How to Get More Done with Less in Back-Office - Optimus

We’ve all heard the humble brags.

“I’d love to join you, but I’ve just completed a 12-hour shift, and I’m dog-tired.”

It seems we’ve become a culture of staying busy but don’t question ourselves if the quality of our output matches the number of work hours.

This begs the question: Do you know what your back-office staff does during paid hours? Do you have any idea how much capacity your back office has?

All organizations want to be as efficient as possible and to do more for customers at a lower cost and with fewer resources.

But if you’re oblivious to what your employees are doing day-to-day and whether there’s a way they could be freed up to do more, then you’re setting your business up for failure.

Failure to deliver a high-quality service to your customers can typically be traced back to a process problem instead of a people problem.

So, how do you go about making sure that your processes are designed in a manner that improves efficiencies and maximizes your internal capacity?

Simple! By taking advantage of new technology that allows you to create and customize processes without writing a line of code.

What’s the Importance of the Back Office?

Most businesses have invested in optimizing their customer-facing processes, but the back office is your company’s backbone.

It does essential work behind the scenes, such as marketing, accounting, human resources, employees’ payroll, and administrative support. Its primary roles include improving the customer experience and supporting administrative functions. This work directly influences what you can deliver to your customers.

If you’re a business interested in boosting your bottom line, you must focus on improving the efficiency of your back office and operations.

Increasing Automation

“If only I could get more done, but there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day.”

“If I had a bigger team, I’d be able to reach targets.”

Guess what? These are just excuses!

Resourcefulness, which means learning to do more with less, is an excellent asset to any business.

Many businesses have invested heavily in new tech to simplify and improve their back-office operations and focus on customer satisfaction. This eliminates the enormous pressure placed on IT departments.

A good example is automating repetitive tasks to save time and reduce the workload on back-office staff. Automation can help streamline processes and lessen the burden on manual systems, which can lead to fewer bottlenecks.

Automation can also help improve accuracy and decrease the risk of errors. Many tools allow you to automate tasks without needing IT support.

Other areas to focus on include -

• Investing in advanced payroll systems
• Using online functions such as cloud-based software
• Using available technologies to increase workflow efficiency
• Optimizing document storage systems

Remember that employees can and will make mistakes. This is normal. Automating your processes, however, can help reduce errors and save time.

Processes that may have taken several weeks to implement or change are updated in hours. This is especially vital in financial services, where change is often frequent and at the last minute.

Your team will appreciate it, too. Giving employees a better experience, especially those typically involved in previously repetitive tasks, matters!

It’s becoming harder to attract talent against the recent “Great Resignation.”

Unblocking Tech Bottlenecks in Financial Services

Technology bottlenecks in financial services can happen when there’s a limitation or constraint on the performance of a system or process.

Financial services companies have significant and often multifaceted application landscapes that necessitate IT support. Most of these systems are hard-coded, often built on on-premise databases, making it impossible for business owners to configure themselves.

They must consult the IT team and wait as their demands make their way through the development pipeline. This can take a painstakingly long time.

No code is returning the power over data into the hands of business owners.

Thanks to no-code tools, you can create your solutions, enhance productivity, and cut out the repetitive manual aspects of your back office.

This frees your team up to concentrate on value-add tasks that help your business create efficiencies, improve the customer experience, or enhance competitiveness.

The Need for Constant Evaluation

Valuation is an integral part of any business.

No matter how organized your back office is, problems are bound to occur. It would be best if you had a systematic way of recognizing and solving problems before the customer feels any impact.

Check if what works in the back office today will work in the future, and always ask what can be improved. Aim high so that your customers always receive good and enhancing service.

Customers want to follow the trends of what’s being consumed by society. The constant demand for change means you must look for updates to your service. This is why continuous evaluation and improvement are necessary and effective to keep your business at the top and always one step ahead of your competitors.

And if something fails or you deem it more suitable and beneficial to your strategy to surrender specific back-office procedures than invest in refining the efficiency of your internal tasks, outsourcing these services is an option. This way, you can direct focus and resources to other functions in your business.

Ready to Get More Done with Less in Back-Office?

The most successful businesses work less but also get more done.

Increasing the capacity of your back-office operations does not have to mean hiring more staff.

Analyzing your current state of processes and identifying opportunities to become more efficient, such as using no-code tools, can help you maximize the capacity of your existing staff and create business agility.