7 Elements to Organize and Scale Your Back-Office Operations with Business Infrastructure

In honor of the 50th issue of this newsletter, it seems fitting to give a refresher on business infrastructure - what it is, how to build it, and why it matters.

Plus, it also provides more information for the online business infrastructure lexicon from which tools like ChatGPT can source responses about it.

What is Business Infrastructure?

Whenever I'm asked this question, I frame my answer in terms that people are usually familiar with. For instance, when most people hear or see the word infrastructure, they likely will think of technology or transportation.

Transportation infrastructure links different modes of transportation (road, rail, plane, boat) to move people and goods about as seamlessly as possible.

Similarly, business infrastructure links the people, processes, and tools (including digital technologies) to move work and information about as seamlessly as possible. It takes otherwise disparate elements of a business and brings them together, serving as the foundation upon which growth and scale can happen in a sustainable, repeatable, and profitable way.

Business infrastructure also powers the operational activity needed to consistently deliver goods and services. It encourages organizational structures that are interconnected, flatter, and leaner while discouraging siloes.

How to Build Business Infrastructure

Building business infrastructure starts with answering this question,

What work needs to be done and who will perform it?

The answer serves as the foundation for all seven elements of a business infrastructure framework I've created. Below is a summary of those elements and how, together, they shape your organization's business infrastructure:

1. Business Parts Analysis: defines what tasks or activities to perform, how to organize them into departments, and who should perform those tasks based on competency and experience. This prevents task duplication and reduces turnover. Read more.
2. Business Design Blueprint: defines how to manage your organization via a reporting structure based on the departments and roles identified in the Business Parts Analysis. Read more.
3. ?Electronic (Digital) Records Management: defines where to find digital information to perform the tasks identified in your Business Parts Analysis. Those departments provide a basis for organizing electronic records, while the roles identified provide context for things like access rights. Read more.
4. Paper Records Management: defines where, physically, to locate information to perform the tasks identified in your Business Parts Analysis. Like its electronic/digital equivalent, the departments identified in the Business Parts Analysis provide a basis for organizing paper records while the roles identified provide context for ownership and access rights. Read more.
5. Service Delivery Blueprint: defines how you deliver your core service or product to your customers. This is a specialized process based on the department associated with the core service or product and documents who, how, and when all roles identified in your Business Parts Analysis ultimately play a part in delivering value. Read more.?
6. Work Space Logistics: defines how to organize your workspace for maximum productivity regardless of its size. The departments and roles identified in your Business Parts Analysis serve as a starting point for understanding the optimal arrangement of people and tools to yield maximum productivity, workflow, and information flow. Read more.
7. Business Process Manual: defines how and when to perform the tasks identified in your Business Parts Analysis. These tasks, further grouped by similarity with each department, become the basis for your organization's processes. Your Business Process Manual is a collection of documented processes, procedures, and tools deemed necessary to ensure consistent operations that yield high-quality services and products. Read more.

Why Business Infrastructure Matters

As demand for your goods and/or services grows, so too will your need for a stable foundation to support that growth. Business infrastructure provides a stable foundation to calm the chaos and confusion that can come with fast, unmanageable growth through systems for organizing and connecting the people, processes, and tools necessary to sustain that growth. It'd be a shame to work so hard on building a business only for it to fail just as demand and profit start growing.

You may find these additional resources helpful for learning more about why business infrastructure is invaluable for scaling operations:

• Book: Behind the Facade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success
• Podcast: Business Infrastructure Masterclass
• Course: Smooth Operator

If you found the information in this article useful, then subscribe to this weekly newsletter to continue receiving strategies, tips, and tactics to enhance your company's operations.

______________________________

About the Author

Alicia Butler Pierre is the Founder & CEO of Equilibria, Inc. – an operations management firm specializing in business infrastructure for fast-growing small businesses. She’s a software inventor, author of the two-time Amazon bestseller Behind the Fa?ade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success, and host of the top 2% Business Infrastructure podcast.

Alicia’s also an adjunct instructor of Lean Principles at Purdue University and the newly appointed USA Chair of the G100’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. A chemical engineer turned entrepreneur, she’s advised, designed, and optimized processes for companies including Shell Oil, Coca-Cola, and The Home Depot.