While marketing strategies are important to grab the attention of your customers and attract them to your business, the back office is the support system of your business. It takes care of everything that keeps the business running smoothly. Starting from planning, inventory management, supply-chain management, logistics, settlements, and regulatory compliance, as well as accounting, the back office has got you covered.
But with the digital revolution happening everywhere, the back office also needs improvements to work at its best. According to Harvard Business Review, a back office that has embraced technology and has automated the systems as much as possible, there is a whopping 50% increase in productivity and customer service.
So how exactly do you improve back-office efficiency? There are so many back-office solutions for small businesses that you can incorporate.
Here are 5 simple yet effective tips to do so:
Optimize The Tasks
There are a lot of tasks that neither contribute to business nor customer service. Such tasks should be identified and eliminated. Moreover, the optimization includes streamlining workflow, tracking productivity and automating tasks, and developing a performant call center.
Automate
Automating is the key to the highest efficiency of the back office. In other words, by Automating repetitive tasks like bookkeeping, invoicing, payroll, etc you’ll save an ample amount of time. You can then utilize this time to focus on other important tasks.
Get Cloud-Based Accounting Software
Software like QuickBooks Online and Xero can help small business owners in:
- Syncing bookkeeping data in real-time
- Accessing accounts from any device
- Automate data entry
- Paperless bookkeeping system
- No risk of financial data being damaged or misplaced
- Low chances of mistakes
It is the best back office solution for small businesses.
Know Your Customer and Staff
Firstly know your customers and recognize their needs and ask for their feedback on improving customer service. Then you have their suggestions to make changes in your system. Also, get to know your staff and their strengths and weaknesses. Not only this awareness will help you improve back office efficiency but also provide excellent customer service.
Practice SIM
SIM, short interval management, is a practice of group meetings every morning. Where each member discusses their accomplishments, the tasks for the day, what challenges they are experiencing, and the help they require. This short meeting will help business owners and employees to see their goals and objectives clearly. And this will help increase productivity to the next level and achieve goals much faster.
Continuous Improvement Process
Successful businesses are always the one which has a continuous improvement mindset. Understanding that improving the efficiency of the back office is not a one-time task. You have to keep enhancing, examining, changing, and evaluating consistently. This ongoing effort of improvement is called a continuous improvement process. And you must incorporate it into your business to keep seeing growth. These tips are undoubtedly useful for the productivity of staff. But are equally helpful for improving customer satisfaction by improving administrative support. Once you have back office efficiency sorted you can drive your attention more to increasing revenue and growing business. At iMPACTFUL Commerce, have everything to support the back office solutions for small businesses such as remote bookkeeping services, electronic document solutions, digital marketing & creative solutions, and customer experience management to help your back office efficiency increase.
