Sure, blowing up the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on the streets of New York was pretty kickass, but hiring Janine Melnitz to run their office was probably the smartest thing the Ghostbusters ever did.

When you have an administrative team that, like Janine, keeps your office organized and running smoothly, you have a better chance at getting the bigger and better jobs, having the most satisfied clients, and developing a much less stressful work environment.

Exceptional back office support is key to running a successful Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) company. The office processes in any AEC firm are different than those environments in other industries. The folks that run these offices must have industry-specific skills and be incredibly efficient and organized because one of their main jobs is to keep projects on time and on budget. To successfully meet project milestones, these employees must track project progress daily, and be able to quickly adapt when the inevitable problems arise during the project’s build process. When these problems do come up, the best offices are able to quickly coordinate with vendors and subcontractors to get the project back on track and on budget.

But building and maintaining a back office operation like this is a job in itself. Ensuring that employees are constantly receiving training and using the best technology can be time consuming, but it’s critical to making their jobs easier.  It is important to keep these employees happy and give them reasons to be loyal.

In an effort to improve and/or maintain their back office operations, many firms are outsourcing office administration. This allows firms to reduce the pressure on management to maintain a top‑notch back office, and allows project managers and upper management to focus on projects and the business itself. And maybe even ghostbusting.

Learn more about outsourcing office services by reading 5 Signs Your Office Needs an Office Services Company.

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