What Are Business Operations?

Business operations are the functions that keep a firm running rather than the ones it sells: finance, people, administration, marketing, systems and the engineering behind them. They are not the product, they are not optional, and they grow with the business whether or not anyone plans for them.

What it covers

Business operations is a category rather than a department. In most firms the work is spread across several functions, each with its own owner, and nobody looks at the total.

Finance operations. Accounts payable, expenses, reconciliations, invoicing, collections, time and billing administration, month end support
People operations. Recruitment support, onboarding, payroll administration, records, casework process, offboarding
Document and administrative operations. Document production, records and filing, client and matter onboarding, engagement documentation, deadline tracking
Marketing and content operations. Campaign and sequence build, content production and publishing, bid and tender production, directory and award submissions, lead data hygiene, activity reporting
CRM and systems operations. Data quality, practice management and matter system upkeep, enrichment, bulk loading, keeping records and ownership current
Data and automation engineering. Automation build across documented processes, data pipelines and integration, AI assisted tooling, reporting and dashboards

What these have in common is that they are operational: documented, repeatable, and judged on whether they were done properly rather than on whether they were done cleverly.

What it does not cover

Business operations is not strategy, and it is not the fee earning work. A corporate finance firm's business operations are its accounts payable and its onboarding, not its deal execution. A law firm's are its billing administration and its matter records, not its legal advice.

It also does not include the roles that exercise judgement over these functions. A financial controller, an HR business partner, a head of marketing: those are decision making roles. Business operations is the work underneath them.

The distinction matters because it is the line between what can be staffed by an external team and what cannot. Documented, repeatable execution can be handed over. Judgement cannot.

Who normally owns it

Several people, none of whom own all of it. That is the defining characteristic of business operations and the reason it is hard to manage.

Each function has an owner who is accountable for it alongside their real job. The finance lead owns finance operations while also being the finance lead. Nobody owns the total, so nobody sees the total cost, and each incremental hire looks reasonable on its own.

This is also why the work that belongs to nobody tends not to get done. Not because anyone decided against it, but because it was never assigned.

How Clandon supports it

Business Operations is our largest service line. We staff the functions above, individually or together, either as a capabilities team across many workflows or as role based support in one. Most engagements start with a single function, usually accounts payable, and widen once it is running.

Related resources

What Is Finance Operations Support?

Accounts payable, expenses, reconciliations, invoicing, collections and month end, as one function.

What Is People Operations Support?

Recruitment support, onboarding, payroll administration, records and casework.

What Is a Capabilities Team?

A team working across many documented workflows, coordinated through one team lead.

Has anyone added up what your business operations cost?

Talk to us