What is operational support in business

Operational support simply refers to any organisational process or team which is key to the successful running of a business’s core operations. They help ensure smooth day-to-day functioning of a business’s workflows, supply chains, logistics, on-site facilities, accounting, finance and information technology (IT) systems. Therefore, operational support typically includes the input from HR, IT and supply chain and logistics management teams. 

The importance of operational support for business success

Operational support works behind the scenes to ensure the smooth operation of customer services, customer support, sales, marketing, finances, production and organisational transformation. Therefore, good operational support can help speed up core processes, ensure that they are running smoothly and have a low error rate. This can increase employee productivity, increase sales and ensure the best possible customer service. 

When it comes to people operations – or ‘people ops’ as it is also known – everyday management of employees is integral to success. Our guide to people ops explains that maintaining key initiatives such as diversity, equity and inclusion and employee wellbeing can improve retention. With 72% of workers aged 18-34 claiming that they would not join a business unless their manager adequately supported diversity and inclusion initiatives, it is important to ensure that people ops managers have a finger on the pulse of workforce metrics as well as employee feedback.

Ideas to improve operational support

As operational support ensures the smooth running of a business, streamlining it can help make business processes more effective and increase productivity. This next section covers some ideas businesses can use to help improve their operational support. 

Automation

One of the key ways a business can improve operational support is automating any repetitive tasks associated with it. This is known as operations automation. One of the benefits of doing this is that automation can reduce human error which can keep processes running smoothly. When deciding whether to automate an operational process, consider the following steps:

• Does the operation have a high number of repetitive tasks?
• Are the tasks time-sensitive?
• Do they need to be compliant with certain government regulations?
• Do they have a big impact on other systems and processes in the business?

Although automation tends to require less human intervention, operations support teams still need to oversee any automation to ensure it is running effectively. Operations automation usually focuses on business process automation (BPA).

When is operations automation useful?

This type of automation can be useful to HR teams that are looking to automate their payroll systems or certain onboarding processes such as sending out forms to new employees. While it can be useful for replacing manual tasks, it can still be important to ensure that a business welcomes its employees in a ‘human’, personal manner. Automating repetitive tasks that don’t require human input, however, can be hugely beneficial. Other uses of BPA include automating payroll and purchase orders. 

As Indeed found, quicker hiring can boost efficiency, reputation and bottom line. Automation during the recruitment process can also be effective as it can speed up the candidate screening phase. The quicker time-to-hire or feedback on an interview is, the more positively both candidates and employees can see your brand.

Measure performance

To make sure operational support is running as smoothly as possible, businesses can consider measuring their performance. Key performance indicators to look at for operational support performance are operational KPIs. Some examples of operational KPIs include:

• Absenteeism rate;
• Overtime hours;
• Employee turnover rate;
• Time-to-hire rate;
• Cost-per-click for marketing campaigns;
• Cost-per-acquisition for marketing campaigns;
• Marketing goal conversion rate;
• Sales lead conversion rates;
• Sales opportunity scores;
• Logistical transportation costs;
• Picking and packing time cycles;
• IT server downtime;
• Production volume;
• Production downtime;
• Support desk ticket volume.

Operational KPIs are wide-ranging and can cover many aspects of a business’s operational support. These KPIs can provide a snapshot into the daily, weekly, or monthly performance of a business’s operational support as well.

Like with other forms of KPI, businesses can compare current operational performance with their targets. A business may have some of its operations running smoothly but may need to assess the performance of specific areas. Considering operational support holistically can help here as well.

For example, a business may have lowered their transportation costs in the last few months, but they are having increased issues with absenteeism which means that there are fewer employees to transport products. While they have found a way to cut down on their costs, they may still lose out on customer satisfaction if they have any issues delivering products on time.

Provide employees with the right operations training

Ensuring that employees know how to use operations systems correctly can help them to run more smoothly. Types of operational training include:

• Providing the right training materials;
• Training employees on any new systems;
• Preparing any operational teams for business transformation;
• Creating succession plans so that key operations managers can pass their knowledge on to their successors;
• Providing the right onboarding and ongoing training to new operations hires.

Approach operations holistically

While different operations support teams work on different processes, it can be useful to consider how they work together as part of a whole. For this reason, consider fostering close cross-communication between different operations teams.

Consider installing a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) in each operations team so that there is a specific person to talk to if someone from a different team has any questions to ask. These are usually accountable leaders from the team – perhaps a manager or highly experienced member of staff.

Another way to ensure clear cross-communication is to clearly define the roles of employees in each operational team. This is useful because it helps teams collaborate better, as it makes it clearer who is involved in which part of a project. When roles are clearly defined, employees with questions about a particular project stage may have a better idea of whom to ask for support.

Operations support covers a wide umbrella of different teams and systems. Streamlining operations support can help make a business more competitive; it can run more smoothly, improve hiring rates and measure performance better in general. There can be some challenges to operations support management such as providing employees with the right operations training, or using a balance between automation and keeping a ‘human’ face to comms and HR.