Subject areaProcess and organisation
The back office is the set of roles and departments of a company that work behind the scenes, with no direct contact with the customer: administration, accounting, logistics, order management and case processing.
It is the counterpart of the front office, which deals with the customer.
The articles on this site ask companies to define roles, responsibilities and cross-functional processes (processes that cut across several departments) so that every employee, from front office to back office, contributes to a coherent customer experience. The customer never sees the back office but feels its effects: a wrong invoice or a late shipment starts there. It follows that the quality perceived by the customer also depends on departments the customer will never meet.
An example
At a company that manufactures mechanical components, a salesperson promises delivery in ten days; the logistics back office knows the warehouse is empty, but nobody tells the salesperson, and the customer discovers the delay only on the due date.
Related entries
broader entriesthis entry and narrowertwo levels down← up · → down
Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
Spotted an inaccuracy or something that needs updating? Write to info@enricogiubertoni.com and help make this glossary a better place.
What are your business challenges?
Tell us about your priorities and the objectives you want to reach.
You will receive a free, targeted answer within one working day.