry jobs in this situation is probably very attractive.


Small businesses need to consider outsourcing too

With the move to smaller premises to save costs, better IT infrastructure around the country then it is becoming more and more essential to that back office outsourcing is considered by all organisations from very small to very large.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)